1 In my last life, I was buried alive in a mass grave, my body entwined with the rotting carcasses of the very predators I had tried to save. It happened during the Great Flood. The storm was a monster, turning our private wildlife sanctuary into an island of mud and terror. As the water rose, Serena—my supposed best friend—became hysterical. She insisted, with tears streaming down her face, that we had to release every caged animal. She called it “mercy.” I fought her with everything I had. This wasn’t a petting zoo; we had lions, tigers, and a King Cobra. Releasing them into a panicked, flooded valley was a death sentence for every family in the surrounding town. When the storm finally broke, Serena stood over the bloated bodies of the drowned beasts and wept until she nearly collapsed. Nate, my fiancé and the sanctuary’s director, didn’t offer me a word of comfort for my rational thinking. Instead, he turned on me with a venom I’d never seen. “You killed them by keeping them locked up!” he screamed. “Do their lives mean nothing to you? How can you be so damn cold-blooded?” The aftermath was a nightmare. A heavily edited video of the incident went viral. I was labeled a “heartless heiress,” a “monster who hates nature.” People doxed me, hunted me down, and destroyed my life. My father’s logistics empire was boycotted into near-bankruptcy. “Like father, like daughter,” the internet sneered. “Cold blood runs in the family.” I tried to explain I was protecting human lives, but Nate didn’t care. He tied me up and dragged me to the mud pits where the animals were being buried. “Go seek their forgiveness in hell,” he whispered. He told the world I’d committed suicide out of guilt, and the internet celebrated my death. My father, broken by the news, took his own life by jumping from his office tower. Nate and Serena swept in, seized my family’s estate, and lived like royalty on my inheritance. Then, I blinked. The roar of the rain was back. The smell of damp earth and ozone filled my lungs. I was standing in the sanctuary office on the first day of the storm, my hands trembling around a cold cup of coffee I hadn’t touched. Serena was clutching my arm, her voice trembling with that practiced, fragile innocence. “Riley, please… you have to open the cages. We can’t let these poor babies drown. They’re terrified, can’t you hear them?” Before I could even open my mouth, Nate’s verbal assault began—like a script I’d already memorized from my previous life. “If you’re too scared to do it, just say so, Riley!” he barked, his face flushed with that familiar, righteous anger. “Why do you have to be so damn cold? Why can’t you be more like Serena? She actually has a soul. She feels for these creatures. All you care about is yourself.” I looked at the unnatural flush on Nate’s face and felt a wave of icy revulsion. In my last life, I’d taken his words to heart. I’d cried, I’d apologized, I’d tried to explain. This time, I saw the truth with crystal clarity. Nate had always used Serena as a weapon against me. It was his favorite game. If Serena couldn’t afford designer clothes, he’d call me “wasteful” and force me to wear thrift store rags—then turn around and secretly gift her my limited-edition bags. I remembered the Chanel flap bag he’d made me return, only to find it on Serena’s arm the next week. “She borrowed it,” he’d said. “You have so many, why be greedy?” When Serena failed to land a corporate job after graduation, he told me I was “unambitious” for wanting to take over my father’s business. He made me start a “humble” startup from scratch, while he and Serena burned through my black card to open this sanctuary. They called it a “charity project,” but they drew six-figure salaries and ate at five-star restaurants on my dime. I was the cash cow, and they were the milkers. They were parasites, plain and simple. And I was their willing host—until I died in the mud and woke up with my eyes wide open. “Fine,” I said, cutting off Nate’s tirade. “I’ll go. I’ll open the cages.” Nate and Serena exchanged a look—a flash of triumph they couldn’t quite hide. Serena squeezed my arm. “Oh, Riley, I knew you had a good heart deep down!” I didn’t give them another second. I grabbed my keys and walked out into the storm. The rain was torrential, turning the gravel paths into rivers of mud. I splashed toward the lion enclosure, my mind racing. The water was already up to the predator’s paws. The lion—a massive male that Nate had starved to skin and bone—paced the rising