When I was seventeen, I had a secret crush. My family was dirt poor. To buy him a birthday present, I saved up for an entire year. On the day my mom had her medical emergency, I left school early. That was when I overheard him laughing with his friends. “This piece of junk? You get better prizes in a cereal box.” His friend laughed loudly. “If you don’t want it, Cole, toss it to me. I could pawn it for a few bucks to pay for my gaming subscriptions.” “If you want it, take it.” Cole tossed it to him in disgust, and right then, his eyes met mine. Years later, at our high school reunion, I heard that Cole Davis had been looking for me for eight years. 1 When my eyes met Cole’s, his expression froze. The guy holding the watch scratched his head awkwardly. “Uh… do you want this back?” I looked at the watch in his hand. It was battered and scuffed, clearly tossed around without a second thought. It wasn’t a luxury watch. It cost almost two hundred dollars, but it took me nearly a year to save up for it. I saved it dollar by dollar, skipping my school lunches. My gaze dropped to Cole’s wrist. He was wearing a watch today. I didn’t recognize the brand, but I could tell it was worth infinitely more than the one I had given him. I silently took the watch from his friend’s hand, looked at Cole, and said slowly, “I’m sorry. I’ll take care of it myself.” Cole lowered his eyes. His lips pressed into a tight line, but he didn’t say a word. I rubbed the watch in my hands, feeling utterly humiliated, and turned to walk away. When I passed the first trash can outside the venue, I hardened my heart and threw the watch straight into the garbage. I turned my head and gave him one last look. He had lazily lifted his eyelids. A smirk played on his lips, and his eyes were full of mockery. I froze, then lowered my gaze. It was so humiliating. My secret crush. I didn’t know it then, but that single look from Cole would become my nightmare for years. 2 When I got home, my dad was sitting on the porch, a cheap cigarette hanging from his lips, his face etched with sorrow. My mom wasn’t there. He handed me a medical report. It said my mom had breast cancer. My dad took a deep drag of his cigarette. “The treatments will cost over a hundred thousand dollars. Your mom and I talked it over… we’re not going to do it.” “Your mom said she wanted some of my homemade barbecue ribs. Go to the store and buy some. I’m going to pick her up from the clinic.” I didn’t believe it. I flipped the report back and forth, my voice trembling. “Is it an official diagnosis? They make mistakes all the time! I’ll take her to a better hospital tomorrow. It has to be a misdiagnosis…” I stared at my dad stubbornly. My dad’s eyes were bloodshot. He just looked at me, silent. In that instant, my tears fell. I couldn’t stop them. Finally, I cried, “I’ll drop out of school. Let’s use my college fund for her treatment.” My dad kept his head down. I knew his heartbreak was no less than mine. My dad had a disabled right leg. Back in the day, my mom was the only one willing to be with him. She never looked down on him; she always encouraged him. Even though we were poor, my parents were deeply in love. In middle school, all my classmates started talking about their role models and beliefs. I asked my dad, “Dad, what do you believe in?” My dad didn’t really get the concept, so I tried to explain it to him. He scratched his head sheepishly and said, “I just believe in your mom.” Later on… I found my own belief, too. I wanted to grow up, make money, and take my parents to see the world. But now, my dad’s belief was collapsing. And so was mine. I grabbed my dad’s hand and rambled, “I’m not going back to school. I’ll work full-time. We’ll go to Boston to get Mom the best doctors.” My dad kept smoking. He didn’t say a word. But my mind was made up. I told my dad to go bring my mom home. Then I would pack our bags for Boston. I turned around and headed back toward the school. 3 Halfway there, it started to pour. Pedestrians rushed by, hurrying to escape the storm. Only then did I dare to cry. The rain and my tears mixed together. By the time I reached the school, the grounds were deserted. I reached my hands into the filthy trash can. The pungent, rotting smell kept hitting my nose. I dug through it over and over, but the watch I had thrown away wasn’t there. I bit my lip, wanting to slap myself for throwing it away in the first place. I could have pawned it for at least fifty bucks! I searched for hours. I dug through every single piece of trash in that bin, but the watch was gone. I walked home, completely empty inside. The streets were entirely abandoned by now. The rain was so heavy it physically hurt as it lashed against my skin. When I got back to our small house, my dad still wasn’t back. The home that used to be so warm now only felt freezing cold. I waited and waited… Finally, a neighbor rushed in, breathless and panicking. “Lily! Your mom and dad… they jumped off the bridge!” That year, I was a high school senior. I lost both my parents and became an orphan. 4 Eight years have passed, but I still can’t forget what happened that day. I sat up in bed and checked my phone. It was only 4:00 AM. I looked into the empty room and whispered, “Dad… Mom…” Just like always, there was no response. I lowered my head. For eight years… They haven’t visited me in my dreams once. In my dreams, there is only Cole Davis. With that smirk on his lips and mockery in his eyes, laughing and asking: “Have you no shame, Lily?” Every time I shouted back that I did, I would wake up. I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I just got up and started packing. After numbly arranging my parents’ funeral back then, I left that town. I moved to a new city, working part-time jobs while taking night classes. Juggling work and school was incredibly bitter. But I didn’t dare stop. The moment I stopped moving, I would start crying. I went to a doctor. They diagnosed me with clinical depression. They said I needed someone to pull me out of the shadows of that day. But there was no one like that in my life… After being away for eight years, I recently started feeling a strong urge to go back. I wanted to see the river my parents jumped into. I wanted to jump in myself, just to ask them why they were so cruel to leave me behind. I was so tired… Since I was going back anyway, I figured I shouldn’t avoid my old classmates anymore. So, when Liam, our old class president, asked in the group chat who was going to the reunion, I was the first to say yes. I hadn’t sent a single message in that group for eight years. I had deleted all their contacts, too. Including Cole’s. 5 I bought a ticket for the earliest Amtrak train. I felt incredibly relaxed. For the first time in eight years, I felt light. I watched the beautiful scenery outside the window and smiled as I chatted with the young couple sitting across the aisle. The girl said, “You have no idea how hard it was to get him to date me! All the girls liked him, but I held on for two years. Now I’m finally taking him to meet my parents!” “You look so happy, are you heading home too? I swear, the air just smells sweeter when you’re on your way to see your family.” I fell silent for a moment, then forced a smile. “Yeah. I’m going home, too.” “Going home… to see my parents.” I muttered the last part so softly that only I could hear it. But the thought brought me comfort. Soon… I would see them again. I hummed a song for the rest of the ride. When I got off the train, I headed straight to the restaurant Liam had booked. 