At the company’s annual dinner, Meryl Wilde, the new intern, approached our table with a half-empty bottle of homemade wine, her cheeks flushed as she insisted on toasting with everyone. Her first toast was to Leon Hunter, the financial director. That very night, he was arrested for embezzlement and cooking the books. Mysteriously, Meryl suddenly mastered all financial operations overnight and skyrocketed through three ranks to become the new financial director. Her second toast went to Rylan Downey, our top salesperson. After the holiday, every old and new client cut ties with him, demanding to work exclusively with Meryl. The new financial director became the company’s golden child, her salary jumping from a modest three thousand to a million dollars per year. Meanwhile, Rylan found himself blacklisted in the industry and tragically took his own life. My world soon crumbled as she finished the last drops of wine in my toast. My father, Simon Sinclair, presented a DNA test that threw me out of the family. I plummeted from being the highly-regarded heiress of the group to a housekeeper’s daughter. At the same time, Meryl was revealed as the true Sinclair heiress. Later, my parents died in a sudden car crash on their way to a business meeting. Meryl smoothly took control of the family business and inherited everything. I met a tragic end at the hands of the housekeeper’s son, who used me to settle his debts. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back at the company’s annual dinner. ***** The dazzling lights in the banquet hall made my head spin, and it took me a moment to regain my composure. “Please, make yourselves at home and enjoy the evening!” Meryl approached our table with a half-empty bottle of wine and a sweet smile, but despite the lively atmosphere, I felt a chill run down my spine. I remember this scene from my previous life. Meryl, slightly tipsy, insisted on toasting everyone at the table. After pouring just three glasses, her bottle ran dry, and she passed out right there. I had to arrange for someone to take her home. Now, here she was again, standing right before us. “As a newcomer, I know I have much to learn from all of you,” she said warmly. “I brought some of my homemade wine to liven up the party. I hope you’ll do me the honor of trying it!” The annual toast was a tradition, but only middle management would usually approach us. Lower-level employees typically kept their distance. When Meryl appeared, none of us would have known her name if the HR director, Ronan Pierce, hadn’t introduced her. Yet here she was, acting like we were old friends, her intense gaze sweeping over us as she confidently poured the wine. “Oh my, the last drops are for Ms. Sinclair,” she said casually. As before, she had calculated ideally—exactly three glasses, and the bottle emptied right as she reached me. Noticing her flushed face, I offered her my drink as a substitute for alcohol, but she stubbornly insisted on having wine. Not wanting to embarrass the intern by implying I looked down on her brought wine, I drank it all despite its strange, fishy taste. Meryl exclaimed excitedly, “Wow! Ms. Sinclair, you’re such a great drinker!” She proudly showed my empty glass to everyone at the table, trembling with excitement and wild enthusiasm in her eyes. I smiled with a frown, thinking she was just tipsy, and didn’t think much of it. Then Meryl brought her wine glass to Leon’s side. Leon downed his drink in one go, and Rylan followed suit to be polite. The three of us finished all the wine she poured. The atmosphere at the table peaked, with Meryl barely able to contain her excitement. She slurred drunkenly, “Perfect, you all finished it!” “Every last drop!” she added with an unsettling mix of drunken excitement and something darker that gave me goosebumps. It was then that I noticed something off about the wine’s taste. Remembering Meryl’s shadowy looks and strange tone, I felt a chill run down my spine. Leon noticed my unease and suggested we get some fresh air on the balcony, touching his throat as he spoke. As Simon’s former military buddy, Leon mentored me when I first joined the company. He taught me about every department. He was both a teacher and a friend to me. But shortly after we sat on the balcony, the police arrested him for embezzlement. The prosecutor’s office found damning evidence at his home. I couldn’t believe a decorated veteran with three medals of honor would do such a thing. Unable to bear the false accusations and lacking evidence to defend himself despite his innocence, he left a handwritten note before taking his own life. By the time I attended his funeral, the holidays were over. When I returned to work, I found the company in turmoil. The distributors Rylan had carefully cultivated were now demanding to work exclusively with Meryl, threatening to end all cooperation otherwise. Rumors spread that Rylan had been taking kickbacks and exploiting the distributors, pushing them to rebel finally. I was the only one who sensed these successive events were somehow connected, too coincidental to be random. A week later, Meryl showed up at my house with DNA test results. “Ms. Sinclair, I am the chairman’s real daughter. You’re just a housekeeper’s illegitimate child who has been impersonating me all these years. It’s time to return everything that rightfully belongs to me.” The housekeeper said she had switched me with Meryl, making me the Sinclair family heiress. She took me away to settle her son’s gambling debts. I met a tragic end at their hands. Meanwhile, Meryl became the company’s CFO overnight, controlling key distributor relationships. With her newly proven identity as the true heiress, she smoothly took over my position as vice president. Three months later, my parents died in a sudden car accident. As the sole heiress of the Sinclair family, she inherited all the assets. The three of us who once symbolized power, wealth, and strength instantly fell from grace. Like a bolt of lightning, clarity struck my chaotic thoughts. Meryl was behind it all! We had all drunk the wine she had personally made!