tide, his green eyes burning with a desperate, frantic hunger. I unlocked the electronic gate but didn’t pull the physical latch. If I opened that door now, he’d tear me to pieces before I could even scream. The lion snarled, his breath fogging the glass. Something felt off. Nate was never the “animal lover” type. I’d seen him kick a stray dog that got too close to his car. To save on costs, he fed these animals expired scrap meat once a day, claiming “hunger keeps them wild.” He’d laughed when I’d tried to buy fresh meat for them. “You’re wasting your money, Riley. They’re just beasts.” So why was he so desperate for me to release them now? Then I remembered. When we built the sanctuary, I was so worried about Nate’s safety that I’d hidden a wireless security camera in the corner of the Director’s office. I’d never told him about it because I didn’t want to seem controlling, and eventually I’d forgotten it myself. I pulled out my phone, my fingers shaking as I tapped the app. The feed popped up. Nate and Serena were already tangled together on the office sofa, their clothes half-off, mouths locked in a greedy, desperate kiss. “That bitch,” Nate growled, his voice thick with lust and annoyance. “I was right in the middle of it when she showed up at the sanctuary this morning. She almost ruined everything. Always showing up at the wrong time, that one.” Serena giggled, leaning into him, her fingers tracing his chest. “I’m the smart one, remember? I gave her the cage excuse just to get her out of our hair. Now, where were we? I believe you owe me a proper hello.” I nearly dropped the phone. They didn’t want to save the animals. They just wanted me out of the way so they could screw in the middle of a disaster. The rage that flooded through me was cold, not hot. It was the kind of rage that came from knowing you’d been played for a fool, not once but for years. I didn’t hesitate. I moved through the sanctuary, hitting the electronic overrides for every cage—lions, tigers, the Cobra’s enclosure—but leaving the physical latches in place. For now. As the water rose, the animals would eventually force their way out. Nature would do the rest. I drove to the main gate, exited, and locked the heavy iron entrance from the outside. The clang of the lock echoed through the downpour like a death knell. At a gas station five miles away, I sat in my car, watching my phone light up with twenty-three missed calls from Nate. I ignored them and uploaded the recording of their confession to my cloud drive. Let the lions have their dessert. But as I reached into my bag for my keys, my heart stopped. My mother’s vintage jade bangle—my only heirloom, the last thing she’d left me before she died—was gone. I pulled up the office feed again, my hands trembling so violently I could barely tap the screen. My blood turned to ice. Nate was holding the bangle, sliding it onto Serena’s wrist, his fingers lingering over the green stone. “Riley doesn’t deserve something this exquisite,” he sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. “She’s a coldhearted bitch. She’d probably sell it for spare change. It looks better on you, baby. You actually have taste.” Serena made a fake show of saying, “Oh, I shouldn’t,” while admiring it in the mirror with a predatory grin. She had no intention of taking it off. I could see it in her eyes—the same glint she got when she stole my vintage Chanel jacket and claimed it was “a gift from a friend.” Rage, hot and blinding, surged through me. That was the only piece of my mother I had left. The only thing that connected me to her warmth, her laughter, her love. I slammed the car into gear, pulled a U-turn, and tore back toward the sanctuary. I burst into the office, drenched and shaking. Nate’s face darkened the second he saw me. “Riley? Where the hell have you been? Why didn’t you answer your phone? Did opening a few doors take you an hour? We’ve been worried sick!” Worried sick, my ass. They were worried I’d come back. Serena gave me a sly, knowing look. “Big storm like this… maybe you went to meet a secret boyfriend for a quickie?” She laughed, high and fake. “I’m just joking, Riley. Don’t look so serious.” I looked at the fresh marks on their necks—hickeys, unmistakable—and felt like vomiting. But I had a role to play. I tossed a heavy grocery bag of raw steaks on the floor—a lie I’d prepped at the gas station. “The animals were hungry. I went to get meat. You know, the fresh kind you never buy them.” Nate’s eyes flickered with guilt, then