6 Most people had already arrived by the time I walked in. The moment I stepped through the door, the room fell dead silent. I walked over and took the seat closest to the exit. I dropped the smile from my face. Liam pushed his glasses up his nose, breaking the silence. “Lily? You actually made it.” I nodded. Chloe Taylor, a girl who always hated my guts, let out a sarcastic click of her tongue. “Well, if it isn’t our elusive little Valedictorian. Seeing your face just makes me lose my appetite. Somebody ought to text Cole and tell him to skip tonight…” No one knew the real reason I dropped out of school back then. But everyone knew I had a crush on Cole, and they all knew about the gift I gave him. The girl sitting next to Chloe tugged her sleeve, trying to quiet her. Liam frowned. “Just drop it, Chloe. Cole has been looking for Lily for eight years. If we tell him she’s here, he’ll be thrilled.” Chloe snorted a laugh. “Cole is just a nice guy. Since when is it a crime to not like someone back?” “He’s probably been looking for her for eight years just to apologize.” “Is it a crime to reject someone? Everyone knows Lily transferred because she embarrassed herself over him. You’re making it sound like Cole was in love with her.” “Doesn’t Cole already have a girl anyway? I heard she’s a gorgeous heiress. Aside from a pretty face, what did Lily ever have to offer? A crippled dad? A house made of rotting wood?” “Give me a break…” As Chloe’s words grew more vicious, the rest of the table frowned in discomfort. I stood up. My expression was perfectly calm. “I’m not eating. You don’t have to worry about losing your appetite. I just came to see everyone’s faces one last time. Now that I have, I’ll be going.” With that, I pulled the door open and walked out. Liam chased after me. He grabbed my wrist, looking deadly serious. “Lily, Cole really has been looking for you for eight years. Won’t you wait for him?” Cole’s face flashed in my mind. He was so handsome. His eyes were stunning. But when he looked at me, those eyes held absolutely no affection. Only a mocking smirk. I shook my head and smiled. “I’m on a tight schedule. If you see him, tell him I’m sorry. Tell him… I’m really sorry.” Liam froze in his tracks.

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After I became paralyzed from the waist down, I thought about ending it all. Many times. Until my friends showed up. “Harper, come out and shoot some hoops.” I stared at them blankly, looking down at my wheelchair. I pointed out that playing basketball was going to be a bit difficult for me right now. They had a stroke of genius: “Then you can fetch the ball for us.” When we went shopping, they bought new clothes and boba tea. Whenever their hands got full, they just dumped everything onto my lap. I rolled behind them, my numb legs buried under a mountain of girls’ accessories and shopping bags. Every now and then, they would turn around and spoon-feed me a bite of ice cream. They would run laps around my wheelchair, laughing and shoving each other. In that moment. I found a reason to stay alive. 1 The summer I turned sixteen. I became paralyzed. But, they would say: “Harper, you’ve got this.” “Harper, let’s go out.” “Harper, you’d look so good in a dress. Hold on, we’re putting one on you.” “Harper, let me sit in your wheelchair for a sec, my feet are killing me.” “Harper, want to run a marathon with us? We’ll give you a three-minute head start.” “Harper, we’re best friends for life.” …… Early morning. I had been sitting out on the balcony all night again. My mom pushed the door open. First, she sighed. Then she started making my bed. As she straightened the sheets, she couldn’t help but sob softly. Irritated, I snapped at her: “If you’re going to cry, go cry outside.” The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them. But before I could apologize, a half-eaten apple was thrown into the living room from the hallway. Followed by a furious roar. “That is your mother.” “Watch how you speak to her!” “We didn’t cause your condition, so what gives you the right to take it out on us?” As my dad’s words echoed, the apple rolled across the floor and hit my foot. I couldn’t bend down to pick it up. I just watched it roll underneath my wheelchair. A million thoughts raced through my head. I hated myself for not even being able to do something so simple. My mom looked at me with wet eyes, then walked over. She practiced the motion: squatting, then dropping to her knees. She reached her arm under my wheelchair, feeling around blindly. Her face flushed red from the exertion. Finally, she retrieved the apple. She looked up at me with a goofy, exhausting smile. Her thin lips were pale and chapped. She looked unkempt. “Harper, Mom made some chicken noodle soup. Do you want to try a little?” I stayed stubbornly silent, looking away in disgust at her messy appearance. Before I got sick, she never looked like this. She used to wear beautiful dresses and pearl jewelry. She dressed more stylishly than I did; people used to mistake us for sisters. How did my illness end up ruining her life, too? I thought about the bony spine protruding from her back when she bent over to grab the apple. Her little tummy and double chin were completely gone. In just two years, she had withered into an emaciated, unkempt woman with half a head of gray hair. It wasn’t fair. I didn’t want to be the villain of this family. But I had no choice. I was the villain. Because of my recklessness, this family had been reduced to this. And yet, I refused to act my age. I always used violent, icy emotions to mask my deep-seated shame. I threw tantrums, blaming my mom, blaming my dad, blaming the car crash. But deep down, the person I hated most was myself. Perhaps sensing my quiet despair, my mom gently patted my head. I just kept my head down, and in a very, very small voice. I said, “I’m sorry.” 