On the day of our wedding, my mother-in-law jumped from the second floor and died instantly. From that moment on, Anthony Reed hated me. The security footage showed that his mother had seen me shortly before she jumped. But I was in the bridal suite, getting my makeup done. I never even saw her. No matter how much I explained, he refused to believe me. He locked me in the mansion, tormenting me however he pleased, while parading woman after woman in front of me. At my breaking point, a fire consumed everything. When I opened my eyes again, I was back—back on the day of our wedding. “Quinn, I finally get to marry you. I’m not dreaming, am I?” A voice filled with excitement sounded next to my ear. The next second, I was pulled into a warm embrace. The familiar scent made my entire body freeze. I shoved him away with all my strength, raising my hand to slap him across the face. “Get your hands off me. You make me sick.” The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the room. Anthony stared at me, stunned. “Quinn, what’s wrong? Why did you hit me?” My pupils shrank as I looked down at my trembling hand, red from the force of the slap. My gaze swept the room in confusion. This… was the bridal suite? Had I been reborn? Anthony frowned, concern flashing across his face. He reached out to check my forehead. “Quinn, did you not sleep well last night? Why don’t you rest for a bit? The ceremony won’t start for a while.” In my last life, it was on this very day that Anthony’s mother died. I could still see him holding her lifeless body, sobbing uncontrollably. When he watched the security footage, he completely lost his mind. The wedding I had once looked forward to became the start of my personal hell. Taking a deep breath, I suppressed the fear rising in my chest and grabbed Anthony’s hand tightly. “Anthony, listen to me. There are a lot of people here today, and things could get chaotic. Please, keep an eye on your mom. Don’t let her out of your sight, okay?” He frowned, confused by my serious tone, but eventually nodded. “Don’t worry, Quinn. I’ll make sure she’s fine. You’ve been working so hard to prepare for this wedding—you must be exhausted. Leave everything else to me and just focus on resting.” As soon as Anthony left, I collapsed into the chair, my legs weak. My mind was a mess. What if something happened to her again? I couldn’t go through the same nightmare twice. If only I’d been reborn a few days earlier, maybe I could’ve stopped this wedding altogether. But fate had thrown me back to today, forcing me to face it all over again. I paced back and forth in the room, anxiety eating away at me. It wasn’t until the officiant’s voice echoed through the venue that I finally exhaled in relief. In my past life, Anthony’s mother had jumped before the wedding began. It seemed Anthony had taken my words seriously and kept an eye on her, preventing the tragedy. After the ceremony, I finally let my guard down. Anthony wrapped me in his arms, gently massaging my shoulders. “You were so tense, Quinn. See? The wedding wasn’t as bad as you thought, was it?” “From now on, my mom has fully accepted you. We’re a family now. Remember, you can always share what’s on your mind. I want to know how you feel, no matter what.” I nodded, a weight lifting off my chest. That night, Anthony brought me a warm glass of milk, as he always did. Noticing my low spirits, he didn’t press me or try to get intimate. Half-asleep, I was startled awake by the sound of my phone buzzing. Anthony answered it, frowning slightly. He sighed, leaned down to kiss my forehead, and whispered, “Quinn, something came up at the office. I need to head out for a bit. You rest, okay?” The door clicked shut behind him, and I drifted back into a deep sleep. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I was abruptly yanked awake. Rubbing my drowsy eyes, I looked up to see Anthony’s furious face hovering above me. “Quinn Taylor,” he spat, his voice trembling with anger, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I stared blankly, frozen in confusion. Anthony Reed didn’t care that I was wearing nothing but a thin nightgown. He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the bedroom forcefully. Panicked, I clutched my chest to keep myself covered, my heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst. No matter how much I screamed or begged him to stop, he didn’t listen. He was like a man possessed, his grip unrelenting as he pulled me through the house. The mansion was fully lit, and the household staff stood in two