I instinctively wanted to escape when I saw Meryl approaching with a bottle of wine. But before I could move, she called out loudly, “Ms. Sinclair, I’m honored to meet you finally! “I’m the new intern here, and I’ve only heard about you from others. I haven’t had the chance to meet you in person yet. I hope I can learn a lot from you!” Her voice trembled with nervousness, and her eyes were red with emotion. Everyone was surprised to see a new hire approaching the executives’ table to make a toast. Noticing their startled expressions, Ronan quickly stepped in to smooth things over. Ronan said, “Ms. Sinclair, Mr. Hunter, this is our new intern, Meryl. I apologize for not introducing her earlier. “Since everyone’s here, come on, Meryl, fill up everyone’s glasses and toast the executives.” My heart skipped a beat when he removed his glass and let Meryl fill everyone else’s with her bottle. Fragments of memories from my past life flooded back. If I remember correctly, Meryl only had an associate’s degree, yet she landed an internship at our company. Later, all her promotions were directly recommended by the HR director to Simon. After the company’s crisis, almost all the executives loyal to me were fired. At the same time, Ronan got promoted and became a major shareholder alongside Meryl. A chill ran down my spine as the realization hit me. I dug my nails into my palms to stay composed, but the memories of my past life still filled me with dread. When I remained silent, she held her wine glass with tears in her eyes. “Do you look down on my homemade wine, Ms. Sinclair?” Meryl asked tremblingly. “I brought it, especially from my hometown. It may not be as fancy as expensive wines, but I promise it’s clean!” she insisted. The atmosphere grew tense as her choked-up voice drew attention from others around us. “I’m sorry, Meryl, but I’ve already had a lot to drink. Why don’t we toast with soda instead?” I suggested diplomatically. When I still hadn’t picked up the wine glass, she became visibly upset and started wiping away tears, even taking a sip to prove her point. “Please trust me, the wine is excellent! We all make it back home! If you don’t want this glass, I can get you a fresh one. Just please don’t be angry with me!” Meryl’s tearful manipulation had backed me into a corner. Though I kept my face neutral, I noticed her subtle smirk and the unsettling look in her eyes. While I appeared calm outside, I was breaking into a cold sweat. Several people around us tried to smooth things over. “Ms. Sinclair, Meryl is putting herself out there. Just a small gesture would mean a lot!” someone chimed in. “That’s right! Just take a tiny sip! Show some encouragement to our intern!” Ronan added, pushing the glass towards me as if refusing would make me seem cruel to my staff. Seeing her chance, Meryl quickly raised her glass to toast with me. Their calculating eagerness was plain; even other employees gave me loaded looks. Left with no choice, I reluctantly took the glass. But just as it was about to touch my lips, breaking glass in the distance snapped me back to my senses. Pretending to be drunk, I stumbled and let the wine glass slip through my fingers. The dark red wine dripped down my coat, and in my panicked attempt to clean it up, I deliberately knocked over Leon’s and Rylan’s wine glasses on either side. Seeing the mess on the table, I felt relieved that my plan had worked. I apologized profusely to Meryl, “I’m so sorry! I guess I’ve had way too much to drink tonight. What a waste of such good wine! “Keep up the good work! There are lots of opportunities for growth in the company!” I said encouragingly. I gave her hand a supportive pat before excusing myself to change my clothes and leave the dinner party. Once outside, I called my assistant and instructed them to collect Ronan’s and Meryl’s used cutlery and wine glasses separately after dinner.