2 During dinner, the house phone suddenly rang. My mom put down her fork and ran to answer it. “Hello? Hi!” “You’re looking for Harper? Sure.” “Harper is home, come on over.” She walked back to the table, chewing on a piece of leftover toast from yesterday. “Harper, that was Chloe and Zoe. They said they’re downstairs and they want to take you out shopping.” My mom’s tone was incredibly cautious, as if terrified I would throw another tantrum. And of course, I did. I screamed at her: “Shopping? You want me, a paraplegic, to go shopping with them?” “You want me to sit there and watch them walk around in their pretty dresses with their perfectly working legs?” “Did you even consider how I would feel?” “Are you even my mother?” My mom’s face went sheet white. She looked at me in a panic and quickly crouched down to soothe me. “No, sweetheart, Mom didn’t mean it like that.” “They were your best friends. I just thought you’d want to see them.” “It’s okay, if you don’t want to see them, you don’t have to. Mom will go call them and tell them to go home.” I turned my face away, ignoring her. Suddenly, a heavy fist slammed onto the dining table. “Harper Davis!” “Are you ever going to stop?” “This entire family has quit jobs and fallen ill just to take care of you.” “We haven’t had a single good day.” “What? Are you the only person in the whole world who doesn’t have legs?” “Why is it that everyone else can find a way to move on, but you insist on wallowing in misery?” “It’s been two years. How long are you going to keep doing this?” “If you act like this, how can your mother ever rest easy… how can she…” He seemed to realize something, cutting his sentence short and falling silent. I continued to pretend I couldn’t hear him, biting down hard on the tip of my tongue to swallow the surge of anger. My mom was terrified. She rushed over and pried my jaw open with her bare hands. “Okay, okay, we won’t force you anymore.” “Be a good girl, Harper. If you don’t want to go out, we won’t go out.” “Whenever you feel ready, then we’ll take you…” Before she could finish, there was a knock on our front door. Followed by a chorus of long-lost, giggling voices. “Harper! Open the door, I really have to pee!” “Harper, we heard you were depressed, so the girls are here to cheer you up.” “Harper, we brought your favorite boba, but there’s only half left because haha, I drank the other half.” Hearing their voices, a completely indescribable feeling washed over me. It was complicated. But there was also a strange, undeniable spark of joy. 3 Chloe and Zoe were my absolute best friends from elementary through middle school. But after my parents and I moved out of state, we lost touch. They didn’t even know about the accident during my sophomore year of high school. According to my mom, they both ended up going to college in this city. They ran into my mom by chance and finally learned what had happened to me. So they immediately came to see me. I figured, let them look. This is what I am now anyway. This is what the rest of my life is going to be. I took a deep breath and spun my chair around. I braced myself for their pitiful, sympathetic, teary-eyed gazes. But surprisingly, none of that happened. Chloe said: “Harper, how is your skin so clear? You’re so pale.” Zoe said: “Oh my god, you’re so skinny! You’d look amazing in a dress.” I froze for a second. I looked at them. And then, for some inexplicable reason, I smiled. And I mocked myself. “Lock yourself in a house for two years and you’ll get pale and skinny, too.” But I felt a little happy. I don’t know why. They didn’t seem to look at me like a disabled person. It was just like the old days. They still wanted to compare everything with me. Comparing whose nose looked better. Comparing whose butt was perkier. Comparing who could catch the attention of the senior boys. At least they weren’t here to pity me. And I didn’t have to pretend everything was fine. I didn’t have to put on a brave face just to comfort them. 4 After eating, driven by pure curiosity. They fought over who got to push me downstairs. To the point where they almost flipped me out of the wheelchair. It wasn’t until I literally crashed into the elevator doors and got my head trapped between them. That they finally panicked. They hurriedly wrestled me back into the seat. They weren’t very strong, so they ended up grabbing my arms, chasing the rolling wheelchair all the way down the hallway. After a few minutes of chaos. The three of us just burst out laughing for no reason. It was, admittedly, a ridiculous scene. Once they safely secured me in the wheelchair, they stopped fighting over who got to push. Instead, they stood on either side of me, pulled out their compact mirrors, and seriously started fixing their hair and makeup. They didn’t forget to roll my pant legs back down for me, either. I was just about to ask what the occasion was. When I looked up and saw the older boy from next door. He walked toward us with a big smile, deep dimples on his cheeks. He was over six feet tall, spinning a basketball on his finger. He asked politely. “Harper, are you girls heading out?” I nodded. He smiled politely again. “I’m heading to the courts to shoot some hoops. If you guys are bored, you can come watch.” “We’re going shopping, maybe another time…” But before I could finish, I was aggressively interrupted. “No another time! Today is perfect!” “Which court are you playing at? We’ll bring you water!” …… And just like that. My lap was piled high with Gatorade. They pushed me along, treating me like a glorified grocery cart. Handing out water to everyone, flipping their hair, striking poses. Whenever they spotted a cute guy, they decided I was in the way. And shoved me to the sidelines. Telling me to go chill in the shade. When it was all over. I accidentally saw the keychains dangling from their backpacks. “Harper is my best friend.” 5 I am their best friend. My only friends are Chloe and Zoe. I don’t want to be friends with anyone else. 6 That night, they brought me home. They each demolished two massive slices of pizza and collapsed onto the sofa. “Harper, what’s your Wi-Fi password?” “Harper, get down, let me sit in your wheelchair for a bit.” “Harper, grab me an apple. Oh, and some chips, too.” “Harper, you’re blocking the TV. Move over.” …… I randomly grabbed an apple and threw it at them. Pretending to be annoyed, I said: “I’m going to bed. I’m exhausted.” As soon as I said that, my mom suddenly froze. A thick mist gathered in her eyes. She said. “Harper wants to go to sleep? Mom will carry you to bed.” Then, she emotionally pushed me toward my bedroom. I knew exactly why she was reacting this way. After all, before Chloe and Zoe showed up. It had been a very long time since I naturally wanted to go to sleep. I survived solely on sleeping pills. I nodded, letting her drag my senseless body. She wasn’t a strong woman, but she was always able to lift me up all by herself. I only found out later that my mom had secretly spent months practicing lifting heavy sandbags just to be able to carry me. But today was a little strange. She seemed to be struggling to lift me. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, and her breathing was heavier than usual. I asked: “Mom, what’s wrong?” She shook her head and said: “Nothing, Mom’s hands just slipped.” “Don’t worry, Harper, Mom can definitely pick you up.” Eventually, she managed to carry me to bed. But I also saw the profound heartbreak in the eyes of the man standing behind her. Honestly, a lot of times. I couldn’t tell if my dad loved me or not. But I knew he deeply loved my mom. Isn’t it natural for a husband to love his wife? If he loved me a little less. That was fine. I didn’t need that much love.

