The Rebirth of Claire Vaughn

Chapter 1 – Death

I was born different. Doctors never found the word for it, but my family always whispered the same thing: my blood was medicine. A single drop could mend fractures, heal fevers, cure diseases modern science declared incurable. I had never asked for such a gift—it was both miracle and curse.

In my last life, that curse ended me.

It began with Adrian Blake, heir to Blake Holdings—the richest, most powerful dynasty on the East Coast. A car crash left his legs ruined beyond repair. The Blakes tried everything: Johns Hopkins surgeons, experimental therapy, overseas specialists. Nothing worked. Until me.

I bled for him, gave him what no science could give. My blood knit his bones, revived his nerves, gave him back the strength to stand. And for my sacrifice, what did I receive?

Not gratitude. Not love. Only betrayal.

I learned too late the vow the Blake family had made: “Whoever heals Adrian shall become the lady of the Blake house.”

But Adrian’s heart had never been mine. It belonged to Sophia Lin—the sweet-faced girl who claimed she nearly died climbing snowy peaks to fetch a rare Snow Lotus for him.

When the engagement between Adrian and me was announced, Sophia collapsed. She “fell” from a cliff and disappeared. One year later, Adrian recovered her frozen body from the mountains.

He placed her corpse before me and sneered, “You said your blood was a miracle, Claire. Then bring her back. Make her live again.”

I cried until my voice broke. “I can heal the sick, Adrian. But I cannot raise the dead.”

He didn’t believe me. He strapped me down and cut my wrist, draining me of the blood that had once saved him, whispering Sophia’s name while my life ebbed away.

My last sight was his cold eyes. My last thought: If I ever lived again, I would never bleed for him.

And somehow, fate listened.

Chapter 2 – Rebirth

When I opened my eyes, I was back in the Blakes’ mansion, standing before Adrian in his wheelchair. His face was younger, untouched by the bitterness I knew would soon consume him. His mother hovered, hopeful.

They had summoned me here again, to heal him.

I laughed softly, bitterly.

“Mr. Blake,” I said, “your legs are ruined. No one can cure them.”

His head snapped up. Anger darkened his face. “Quack! Get out!”

Mrs. Blake gasped, mortified. “Miss Vaughn, forgive him. He doesn’t mean—”

I waved her apology away. “If my family says a condition cannot be healed, then it cannot. Madam, you’re still young. Perhaps… consider another child.”

The teacup Adrian hurled at me shattered against the floor. I didn’t flinch. I bowed slightly, turned, and walked out.

This time, I would not play their game.

Chapter 3 – Sophia Returns

I thought I was free of them. But a week later, a golden invitation arrived: the Blakes were hosting a gala.

Sophia Lin had returned.

She wheeled Adrian into the ballroom, glowing with triumph. In her hands, a crystal box cradled a Snow Lotus she claimed to have fetched from the Rockies.

“Mrs. Blake,” Sophia said sweetly, “don’t worry. I’ll heal Adrian. I almost died for this flower, but it was worth it.”

Adrian’s eyes shone. He clasped her hand. “Sophia, when I walk again, I’ll give you the grandest wedding this city has ever seen.”

Her gaze slid to me, lips curling. “Unlike liars, I’ll make him stand.”

I smiled faintly. Fool. A flower cannot restore what is gone. Only my blood can.

But I had already vowed: never again.

Chapter 4 – The Wager

The gala swelled with whispers. Sophia stepped closer, her smile like a blade.

“Claire Vaughn,” she challenged, “let’s bet. I’ll heal Adrian in ten days. If I fail, I’ll leave New York forever.”

I arched a brow. “Ten days? Very well. Then I’ll heal Ethan Cross in the same time.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Ethan Cross—the Blake family’s greatest rival. He had been left in a coma from the same accident that ruined Adrian. Doctors had declared him a vegetable, a body without a mind.

Sophia’s smirk faltered, but she couldn’t back down. “Fine. In front of everyone—we wager.”

Chapter 5 – Ethan Awakens

The Cross family clung to me with desperate hope. I prepared a draught laced with my blood, crimson dissolving into gold liquid, and fed it to Ethan by spoon.

“Seven days,” I said. “He will wake.”

And on the seventh day, his fingers twitched. His lips parted. His eyes opened.

“Claire…” he whispered.

I froze. “You… know me?”

Before I could ask more, his mother sobbed and threw herself into his arms. I stepped back, shaken.

But in his eyes was recognition I couldn’t explain.

Chapter 6 – Adrian’s Collapse

The night of reckoning, the Blakes’ hall was overflowing.

I entered with Ethan at my side, alive, walking. The crowd gasped, then erupted in applause.

Sophia turned pale.

But Adrian smirked, standing shakily with her help. “See? She healed me too.”

Sophia lifted her chin, triumphant.

But I whispered under my breath, “Count to ten.”

On the tenth step, Adrian screamed. His legs twisted, bones cracking like dry wood. He crashed to the floor, writhing in agony.

Sophia shrieked. “No! It can’t be—”

Mrs. Blake slapped her. “You liar! You poisoned him!” Guards dragged Sophia away as Adrian’s screams echoed through the ballroom.

I stood silent. Justice at last.

Chapter 7 – The Pendant

Days later, Ethan sought me out. From his neck, he drew a silver pendant—my pendant.

“Do you remember this, Claire?”

Memory struck like lightning. Years ago, as a child kidnapped with another boy, I had been saved when he pushed me into a crate and distracted the kidnappers. I had given him this pendant as a promise we’d meet again.

But in my last life, Adrian had worn it. I thought he was the boy.

Tears blurred my eyes. “So it was you… all along.”

Ethan’s hand closed over mine. “He stole it. He stole everything. But now, you know the truth. And I won’t let you suffer again.”

Chapter 8 – Adrian’s End

Adrian’s surgery left him a cripple. Sophia was exposed as a fraud, abandoned, and eventually locked away in a clinic when madness consumed her.

The Blake empire crumbled, devoured by the Cross family.

But Adrian still clung to obsession. He kidnapped me, knife trembling in his hand.

“Bleed for me again, Claire,” he begged. “Marry me. I’ll give you children, a life. Just one more time.”

Terror froze me. But before the blade could fall, Ethan burst in. He fought Adrian, drove him back. In the struggle, Adrian fell on his own knife.

His last words were my name, whispered with regret.

Chapter 9 – Love

Months later, under the Manhattan sky, Ethan knelt with roses in his hands.

“Claire, you saved me. You gave me back my life. Will you let me spend the rest of it with you?”

Tears spilled freely down my cheeks. This time, I did not hesitate.

“Yes.”

As fireworks blossomed above the Hudson, he pulled me into his arms.

In my past life, I died bleeding for a man who never loved me. In this one, I lived—and loved—a man who had saved me from the beginning.

At last, happiness was mine.