annoyance. “They’re just animals. Who cares if they miss a meal? You didn’t need to drive all the way out there in this weather.” “You cared ten minutes ago when you were begging me to ‘save’ them,” I snapped. “You were practically in tears, Nate. Or was that just performance?” I didn’t have time for his gaslighting. I grabbed Serena’s wrist—the one wearing my mother’s bangle. “Give it back. Now.” I didn’t even pull that hard—I swear I didn’t—but Serena let out a piercing shriek, her face contorting in exaggerated pain. “Riley! You’re hurting me! Please, stop!” Nate lunged forward, shoving me with a force that sent me flying backward. My lower back slammed into the sharp edge of the mahogany desk. I gasped, cold sweat breaking out across my forehead, the pain radiating through my spine. “You’re insane!” Nate screamed, wrapping his arms around Serena as if she were a wounded bird. “It’s just a damn bracelet. You have a mountain of jewelry—why can’t she just borrow one piece? Are you that selfish?” “It’s my mother’s.” I swallowed my pride, my voice cracking against my will. “It’s her legacy. It’s the only thing I have left of her. Please. Just give it back.” Nate paused, seemingly surprised by my low posture. He studied me for a moment, then rolled his eyes. “Fine. It’s probably bad luck anyway, wearing a dead woman’s things. Serena, give it to her.” Serena pouted, slowly sliding the bangle off her wrist. She held it out to me with theatrical reluctance. Just as my fingers were about to close around it, her eyes flashed with pure malice. She let go. The jade shattered into jagged shards against the hardwood floor. My heart felt like it had been gouged out with a rusty knife. I lunged at her, my hand raised to strike, but Nate caught my wrist and backhanded me so hard I tasted copper. I hit the floor, my face throbbing, my ears ringing. “You hurt her once already,” Nate growled, his voice low and venomous. “You don’t get to touch her again. Get on your knees and apologize to her. Now!” I refused. I couldn’t speak—the pain was too sharp, too humiliating. He grabbed my shoulders and forced me down. I landed directly on the broken shards. The sharp jade sliced through my leggings and deep into my knees. I felt the sting of the cuts, the warmth of blood pooling on the floor. The jade that had once been my mother’s was now embedded in my own flesh. Serena clung to Nate’s arm, playing the martyr. “Nate, it’s okay. She’s an heiress, she’s used to being the boss. I’m used to being bullied by people like her. It’s fine, really. She doesn’t have to apologize.” “Get out of here,” Nate barked at me, pointing toward the door. “I need to take care of Serena. You’re an eyesore. Go cool off somewhere.” As I dragged myself up, favoring my bloody knees, I heard it. A faint, high-pitched hiss coming from the vents. The King Cobra was out. The noise sent a shiver down my spine—but also a dark thrill. The game was already in motion. I turned to leave, desperate to escape before they realized what I’d done. But Serena stopped me, her eyes narrowing with sudden suspicion. “Wait. How did you even know I had the bracelet on, Riley? I only put it on ten minutes ago. You weren’t even here.” My stomach dropped. I’d rushed in without a cover story. “You’ve always stolen from me,” I choked out, fake-crying to buy time. “Bags, shoes, jewelry… I knew you’d go for the one thing that mattered most. I’ve been waiting for you to slip up, and you did.” Serena didn’t buy it. She grabbed my phone from the desk—it was unlocked, because I was an idiot—and scrolled through the recent history. Her face went pale. “She saw us! Nate, she knows everything! She’s been watching us on the security camera!” Nate’s face transformed into something demonic. He snatched the phone from Serena and smashed it against the floor, stomping on it until it was a mess of glass and silicon. “You’re not going anywhere, Riley.” He was twice my size, fueled by panic and rage. He bound my hands and feet with industrial zip-ties and dragged me across the floor, throwing me into the supply closet like a sack of trash. The door slammed shut, and I heard the lock click. “Nate, we should just dump her,” Serena whispered outside the door, her voice cold and calculating. “Now that she knows, she’ll cut us off. She’ll go to her father. We’ll lose everything.” “I can’t!” Nate hissed back, his voice desperate. “Everything I have is in her name. The sanctuary, the cars, my credit cards—all of it. If I lose her, I lose the