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Five-year-old Chloe stood on the coffee table in front of the whole family and proudly declared that she had been reincarnated. She pointed at me and said, “Two minutes from now, Mommy is going to hand me over to human traffickers, and they’re going to gouge my eyes out.” Everyone thought she was just talking nonsense. But two minutes later, my daughter vanished into thin air. When we finally found her, her eyes were nothing but a bloody, ruined mess. I held my little girl in my arms, rushing her to the hospital in an ambulance, but she whispered, “In a second, Mommy is going to fake a car crash to kill me for good, because she thinks I’m not her real daughter.” Sure enough, the very next second, a massive semi-truck plowed into our ambulance, flipping it over. After that, the entire family believed that my daughter truly was reincarnated and could predict the future. I desperately crawled out of the wreckage. I just wanted to save my daughter, but my husband grabbed me by the hair, furiously beat me to a pulp, and threw me to the side of the road, leaving me to bleed out. Chloe was saved. From her hospital bed, she told them, “Mommy was the other woman. she deliberately got pregnant with me just to steal Daddy away from Vivian. She never loved me.” My husband’s family was heartbroken for her. My husband immediately filed for divorce and kicked me out of the house. I was left homeless on the streets. Eventually, my wounds got heavily infected, and I died in a filthy alleyway by a dumpster. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the exact day my daughter claimed she had lived a past life. “I’ve been reincarnated. I can predict the future!” My five-year-old daughter’s childish voice rang in my ears. I opened my eyes and found her standing on the living room table, her hands proudly planted on her hips. The whole family was sitting around. They treated it as the innocent, imaginative babble of a toddler. No one took her seriously. But a severe chill ran down my spine. In my previous life, it was this exact sentence that led to my gruesome death on the side of the road. I instinctively touched my body where my wounds used to be. The phantom pain was still fresh in my memory. My mother-in-law, Brenda, played along. “Yes, yes, of course! Our little Chloe is a psychic. You’re going to do great things when you grow up.” But Brenda’s dismissive tone upset Chloe. She yelled at the top of her lungs. “I really am reincarnated! In my last life, Mommy was the one who killed me! She handed me over to human traffickers!” “They scooped my eyes out and made me blind!” Chloe glared at me angrily, as if every word were the absolute truth. Her outbursts finally annoyed my father-in-law, Arthur. “Hey, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? Have you been watching too many scary cartoons?” Hearing her grandpa scold her, Chloe looked incredibly wronged and threw herself into Brenda’s arms. “Grandma, I’m not lying! Mommy is a bad person! I don’t want to die!” Brenda glared at Arthur. “She’s just a kid with an active imagination, why are you being so mean to her?” Seeing Brenda coddle her like that, I couldn’t help but let out a cold, internal sneer. Active imagination. If I hadn’t literally died because of this kid’s mouth in my last life, I might have actually believed it. After scolding her husband, Brenda turned to look at me. “Evelyn, don’t just stand there staring. I think we’re out of milk in the fridge. Go down to the corner store and grab a gallon.” I nodded. My mind was already racing, trying to figure out how to deal with Chloe. I grabbed my purse and headed for the door. Right at that moment, Chloe looked at me in absolute terror. “Ah! Mommy is going outside to call the kidnappers! Don’t let Mommy take me away!” Chloe’s sudden, extreme reaction worried Brenda, who hugged her tighter. “Oh my goodness, what is wrong with this child today? Why does she keep saying these crazy things?” I stopped at the front door. I looked at my daughter curled up in her grandmother’s arms, then glanced at the clock on the wall. It was exactly one minute away from the time Chloe predicted I would hand her over to the traffickers. In my past life, because I was worried that Chloe was having some kind of panic attack, I didn’t go to the store. I asked Brenda to go instead. While Brenda was gone, Chloe told me her stomach hurt and she needed to use the bathroom. I took her to the downstairs half-bath. And then… she just vanished. To this day, the memory of her disappearing from a windowless room felt completely bizarre. It wasn’t until the kidnappers called demanding a ransom that we knew she had actually been abducted. The police even sent a forensics team to inspect the bathroom, but they couldn’t figure out how a five-year-old was transported miles away in under an hour. I hesitated for half a second. I closed the front door, pulled out my cell phone, and called my husband, Marcus. “Hey, when you get off work, remember to pick up a gallon of milk. Chloe is throwing a massive tantrum at home, I think she might be coming down with something.” Marcus’s impatient voice blared through the speaker. “Are you kidding me? I’m in the middle of a client meeting! What do you even do at home all day? Go buy it yourself!” He hung up on me. I didn’t get angry. I simply turned around and walked back into the living room. “Brenda, I think Chloe really is terrified of something. Let’s just stay in the living room with her for now.” “I’ll book an in-home child psychologist to come take a look at her later.” Brenda immediately frowned. “Isn’t that a bit of an overreaction? Kids are just mischievous sometimes.” “Mental health is just as important as physical health, Brenda. I’m her mother, it’s my job to worry.” I put on a highly convincing mask of maternal concern, walked over, and gently touched Chloe’s cheek. Then, I stood up and pushed open the door to the downstairs bathroom. “By the way, Brenda, I noticed some roaches scurrying around the baseboards in here. I just bought some industrial-strength bug bomb spray. I’m going to fumigate the bathroom right now. Nobody use this bathroom for the next three hours, okay? It’s highly toxic.” My little maneuver clearly threw a wrench in Chloe’s plans. Her expression instantly panicked. Let’s see how your ‘prophecy’ comes true now, I thought. The two-minute mark quickly passed. Chloe’s prediction of being handed to traffickers fell apart. The rest of the family still didn’t think much of it. But right on cue, Chloe suddenly yelled out. “No! I have to poop! I’m going to poop my pants!” Brenda immediately panicked. “Oh no, what do we do? Evelyn, can we use the bathroom yet?” I had noticed Chloe’s eyes darting around nervously for the past few minutes. She was clearly scheming. Looking at her, I calmly pulled out a plastic training potty I had grabbed from the garage. “Use this. The bathroom is strictly off-limits right now.” “I want to use the real toilet! I don’t want to use the plastic pot! If you don’t let me, I’ll poop in my pants!” My five-year-old daughter was actually trying to threaten me. I just sneered. “Then do it. The bathroom is toxic right now. If you ruin your clothes, I’ll just buy you new ones.” My response completely blindsided her. She started screaming, “Mommy is a bad guy! Grandma, call 911 and arrest Mommy, or else she’s going to kill me!” “Fine. Grandma can call the police right now. When the cops get here, I’ll just tell them you pooped your