neat rows, their faces tense and uneasy. Anthony flung me down the stairs. I tumbled, rolling down step after step, until I finally hit the cold, hard floor. Disoriented and aching all over, my hand brushed against something icy and wet. Ignoring the pain, I turned my head to look. What I saw made my breath catch in my throat. It was… my mother-in-law. She lay in a pool of blood, her lifeless eyes wide open, her pupils dull and dilated. Her face was twisted in terror, as if even in death, she couldn’t find peace. How was this possible? The wedding had gone perfectly. She had survived that day. How could she be dead now, in our home? I couldn’t understand. Why, despite my second chance, had she still died? Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my scalp. Anthony grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back to force me to look at him. His eyes were bloodshot, his jaw clenched so tightly I thought his teeth might crack. “Quinn Taylor,” he hissed, “don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” “My mom had finally come around to accepting you. She even gave you the family heirloom bracelet to show she welcomed you into the Reed family. What more could you possibly want? How could you be so cruel?” I sobbed, shaking my head violently. “It wasn’t me, Anthony! I swear, it wasn’t me! I was asleep! When you left, I was already asleep—I couldn’t have done anything to her!” The Reeds were a prominent family, wealthy and powerful. My family, by comparison, was ordinary—completely out of their league. At first, my mother-in-law was vehemently against our relationship. Anthony, however, was determined to marry me. He defied her, rejected every woman she tried to set him up with, and even threatened to give up his position as the heir to the Reed family fortune. This only made her hatred for me grow stronger. She once declared that I would only enter the Reed family “over her dead body.” But Anthony’s resolve didn’t waver. If anything, her opposition only strengthened his commitment to me. Later, when his mother fell ill and needed a bone marrow transplant, I turned out to be a match. When she learned that I was her donor, her attitude softened. Slowly, she began to accept me. I had saved her life. How could I possibly be the one to harm her? Anthony let out a bitter laugh and shoved my head away. “Oh, really? So you’re saying the security footage is lying to me?” He glared at me with disgust, his voice dripping with venom. “Quinn Taylor, I never thought you’d be the kind of person to stab someone in the back. To act so respectful and obedient in front of my mom, only to turn around and kill her behind closed doors. Look at this, and tell me it’s not you!” My head hit the floor with a thud, leaving me dizzy and in pain. Anthony held up his phone, showing me a surveillance video. On the screen, a woman wearing a nightgown identical to mine appeared. Her build, her face—everything about her screamed that it was me. In the footage, the woman said something to my mother-in-law, causing her expression to change drastically. She raised her hand as if to strike the woman, but the woman shoved her instead. My mother-in-law stumbled backward, falling down the stairs. She landed hard at the bottom, groaning in pain. But the woman didn’t stop there. She picked up a vase and smashed it over my mother-in-law’s head. Again and again. Finally, my mother-in-law’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle, and she stopped moving. The woman stood there, disheveled and cold-eyed, before calmly walking back upstairs to the master bedroom. I watched in horror, my body trembling uncontrollably. Anthony grabbed me by the throat, his grip tightening as he leaned in close. “Look at yourself,” he snarled. “There’s blood on your nightgown—my mom’s blood. And it matches exactly with the video. Are you still going to deny it, Quinn? Are you still going to pretend you didn’t kill her?” My eyes dropped to my white nightgown, and sure enough, there was a large stain of dried blood on it. It was in the exact same spot as the bloodstain on the woman’s nightgown in the video. How… how could this be? Was it possible that I really had killed her? I clung to Anthony’s shirt, tears streaming down my face as I broke into uncontrollable sobs. “Anthony, I… I think I’m sick. I don’t remember anything—I don’t remember! I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” In my first life, I had been so sure of my innocence. Even after being reborn, I had clung to that belief. But now? Now I wasn’t so sure.
