The Reborn Genius Heiress's Spectacular Comeback

Celina Brewer's eyes snapped open.

Her vision blurred. Her fingers dug into the scratched wooden surface of the diner counter. The wood splintered under her short nails, but she didn't feel the pain.

She gasped for air. Her lungs burned, expanding and contracting violently as if the thick, toxic smoke from the fire was still trapped inside her chest. A harsh cough ripped through her throat.

"Celina? Are you sick?"

Peggy O'Malley, her coworker, walked over with a glass coffee pot in her hand. Peggy's face was young, vibrant, and completely unscarred.

Celina stared at Peggy. Her heart hammered against her ribs so hard it made her teeth ache. She reached out with a trembling hand and grabbed the cheap paper calendar sitting next to the cash register.

The year and the date stared back at her.

She was seventeen again. It was the exact day the Hayes family was coming to take her to New York City.

The memories hit her like a physical blow. The sound of her stepbrother breaking her legs with a golf club. The smell of gasoline. The suffocating heat of the flames. Celina bit down on her lower lip. She bit hard, right until the metallic taste of blood flooded her tongue.

Outside the diner, the low, heavy growl of a powerful engine cut through the quiet street.

A sleek, black Bentley slowly pulled up to the curb. It looked like an alien spaceship parked against the backdrop of the decaying Rust Belt town.

Celina turned her head. The confusion in her eyes vanished, replaced instantly by a layer of absolute, freezing ice.

The driver's door opened. Gary Finch stepped out. His expensive leather shoe landed right on the edge of a muddy puddle. His face immediately twisted into a deep scowl.

Gary opened a large black umbrella and pulled open the rear door.

Elvie Mcconnell stepped out of the car. She wore a custom-tailored Chanel suit. She looked around the rundown street, her perfectly drawn eyebrows pulling together in a tight knot. She pulled a silk handkerchief from her purse and pressed it against her nose, acting as if the very oxygen in this town was contaminated.

Celina stood behind the counter. She watched her biological mother. The last microscopic shred of hope she ever had for a mother's love turned to ash in her chest.

"Wow," Peggy whispered, following Celina's gaze. "Someone important must be really lost."

Celina didn't answer. Her face was completely blank. She reached behind her back, untied the knot of her stained diner apron, folded it neatly, and placed it on the counter.

"See you, Peggy," Celina said. Her voice was low and steady.

She grabbed her faded, washed-out backpack from the hook and pushed open the glass door of the diner.

The bell above the door chimed.

Elvie's eyes instantly locked onto Celina. She scanned Celina from head to toe. She took in the cheap, oversized t-shirt and the ripped jeans. The disgust in Elvie's eyes was