pants.” Seeing that I was completely unmoved, Chloe puffed out her cheeks, held her breath, and turned her face beet red in defiance. “Oh my god, Chloe, what are you doing?! Open your mouth!” Brenda was terrified the kid was going to suffocate herself and frantically pried Chloe’s mouth open. Watching her throw this massive tantrum, I felt absolutely no anxiety. I had always thought I raised her well. Whatever she asked for, as long as it was reasonable, I gave it to her. I tried with every fiber of my being to raise an honest, loving child. I couldn’t comprehend why she turned out this way. Seeing that I wasn’t backing down, Chloe actually forced herself to soil her pants right there in the living room. A foul stench filled the air. Brenda pinched her nose and scolded, “You little brat! You actually did it!” Brenda immediately got up to fetch a basin of warm water and some wipes from the upstairs closet to clean her up. I didn’t stop her. I calmly stood up and walked into the master bedroom to grab a fresh pair of pants for Chloe. However, when I stepped out of the bedroom with the clean clothes, I froze. Brenda was standing in the living room holding a basin of water, looking at me in absolute bewilderment. Chloe was gone. The living room was completely empty. Arthur had fallen asleep on the sofa at some point, and Chloe’s soiled pants were just lying on the floor. Brenda started to panic. We searched the entire house, inside and out, but Chloe was nowhere to be found. There was no sound of a door opening. No footsteps. A five-year-old child had vanished into thin air, again. “How is this possible?” I was even more frantic than Brenda. I knew exactly what was coming next. Is fate really impossible to change? I gritted my teeth, tearing the room apart looking for clues, but found absolutely nothing. Panic set in. I instinctively made the exact same choice I did in my past life: I dialed 911. While waiting for the police, I didn’t sit still. I ran through the entire neighborhood, scouring every street, but there was no sign of her. Refusing to give up, I begged the HOA security to let me check the neighborhood surveillance cameras, but there wasn’t a single frame of Chloe leaving the house. When the police arrived, everything played out almost exactly like my past life. They found no valuable leads, told us to be patient, and left to file the report. It wasn’t until I received the video on my phone—the horrifying video of my daughter’s eyes being mutilated—that despair truly set in. What was meant to happen, happened. The kidnappers called the house, demanding a one-million-dollar ransom. When Brenda saw the state Chloe was in, she cried until she had no tears left. Marcus rushed home from work. The second he saw the torture video, he backhanded me across the face so hard I tasted blood, screaming in pure rage. “I leave you at home to take care of our kid, and this is how you do it?!” “If anything happens to Chloe, I’ll make you pay with your life!” If the police hadn’t been in the room, I honestly think Marcus would have killed me right then and there. Later, when the police asked about any strange behavior before the disappearance, Arthur suddenly slapped his thigh as if he just remembered something. “Wait! I remember Chloe saying that her mother was going to hand her over to human traffickers, and that they were going to gouge her eyes out!” The prophecy came true. Brenda suddenly gasped, acting like she just had a revelation. “Yes! I was actually recording a video for my Facebook page right when she said it!” Brenda pulled out her phone and played a video she took earlier that day. In the background, Chloe was standing on the table, screaming the exact words that had dragged me into hell. I was dumbfounded. From start to finish, I never even noticed Brenda recording anything. Before I could fully process it, Marcus lunged at me like a madman, grabbing me by the collar. “That’s your own flesh and blood! How could you be so sick? Are you a monster?!” Before the cops could pull him off, he delivered a brutal kick directly to my chest. I collapsed onto the floor. The searing physical pain suddenly snapped my brain into sharp focus. Wait. Something isn’t right here. My mind raced at lightning speed. Looking at Marcus’s twisted, furious face, I suddenly had an epiphany. “You’re going to believe the random babble of a five-year-old?” I wheezed. “Your parents were both in the house with me! Why don’t you accuse them of doing it?” Seeing my piercing glare, Brenda looked slightly guilty. “She’s right, Marcus. Evelyn was in the living room with us the whole time. It couldn’t have been her.” “Then how do you explain this?!” Marcus looked like he wanted to kick me again. Finally, the lead detective intervened. “Enough! Finding the child is the priority. Stop fighting over a toddler’s words.” The officer’s warning forced Marcus to back down, but he continued to glare daggers at me. The police asked me to call the kidnappers back so they could trace the location. But a passing comment from Brenda made everything click in my head. “I don’t know where she learned to say those things… could she really be reincarnated?” I froze. If Chloe was really a rebirther who had lived a past life, and she had been confronting me this whole time… wouldn’t she have realized that I was acting differently too? Wouldn’t she realize I was also reincarnated? Someone was coaching my daughter to lie. “We don’t need to trace the call. I know exactly where they want to make the drop.” The detectives looked at me in confusion. To prevent Marcus from doing anything crazy, I pulled the lead detective into a separate room and gave him an exact address. The detective was skeptical at first. But ten minutes later, a text came through from the kidnappers. The address was identical to the one I had just given him. Though shocked, the police agreed to follow my lead to save the hostage. I told the detective to only deploy a small tactical team to the drop-off location for the arrest. Meanwhile, I begged him to heavily patrol the route between the drop-off site and the nearest trauma hospital, and to intercept any suspicious vehicles. “I can’t do that,” the detective frowned. “That’s tactically unsound. I have to prioritize the hostage at the primary location.” “But what if the people at the drop-off are just pawns? What if the real killers are waiting on the road to ambush the ambulance and finish the job?!” I was borderline hysterical. “I refuse to watch my family die!” The detective noticed how desperate I was. Eventually, he agreed to a compromise, stating they would have units on standby along the route, but would adjust dynamically if things went sideways. I had a very good reason for doing this. In my past life, after the police raided the drop-off site, they interrogated the “kidnappers”—only to find out they were just broke college kids looking for acting gigs. Someone had hired them online to “play a prank” for a hidden camera show. They had no idea it was a real kidnapping. I arrived at the drop-off with the duffel bag of cash. Just like in my previous life, the raid went perfectly. The college kids were arrested without a fight, and Chloe was rescued. Because her injuries were severe, she was immediately loaded into an ambulance. I rode in the back with her. She looked miserable, crying in pain. The wounds where her eyes used to be were already showing signs of severe infection. She was only five years old. She was my flesh and blood. Seeing her like this shattered my heart. This