Anthony Reed tilted my chin up, his voice hoarse and bitter: “Quinn Taylor, you’ve finally admitted it, haven’t you? Tell me—how can you be so heartless? How could you do something so cruel?” Tears streamed down my face as I gasped for air, barely able to breathe. Scenes from my previous life flashed through my mind like a nightmare I couldn’t escape. In that past life, Anthony had locked me away, forcing me to share a cage with the dogs I was terrified of. He had replayed the footage of his mother jumping to her death over and over, making sure I saw it every waking moment. He knew I loved him, so he brought women into the house, flaunting them in front of me, using them to humiliate me. My body trembled uncontrollably as the memories suffocated me. The world around me seemed to darken. Anthony stood up, towering over me with cold indifference. “Quinn,” he said, his voice sharp and cutting, “you didn’t just ruin my mother’s life. You destroyed my sister’s as well. Lila came home from school just to meet you, her new sister-in-law. But what did she see the moment she walked through the door? She saw you kill our mom with her own eyes.” His words hit me like a punch to the gut. “When you pushed her,” Anthony continued, “did you even notice Lila standing there? No, of course not. You scared her so badly she fainted on the spot. Do you know how long she lay there, unconscious? Do you know she’s still in the hospital, in a coma?” He took a step closer, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. “You need to atone, Quinn. You need to beg forgiveness—from my mom, from my sister.” Lila Reed. In my past life, she had been a graduate student studying abroad. By the time she returned home, her mother was already gone. I had only met her once—at the funeral. She had seemed so sweet and gentle, but when she attacked me, her strength was terrifying. If Anthony hadn’t stopped her, I had no doubt she would have beaten me to death. She hated Anthony for not handing me over to the police. She thought he spared me because he still loved me. She didn’t know the truth—that he kept me around only to exact his own revenge. Anthony never explained himself to her. Furious and heartbroken, Lila cut ties with him and left the country. She never came back. This time, though, Lila hadn’t left. Maybe that was the reason Anthony didn’t lock me up like before. Instead, he dragged me to the hospital and made me serve as Lila’s caretaker—his way of punishing me until she recovered. After I calmed down, I asked Anthony to take me to a psychiatrist. I needed answers. I needed to know if I was sick—if there was something wrong with me that could explain everything. Anthony’s lips curled into a mocking sneer. “Oh, I see. You want to fake a mental illness now? Is that your plan, Quinn?” He leaned in closer, his voice dripping with venom. “Don’t think for a second that claiming insanity will get you out of this. Even if you were diagnosed, I wouldn’t let you off the hook.” His words cut deep, but I forced myself to push past the pain. “Anthony,” I said, my voice trembling, “I know you hate me right now. But we’ve been together for years. You know the kind of person I am. “When your mom hated me, I still donated my bone marrow to save her. She finally accepted me, and we were happy. Why would I hurt her after everything? “I love you, Anthony. And I love your family. I just want to know the truth. Please, let me do this.” For a moment, something flickered in his eyes—hesitation, maybe even guilt. But it was gone as quickly as it came. He sighed, his jaw tight, and finally relented. The test results came back a few days later. I wasn’t mentally ill. My heart sank as I stared at the report. If I wasn’t sick, then why… why had I done something so monstrous? Before I could process what that meant, Anthony snatched the papers from my hands. His expression darkened, and the air around us seemed to grow heavier. “Well?” he snarled. “What’s your excuse now?” He threw the report onto the table, his voice rising. “Quinn Taylor, stop lying to me. You killed my mom. Just admit it!” “No!” I shouted back, tears streaming down my face. “It wasn’t me, Anthony! I swear!” My voice cracked as I pleaded with him. “Please, just wait. Lila saw everything. She might wake up and prove my innocence. Please, Anthony, I’m begging you—just give me one last chance. I don’t want our relationship to end in nothing but hatred.” Anthony’s jaw tightened, his eyes bloodshot. Finally, he growled through gritted teeth, “Fine. One last chance, Quinn. Just one.”