My heart was still racing even after the dinner ended. After the driver dropped me off at home, I received a call from Leon. Leon’s voice was concerned as he said, “Eleanor, are you okay? You seemed off tonight. Remember, you can always talk to us. With Simon away so often, don’t keep your troubles to yourself.” His caring words made my throat tighten as I remembered his tragic fate in my previous life. I took a deep breath before responding. I forced a casual tone and said, “I’m fine. I just had a bit too much to drink. Get some rest.” By the time I hung up, it was midnight. In my previous life, Leon would have been in police custody by now. I felt somewhat relieved, thinking that the tragedy might not repeat itself this time since we had not drunk the wine. But the following day, before dawn, my phone exploded with calls. “Ms. Sinclair, Mr. Hunter has been arrested on corruption charges!” My heart dropped, and I started trembling uncontrollably. Without wasting a second, I threw on some clothes and rushed to the police station. Just as my car came to a stop, Rylan jumped into the passenger seat. “Ms. Sinclair, I remember everything now! “That homemade wine Meryl poured separately for the three of us yesterday must have been tampered with!” I looked at Rylan, whose hands were shaking as badly as mine, and my stomach churned with anxiety. “But I spilled that wine, so why is Leon still being reported and arrested?” “To uncover the truth, we must talk to Mr. Hunter first.” Rylan’s eyes were filled with panic, but we knew questioning Leon was our only chance to understand what was happening. My heart jumped into my throat as I remembered Leon’s suicide from my past life, which had happened not long after this moment. Leon refused to talk, insisting he would only explain everything when he saw us, so the police granted us a meeting under their watchful eyes. “Finally, you’re here. I think I had the strangest dream!” Leon exclaimed. “At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but I grew suspicious when I saw Eleanor repeatedly refusing to drink that odd-smelling red wine. That’s why I deliberately knocked over her glass. “After I called you yesterday and got home, I fell into a deep sleep. Next thing I knew, the police were at my door this morning!” Despite his military background and countless brushes with death, he struggled to make sense of these bizarre events as he held his head in his hands. “In my previous life, everything went downhill after I drank the wine she brought that night. “I was kicked out of the company and jailed. The shock was too much for my elderly parents, who had always been proud of me! They both passed away. “Then I saw on the prison TV that Meryl had taken my position as the financial director. Her career skyrocketed, and she even jumped over you to become the company’s top executive. “I never understood where all that evidence in those rooms came from. “It’s like… she traded her fate for mine!” Leon’s final words hit Rylan and me like lightning. We, too, had experienced this bizarre swap of destinies! In our moment of shock, Rylan’s phone rang, and our sales assistant’s urgent voice blared through the speaker. “Ms. Sinclair, we’re in trouble! All our dealers want to terminate their contracts unless…” Rylan’s face turned pale. He asked, “Unless they can work with Meryl, the intern, instead of me, right?” The other end of the line went silent. Rylan hung up the phone and looked at me with despair, wholly deflated. “How could this happen? We didn’t even drink that wine! Something must have gone wrong…” Just then, I got a call from my family’s butler. “Ms. Sinclair, there’s a woman causing trouble at the house! She has a DNA test claiming she’s the real Sinclair heiress. I sent her away, but she’ll likely be back. Please be careful when you’re out.” My hand froze and my phone slipped to the floor. I broke out in a cold sweat despite the freezing temperature. I mechanically picked up my phone, and my eyes fell on the wine stains on my shoes. Leon and Rylan checked their clothes, their eyes widening in horror. “We didn’t drink the wine yesterday, but it spilled all over us! We all touched it!” “Damn it…” At that moment, Meryl sent me the DNA test results. The report clearly showed I had no blood relation to my father, while she was a 99.99% match with Simon! The black-and-white proof brought back the crushing fear from my past life. Leon would still go to prison. Rylan would still lose all the dealers. And I would still be exposed as the fake heiress.
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