time, I didn’t wait for her to speak first. I leaned in and asked the burning question in my mind. “Chloe… tell Mommy the truth. Did Daddy tell you to do all this?” I never expected her reaction. The second the words left my mouth, she started screaming in sheer terror. “Ahhh! Mommy, don’t kill me! I’m sorry! I won’t ever say those things again!” But at the exact same moment she was screaming, she secretly pressed something hard into the palm of my hand. A smartwatch. CRASH! A deafening roar ripped through the air as a fully-loaded semi-truck slammed directly into the side of our ambulance without warning. Our vehicle flipped violently. In the end, what was meant to happen, happened anyway. I crawled out of the shattered side window of the ambulance, incredibly dizzy and fighting the urge to vomit. I saw Marcus, Brenda, and Arthur rushing out of trailing police cruisers, frantically running toward the wreckage. But when the paramedics pulled Chloe from the crushed metal… she was gone. She wasn’t breathing. Half of the ambulance had been flattened. One of the EMTs had also died on impact. Police officers dragged the truck driver out of his cab and pinned him to the asphalt. “My baby! My little girl!” Still dazed, Marcus’s agonizing wails pierced my ears. I turned my head and saw him clutching Chloe’s lifeless body, sobbing in absolute despair. That raw, visceral grief… it wasn’t fake. He was genuinely broken. “It was you! You killed my granddaughter! I heard her on the radio! She begged you not to kill her!” “Give me back my granddaughter! Give her back…” Brenda ran over, slapped me hard across the face, and then collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. The sting of the slap grounded me. I looked over at the truck driver pinned to the ground. I had never seen his face before in my life. No. This is wrong. Why is my daughter dead? In the last timeline, she survived the crash. What changed? What did I miss? Before I could piece it together, Marcus suddenly pulled a pocket knife from his jacket and lunged at me. I couldn’t react in time. He stabbed me multiple times in the abdomen. His eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he wanted to eat me alive. “Why?! Why did you orchestrate her kidnapping?! Hasn’t she suffered enough beatings from you?!” “She’s just a little girl! Even if she found out your dirty secrets, why did you have to silence her?! You animal! You don’t deserve to be a mother! You don’t deserve…” Marcus kept screaming things that made absolutely no sense to me. I wanted to open my mouth to ask him what the hell he was talking about, but my body suddenly felt weightless. I collapsed. The police tackled Marcus to the ground. The crash site was absolute chaos. I had so many unanswered questions, but there was no one left to answer them. “Ms. Evelyn, I regret to inform you that your daughter has passed away. Furthermore, the police are currently investigating you as the primary suspect in her murder.” “Your husband, Marcus, asked me to deliver this to you.” A lawyer stood beside my hospital bed and handed me a stack of divorce papers. “Mr. Marcus has already signed it. He instructed me to tell you that he wants a clean break. He is leaving all joint assets and the house to you.” “However, he will be pressing civil and criminal charges against you for the murder of your biological daughter. We will notify you of the court dates.” With that, the lawyer turned on his heel and walked out. I stared at the divorce papers in my hands, gripping them until my knuckles turned white. “Why me?” I muttered to myself. Even though things played out slightly differently than my past life, the end result was the same. I didn’t understand what I had done wrong, or where the glitch in the timeline was. I had suspected Marcus, but looking at his raw grief and his willingness to walk away from all our money… he didn’t seem to have any motive to orchestrate this. Then why did my daughter turn into a monster who constantly claimed I was going to kill her? What kind of environment forces a five-year-old to do that? I thought about it for hours until I suddenly remembered the crazy things Marcus screamed while he was stabbing me. He definitely knows something I don’t. But in his current state, there was no way he would sit down and have a rational conversation with me. Suddenly, it hit me. The moment I was discharged from the hospital, I went straight to the police precinct. Because I was a person of interest, they were keeping close tabs on me anyway. I asked the detectives for permission to see my daughter’s body in the morgue. They allowed it, but with a strict time limit. When the coroner pulled back the sheet, I stared at the dark, mottled bruises covering her tiny body. I was completely paralyzed. The medical examiner told me those kinds of marks only appear in cases of extreme, prolonged physical abuse. “And those bruises are layered. New injuries over old ones. If you claim you didn’t do this to your daughter, then someone else in that house absolutely did.” The detectives also informed me that the truck driver who hit us had no clear motive for murder. The initial ruling was that he lost control of his brakes. Combined with the things my daughter yelled in the ambulance right before the crash, all the evidence pointed directly back to me. “By the way,” one of the detectives noted, “during the autopsy, we noticed a tan line on her wrist consistent with a kid’s smartwatch. Your husband mentioned she always wore one, but we didn’t recover it from the scene. Do you know where it is?” The detective’s words struck me like a bolt of lightning. I played dumb, shook my head, and quickly left the precinct. Once I was safely locked in my car, I pulled out the smartwatch Chloe had secretly shoved into my hand in the ambulance. I powered it on, and a digital notepad app popped up on the tiny screen. As I read the little lines of text, tears began streaming down my face. I finally understood why my daughter had turned out that way. Because the cause of Chloe’s death was still under investigation, Marcus’s family refused to bury her yet. I had no choice but to go back to our house. The moment I unlocked the front door, I heard laughter and cheerful voices echoing from the living room. “Oh, Vivian, honey, don’t you worry. Marcus is finalizing the divorce with that monster. You’re the only woman I acknowledge as my daughter-in-law.” “Brenda, please, you shouldn’t say that. I know Marcus is grieving right now. We should wait.” “Yes, yes, we should wait. Oh, it’s such a tragedy about little Chloe. My poor, sweet granddaughter.” The sound of the front door closing caused the entire living room to go dead silent. All eyes snapped toward me. A heavily made-up, glamorous woman was sitting cozily between Brenda and Marcus. The second Brenda made eye contact with me, she started screaming. “You murderous bitch! What are you doing back here?! Get out! Get the hell out of my house!” She marched up to me and started violently shoving my shoulders, trying to push me back out the door. Arthur stood up, his face dark with rage. “You murderer. Stop disgusting us with your presence. If you don’t leave right now, I’ll beat you to a pulp.” Watching my normally “loving” in-laws drop their masks so quickly filled me with a cold, dark amusement. Before I could speak, Vivian casually strolled up to me, looking me up and down with utter contempt. “So, you’re Chloe’s biological mother? To do that to your own flesh and blood… you’re worse than an animal.”