I looked at Lila Reed, still unconscious in her hospital bed. Maybe, just maybe, this time, she was the miracle sent to save me. For three long days, I stayed by her side. During that time, Anthony was busy organizing his mother’s funeral. He only came by occasionally to check on things. He wasn’t worried about me escaping. He’d rented out the entire hospital floor and stationed guards everywhere to watch my every move. The security was airtight—nothing could get in or out, not even a bird. When Lila finally woke up, Anthony happened to walk into the room. I barely had time to feel relieved before she suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream. Her eyes were wide with terror as she pointed at me, her hand trembling. “You… You’re the murderer!” “Anthony, it’s her! She killed Mom! It was her!” She clung to Anthony’s arm, sobbing uncontrollably. “Why is she here? She killed Mom! Why is she still here?” I stood frozen, unable to react. A chill ran down my spine, leaving me paralyzed. Anthony held his panicked sister tightly, gently stroking her back to calm her. “It’s okay, Lila. You’re safe now. Don’t get upset.” “Call the police, Anthony! Arrest her! She killed Mom—you have to call the police!” “Lila, look at me,” I pleaded desperately. “That night, it wasn’t me. Please, look carefully—it wasn’t me!” I inched closer, hoping for her to see reason, to remember something that could clear my name. But the closer I got, the more hysterical she became. The room descended into chaos. Nurses rushed in, trying to restrain her. Then, out of nowhere, a sharp slap echoed through the room. Pain erupted in my left cheek. I stood there, stunned, the side of my face burning. Anthony’s voice cut through the air, cold and furious: “Get out, you murderer.” His finger pointed toward the door, his eyes blazing with hatred. I felt as though I’d fallen into an abyss of ice. My last shred of hope was gone. At his mother’s funeral, Anthony forced me to my knees in front of the grave. The guards pressed down on my head, making me bow again and again against the cold, unforgiving tombstone. Every time my forehead hit the hard stone, stars burst in my vision. But until Anthony gave the order, the bowing wouldn’t stop. I didn’t know how long it went on. My head was spinning, my entire body weak from the blood rushing to my head. Just when I thought I couldn’t take another second, someone shoved the guards aside and pulled me into their arms. “Anthony Reed, have you lost your mind? What are you doing to Quinn? If you want revenge, go find the real killer instead of torturing her like this!” I forced my swollen eyes open just enough to see the figure standing over me. It was Lily Hart—my best friend, my sister in everything but blood. From high school to now, Lily had always treated me like family, protecting me no matter what. “Lily,” I whimpered, tears finally streaming down my face. “You believe me, don’t you? I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill his mom.” Lily’s eyes filled with tears as she gently wiped the blood off my face. “I know, Quinn. I believe you. You’d never do something like that.” The cemetery was almost empty now, only a few people lingering. Anthony waved his hand, and the guards immediately separated me from Lily. Barely able to support myself, I leaned on the ground to keep from collapsing. Anthony let out a cold laugh. “How touching. Sisterhood at its finest.” He leaned down, his voice low and venomous. “Quinn Taylor, if you think this is the end, you’re sorely mistaken. My revenge is far from over.” I was dragged back to the mansion and locked in the same cage as before—just like in my previous life. The security footage of that night played on a loop in front of me, over and over. I began to have visceral reactions. My body would shake uncontrollably, and every time I closed my eyes, I saw his mother’s bloody face, accusing me, asking why I killed her. “I didn’t,” I whispered into the darkness. “I didn’t kill you. I swear I didn’t.” I didn’t know how much time had passed. My nerves were frayed beyond recognition. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. The nightmares never stopped. My body withered. My reflection in the mirror was barely recognizable—gaunt, hollow-eyed, and lifeless. One day, I collapsed in the cage. When the maids found me, I was unconscious. Anthony had me taken out of the cage and put on an IV drip. But even as my body recovered slightly, my mind remained a fractured mess. That afternoon, I wandered near the window, staring listlessly outside. Then I saw them. A figure in the distance, slipping through the garden. My heart stopped. My pupils dilated, and my chest tightened as my breath caught in my throat. There they were—the real murderer. The one who had killed Anthony’s mother.
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “296138”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #励志Inspiring #浪漫Romance #魔幻Magic #校园School #重生Reborn
Leave a Reply