My feet pounded on the grass field as I tried my hardest to make it to freedom. My ticket was an automated passage that had been built into the security wall of the prison in an attempt to minimize unnecessary movement in the prison. This plan had been in the works from the first day I got here, making it a total of eight months of careful planning, which hinged on the next few minutes. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead before trickling down my face while my heart thundered in a majestic homage to what was the most thrilling moment of my life.
My prison jumpsuit clung to me as if trying to keep me in while my body screamed for me to stop. The flood lights finally located my solitary form, tearing down the field, and I knew it was over before the shot even rang. There was no warning issued, just the sound of a gun and the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. The bullet had torn right through my old heart. The last thing I heard were footsteps running towards me before everything turned black.
The first thing I heard was heart-wrenching weeping coming from all directions. It sounded like a group of at least thirty people had come together to cry, probably for a funeral. 'If I were dead and this were my funeral, why could I hear?' I wondered. At first, I felt nothing as if my consciousness was present, but my physical form was absent, and the lack of feeling instilled terror in my soul, which in turn caused my body to respond. It first started as a tickle, which progressed into a vibration that engulfed my whole body before I acclimated and could feel normal sensations. After a few minutes, I cracked an eye opened and instead of the wooden walls of a casket, I found myself on a sofa surrounded by six weeping models.
Models seemed like an appropriate designation for the six men who huddled over the sofa in various places, but close to me. The one stroking my hair was the first to notice my open eyes and wasted no time calling out to me. I saw his lips move, but it took several tries before the sound finally registered, and when it did, clarity about my current situation began to dawn on me.
"Lisa! Lisa! I know this is hard, but you have to be strong. Everybody is going to rely on you, know, and there is no escaping it."
I don't know if he was threatening me or trying to comfort me either; I felt confused. Who was Lisa? Who was this man? Who were these people who were going to rely on me, and most importantly, where was I?
"Who are you? Where is this?"
It was then that I noticed my odd voice. Gone was the rough sound my voice box emitted after decades of chain smoking. The sound was softer and higher-pitched than mine had ever been, which was not saying much given the gravely quality of my usual voice. I looked down and instead of hand feet covered with scars, my skin was smooth and soft, the skin of somebody who had never known torture.
"Lisa, is everything okay? Do you need to see a doctor?"
Who is Lisa? Where is this? Who are you?
"Lisa darling, you need a break since your father died two weeks ago; you have had less than ten hours of sleep combined. I know this is not the best situation, but I know you can overcome it." One of the men who was massaging my left foot offered.
My questions seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, and there was the more urgent matter of what appeared to be people who were now all focused on me. I tried to get up, but a vicious throb had me falling back as what seemed to be memories flooded my brain. Lisa, the body I was currently in, was the only child of Marcus, the leader of an organized crime syndicate that had its reach in country S, A, and P. Lilian, her mother, had been the daughter of the former head of state and had tragically been killed by an assassin who had not lived to recount the tale. Her mother, who had also been the sole heir to her father's enormous fortune, had passed down everything to her only daughter, and her father had done the same, making her the richest woman in all three countries.
Lisa's father had been a meticulous man, and knowing the scale of wealth his daughter would eventually be in charge of had the foresight to arrange marriages for her. Six men from the six top families in his syndicate, which covered everyone who could be an actual threat to Lisa. Lisa had been spoiled from a young age and had grown up to be an entitled woman who wielded more power than others could even dream of. She was breath taking beauty who had been the icing on the cake for the six men who, despite their initial reservation accepted their place by her side, even if it meant sharing her time.
The throbbing finally receded, giving me the chance to take a much-needed breath. My eyes watered while my ears rang, and I tried my best not to start slashing at everything until they stopped moving. I need to keep my wits about me and get through this funeral. Lisa seemed to have died from a combination of grief and exhaustion, the true definition of death from a broken heart. I had also died, but I was now in somebody else's body. I couldn't tell you even now how it happened, but adapting and surviving was what I did best.
The ceremony dragged on for another hour, during which I tested Lisa's memory to see if I recognized the people in her life, and I finally could. The six young men, Henry, Ben, Kevin, Brian, Marcus, and Mathew, remained by my side, eyes alert, scanning for potential threats despite the army of guards that were positioned outside of the funeral hall. The service held by a priest, which was deeply ironic given the identity of the deceased, concluded, and the former leader of the dragon mafia was laid to rest.
Mathew, the oldest of my betrothed, picked me up in his arms and carried me to the Rolls-Royce parked outside. Brian held the door open while I was placed in the back seat like an infant, and my body felt too tired. I did not know what date it was, but it did not matter. What seemed like a few hours ago in my memory, I was a fifty-two-year-old prisoner, and now I was twenty five year old billionaire heiress. All things considered, it seemed like I had died and gone to heaven. The rest of my soon-to-be husband's family squeezed into the car, and Kevin, who had taken his position as our driver, took us home, wherever that was.