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My life had entered its final countdown, and I finally decided to let go of everything. I abandoned the noisy, exhausting city and moved back to my small hometown. My neighbor told me that the local sheriff’s deputies handled just about everything around here. Folks went to them for any kind of trouble—including welfare checks and handling arrangements when someone passed away alone. I was terrified of falling asleep one day and never waking up, with no one to take care of my body. But I never expected that when I walked into the local station, I would run into my ex-boyfriend from six years ago. When enemies meet, their eyes blaze red. He didn’t give me a single shred of warmth. He just scowled and told me to get lost. I had no way out, so I braced myself and asked, “I can’t get lost just yet. Can you wait a little longer?” With him around, my death wouldn’t be so quiet. After all, he was the one who said it. He once promised that the day karma finally killed me, he would buy fireworks to celebrate. 1 On my very first day back in my hometown, I spent hours cleaning up the old house. Then, I lay down on the bed to wait for death. Suddenly, my neighbor knocked on the door. She had brought over a plate of homemade apple pie to welcome me. She enthusiastically told me, “Sweetheart, you’re living all alone. If you ever run into any trouble, just go to the sheriff’s station down the street.” “A young woman by herself needs to be careful. I have Deputy Miller’s number. Why don’t you add him? If anything happens, you can just text him.” “Plus, he’s about your age. Who knows, maybe it’ll be a match made in heaven,” Mrs. Higgins teased, covering her mouth with a laugh. A match made in heaven didn’t matter to me. I only had about a month left to live anyway. I wasn’t about to drag anyone down with me. Right now, my only hope was finding someone who could handle my funeral arrangements. Thinking it over, I realized her suggestion made sense. Having a deputy as a contact would definitely be reliable when the time came. Mrs. Higgins quickly texted me Deputy Miller’s contact info. His profile picture was a silhouette of a girl standing against the sunlight. So much for a match made in heaven, I thought. He clearly already had a girl he loved. I sent a friend request. A moment later, he replied with a single question mark. Were all cops this cold nowadays? Looking closer, I realized I had forgotten to include an introduction message. I quickly typed: “Hi, I’m Harper. I just moved back to town.” That should be enough for him to accept, right? But this time, he didn’t reply at all. It wasn’t until late that night, when I had almost forgotten about it, that my phone buzzed. He sent: “What the hell is your problem?” 2 I froze. Why was he cursing at me? I went next door to ask Mrs. Higgins, double-checking the number just to make sure I hadn’t added the wrong person. “Mrs. Higgins, does this deputy have a really bad temper?” “No way! Deputy Miller looks tough, but he has a heart of gold. Whenever anyone in town has an issue, he’s the first to help.” That was weird. I hadn’t even done anything to him. Why was he mad at me? Patiently, I typed out a long paragraph explaining why I had added him. But he never replied. Mrs. Higgins offered a solution: “Don’t worry about it. I’m free tomorrow, I’ll take you down to the station so you can introduce yourself in person. It’ll make things easier later.” The sky grew dark. My failing body couldn’t handle staying up late anymore. I thanked her sincerely, went back home, washed up, and got into bed. But lying there, I couldn’t sleep. My brain felt heavy and chaotic. I was sleeping in my old childhood bedroom. I hadn’t cleared out the other rooms yet—especially Grams’s room. I tossed and turned. Suddenly, my nose felt warm. I reached up to wipe it. My fingers came away slick with thick, sticky blood. That woke me up instantly. Relying on the moonlight filtering through the window, I clutched my bleeding nose and struggled to sit up. I blindly stumbled into the bathroom. When I flicked on the light, I saw that my pajamas were already stained dark red. I went through the familiar routine of stopping the nosebleed, but a wave of dizzying vertigo hit me hard. I gripped the edge of the sink, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Tangled hair clung to my sweaty face, and my skin was as pale as a ghost’s. When the dizziness finally faded, I started scrubbing the blood out of my clothes. It was a good thing I chose to come back to my hometown. If my friends from the oncology ward saw me like this, they’d be heartbroken. They always said it was incredibly unfair for someone as young as me to get this disease. They naturally pitied me and tried to take care of me. I loved spending time with them. But I couldn’t endure the pain of laughing with them one day, only to see their beds empty and their names crossed off the whiteboard the next. So, I chose to leave. My head was pounding. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep, I walked out onto the balcony. Unexpectedly, I saw Mrs. Higgins limping up the sidewalk. A tall man was helping her walk. I instinctively opened my mouth to call out to her, but the man supporting her suddenly lifted his head. There was a bright streetlight right next to them. The glare was blinding. I didn’t know if my vision was failing me, but I couldn’t clearly make out his face. 3 I rubbed my eyes hard. He was still standing there. But his gaze… it was filled with absolute disgust and cold indifference. I swayed on my feet. I guess my illness is affecting my brain now, I thought. I’m actually hallucinating Liam. The way he was looking at me was exactly the same as the day we broke up six years ago. Filled with hatred and bitter resentment. That day was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. He had just received his acceptance letter to West Point. He came running to me, ecstatic, wanting to share the joy. But I shattered his excitement with three cruel words: “Let’s break up.” He froze, staring at me in disbelief. “What did you just say?” “I said, let’s break up. I’m bored of this. I don’t want to be with you anymore.” He ground his teeth together, his voice trembling. “Harper, are you serious right now?” Things got incredibly ugly that day. We said a lot of things designed to cut each other to the bone. And he looked at me exactly the way he was looking at me now—like he wanted to strangle me. Suddenly, reality snapped back into place. The man standing on the sidewalk down below wasn’t a hallucination. It really was him. Cold sweat prickled down my spine. For some reason, a wave of intense guilt washed over me. Thankfully, he didn’t stand there for long before turning and walking away. I let out a massive sigh of relief, my legs trembling beneath me. Over the past six years, I had imagined what our reunion would look like a thousand times. But I never imagined it would be like this. 4 The next morning, an energetic Mrs. Higgins dragged me down to the sheriff’s station at the end of the street. She introduced me to the deputies working the front desks one by one. When her eyes landed on a tall man wearing a pressed tan and green uniform, I froze. “Harper, this is Deputy Miller! I told you about him. He patrols our neighborhood. If you ever need anything, you just let him know.” Liam’s face was stone-cold. There wasn’t a single ripple of emotion in his eyes. He acted as if this was the very first time we had ever met. I held out my hand to greet him. “Hi, Deputy Miller.” His expression remained indifferent, as if to say: Why are you acting? He stood perfectly still, making no move to take my hand. Embarrassed, I pulled my hand back. Thankfully, Mrs. Higgins was there to smooth things over. She brought up the text messages from last night. Liam reluctantly pulled out his phone, his voice dropping to absolute zero. “When you text me, you’d better have a damn good reason.” I knew what he meant. He was telling me not to annoy him like I used to. I nodded and said with total sincerity, “Don’t worry. I’ll only bother you when I’m about to die.” Otherwise, there would be no one to collect my body. Liam’s fingers tightened around his phone, his eyes turning vicious. “See that you do.” 5 His gaze felt like a literal sword piercing my chest. I never expected that even after six years, he would still hate me this much. But that was fine. With him here, I could finally rest easy. After all, he had made a promise once. He said that the day karma finally came for me and I died, he would light fireworks to celebrate. At least that meant my send-off wouldn’t be totally silent. 