Chapter 7

The moment the doctor stepped out of the room, I turned to the nurse and asked for a hand mirror.

She hesitated, studying my battered face with a sympathetic frown. “Are you sure? You might want to take it slowly.”

“I need to see myself.”

She retrieved a small plastic mirror from a drawer and placed it carefully into my good hand.

I raised it. A stranger stared back.

Fading purple bruises covered her cheekbones, a healing cut crossed her temple, and dark shadows sat beneath her eyes. I studied every detail, waiting for some spark of recognition.

My thumb drifted unconsciously across the pale line on my ring finger.

“Kelsey Vance,” I murmured, testing the syllables.

The name didn't unlock a memory, but it settled somewhere inside me with quiet certainty.

I lowered the mirror. “I am Kelsey Vance.”

The nurse smiled softly. “Yes, you are.”

I looked at the stranger in the mirror again.

Somewhere beyond this hosp