lifestyle. I’m nothing without her money.” I laughed—a jagged, broken sound that echoed in the dark. “He’s a parasite, Serena! I’ve been paying his rent since we were eighteen! He’s never earned a cent of his own money! All those ‘business trips’ he took? I paid for them. All those suits? I bought them. He’s a leech, and you’re just the latest blood bag!” Serena went silent for a long moment. “Nate… is that true? You told me you supported her. You said she was the one taking your money.” “I love you, Serena!” Nate scrambled, his voice high and panicked. “She forced me! She held the money over my head and made me be her boyfriend. If I didn’t agree, she said she’d cut me off. I’m the victim here! I’m just trying to survive!” I listened to them through the thin door, my heart cold as the rising flood outside. I could hear the water seeping under the door, feel the damp cold creeping up my legs. Serena’s voice came back, lower and more poisonous than before. “Fine. If she’s so rich, she doesn’t need to be alive to sign the checks. We keep her here. The storm will do the rest. Once she ‘drowns’ in the closet, the estate is ours. No one will ever know. Accidents happen in floods, right?” They walked away, their footsteps splashing through the rising water. I sat in the dark, listening to the distant roar of the lions. They were closer now. The water was rising, and soon the animals would break free. But I had one card left. Before Serena had smashed my phone, I’d already synced the hidden camera to my father’s cloud account. Even if I died, the evidence would live on. They would go down. I just needed to hold on. I closed my eyes, willing myself to stay calm, to think. The water was at my waist now, cold and foul. I could hear the lions roaring in the office, the splintering of wood, the screams of the two people who’d sold me out. Then, a massive thud shook the wall beside me. The drywall cracked, and a hole opened up. A figure stepped through the gap, flashlight in hand. “Dad?” My father rushed to me, slicing the zip-ties with a pocketknife. His hands were shaking, his face pale with terror. “How did you know?” I sobbed, collapsing against him. “Your cloud account is linked to my phone, honey,” he whispered, pulling me up. “I saw the upload. I saw what they were doing to you. I drove like a madman through the flood to get here. I almost didn’t make it.” I hugged him so hard I thought I’d break his ribs. “We have to go. They’ll come back. They’ll—” “I know. I’ve seen enough. Let’s get you out of here.” We slipped out through the back of the building, avoiding the main office where Nate and Serena were likely celebrating their victory. The water was at our knees now, and I could see the cobras swimming through the grass, their hoods flared, eyes gleaming in the dark. We waded through the flood, holding onto each other, and reached his truck. He pulled away, the headlights cutting through the rain. As I looked back at the dark sanctuary—the place where I’d died once and nearly died again—I pulled out my spare phone and hit the remote lock. The gates clicked shut behind us. The animals would soon break through their cages. The cobras were already loose. And inside, Nate and Serena were planning their future on my grave. “Have fun in your ‘animal heaven,’ you bastards,” I whispered. Inside the office, Nate and Serena were already painting their future in gold. They hadn’t noticed the wet, heavy thuds against the office door. Or the green eyes watching them from the shadows. Or the fact that the “record” light on the hidden camera—the one they’d missed—was still blinking red. Serena was lounging on the sofa, her voice light and triumphant. “Once she’s gone, we’ll move into the Montgomery mansion. I’ve always wanted a walk-in closet with a chandelier. And her father—that old man will be so heartbroken, he’ll probably just give us everything.” Nate laughed, already forgetting his earlier panic. “I’ll tell him I’m devastated. I’ll cry at the funeral. Give it a year, and I’ll find a way to take him out too. Then it’s all ours—every last cent.” They were so busy being evil that they didn’t hear the growl that rumbled through the hallway. They didn’t see the massive shadow that blocked the light from the hallway. But I did. I watched it all through my spare phone, a cold smile spreading across my face. The lions were hungry. And they didn’t care about love, loyalty, or inheritance. They only cared about dinner.
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