6 Liam and I grew up together. My parents were always out of state, working odd jobs to send money back. It was just me and my bedridden Grams in our rundown little house. Liam’s dad was the town sheriff. He was a warm, incredibly kind man. Knowing my family was struggling, he was always quietly looking out for us. When we were kids, I wasn’t very smart and always did poorly in school. Liam, on the other hand, was always top of the class. His dad suggested that Liam tutor me, so I started spending every afternoon at their house. Liam was only ten at the time, the same age as me, but he was already a head taller. Unlike his friendly dad, Liam was quiet and reserved. He looked intimidating, like someone you shouldn’t mess with. I used to follow him around timidly like a little shadow. He rarely talked to me, but whenever his parents bought him snacks or treats, he would always silently push half of them toward me. Later, in middle school, the other kids found out my parents practically abandoned me. So they bullied me. They called me an orphan and a stray dog. Sometimes they would corner me in the alleyway after school and demand money. When I refused, they would beat me up. One day, they hit me particularly hard. I was covered in bruises, limping my way home. Liam was walking back from basketball practice and saw me. He grabbed the back of my collar, stopping me in my tracks, and asked through gritted teeth, “Who did this?” I was too scared to answer. The bullies had promised that if I snitched, they would go after my sick Grams next. Seeing my silence, he let out a dark, angry laugh. “Fine. You don’t want to tell me? Let’s go show your grandmother what you look like and see how you explain it to her!” I panicked. Stuttering and crying, I finally gave him their names. The very next day, he brought his dad—the Sheriff—directly to the bullies’ houses, one by one. No kid isn’t terrified of a cop showing up at their front door. After his dad handled the situation, he looked at me sternly. “Harper, this is malicious bullying. If you tolerate it once, they’ll just get bolder. If this ever happens again, you come straight to me.” From that day on, Liam waited for me at the school gates every single afternoon. He walked me home. Whenever anything went wrong at my house, he was the first one there. He never tried to hide how much he cared about me. 7 In high school, Liam announced he wanted to apply to West Point. He wanted to be a good man who protected his country, just like his dad protected our town. Desperate not to be separated from him, I studied until I made myself sick, aiming for a teaching college right across the river from his academy. But he was scared, too. He was scared I would leave him behind. He used to tell me, “If you don’t get into that school, it’s fine. Go wherever you want. I can always just come find you.” At the end of senior year, the day his acceptance letter arrived in the mail, he ran to my house to celebrate. Instead, I said, “Let’s break up, Liam.” “I only agreed to date you so people would stop bullying me. Now that I’m leaving this town, there’s no reason for us to be together anymore.” Under the moonlight, the bright, boyish smile on his face completely shattered. The shadows from the trees made his face look deathly pale. The hand gripping his acceptance letter was shaking uncontrollably. It took him a long time to finally speak. “Harper… are you serious?” My hands, hidden deep in my pockets, clenched into tight fists until my nails dug into my palms. Then, I forced them to relax. As if I had made the easiest decision in the world, I said coldly, “Yes. You deserve someone better, Liam.” His eyes filled with a desperate, furious refusal. He clenched his fists tight. “Harper,” he spat viciously. “You had better never, ever come back to this town.” “If I ever find out that karma finally got you and you died, I swear to God I’ll light fireworks to celebrate.” He didn’t know that on that exact same day, I had lost my Grams forever. And I had lost my so-called parents forever, too. Back then, I never imagined his curse would actually come true. If he knew that karma had actually caught up to me, he’d probably be thrilled.

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I was the untouchable golden girl of a billionaire family. Four years after my death, I was resurrected. By then, my lookalike stand-in had successfully taken my place. Wearing a face identical to mine, she smirked and provoked me: “Everything of yours is mine now. You came back too late.” But what she didn’t know was the fatal power of the original: the moment I appear, everyone will abandon their principles and run back to me. 1 “I’m home, Mom.” I pushed open the grand doors to the Sterling estate without a hint of hesitation, smiling brightly at my mother sitting on the sofa. It felt as casual and ordinary as coming home from school. A loud crash echoed through the foyer as her teacup shattered on the marble floor. “Serena!” she wailed, her voice tearing with absolute, agonizing disbelief. “My Serena is home!” I am Serena Sterling, the eldest daughter of the Sterling family. I originally died of heart failure. On the brink of death, I was bound to a Multiverse Survival System. That was when I learned my reality was just a cliché romance simulation, and I was the classic “doomed golden girl”—the early-dying first love. The actual female lead was a girl who looked 90% like me. Her face allowed her to cross social classes, drawing the attention of the elite and becoming the darling of my family. My parents practically adopted her. My childhood sweetheart became her lover. My little brother obeyed her every word. She was destined to get everyone’s love, but only on the condition that I stayed dead. So, when the System asked if I wanted to complete missions to earn my resurrection, I agreed instantly. Why should my tragedy be the stepping stone for her happy ending? So, I came back. “Mom, it’s me. I’m back.” Her embrace was as warm as ever, but so tight I could barely breathe. She held me like she was terrified I would vanish into thin air if she let go. I sighed and patted her frail back to comfort her. The System had altered their memories, changing my death from heart failure to “missing in a shipwreck” four years ago. She thought she had just spent four agonizing years searching for me. But our tearful reunion was cut short by a commotion at the front door. 2 “Mom, look what we brought you!” A sickeningly sweet, unfamiliar female voice rang out. A young girl skipped inside holding a box of pastries from a high-end bakery. Close behind her was a voice I knew all too well, dripping with indulgence. “Slow down, don’t run.” It was Carter, the boy I grew up with. My childhood sweetheart. “Mom, do we have guests? Why are you crying?” This was my younger brother, Spencer. I was facing away from him, so he couldn’t see my face as he walked in. My mother hugged me tighter. Her eyes were red, lips trembling, but she couldn’t stop crying long enough to speak. “Mom, please don’t cry. What’s wrong? Who is this?” Spencer asked. “Ouch, Carter, why are you squeezing my hand so hard?” the sweet voice complained, adding a hint of a pout. Carter didn’t react to her. I could feel his burning gaze fixed on my back. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he struggled to call out a name he hadn’t spoken in years. “Why are you all acting so weird? The security guard at the gate even said I had already come home a few minutes ago. So weird,” the girl mumbled. She looked at my crying mother, my silent brother, and Carter, who looked like he had seen a ghost. Finally, her gaze landed on me. A terrible premonition rose in her chest. As if to confirm her worst fears, I pulled away from my mother’s embrace, turned around, and looked right at them. “Spencer. Carter. Long time no see.” 3 “Serena…” Carter’s voice trembled imperceptibly. Spencer, however, was much more explosive. “Serena Sterling! You actually dared to come back?! Where the hell have you been all these years? Do you know I thought you were dead?! How could you… how could you…” The eighteen-year-old boy tried to sound tough, gritting his teeth, but his eyes were terrifyingly red, and the tears fell one after another. I patted his shoulder, feeling a pang of guilt. “Spencer, you’ve grown up.” He was only fourteen when I “disappeared.” He was practically a man now. Unable to hold it in any longer, he buried his face into my shoulder and sobbed quietly. “I missed you so much, Serena.” It was a bittersweet reunion. As the pastry box hit the floor, everyone finally noticed the girl standing frozen by the door. I looked at her. That face, so highly identical to mine, was completely drained of color. She looked utterly pathetic. Later, we all sat down for dinner. The table was filled with all my favorite dishes. My mother kept putting food on my plate, and Spencer automatically peeled my shrimp for me. But when Carter unconsciously picked up a piece of sweet and sour rib—my favorite—and placed it into Chloe’s bowl, everyone froze. “Thank you,” Chloe said quietly, gripping her hands tight. It was the first time she had spoken since finding out who I was. “Yeah,” Carter replied faintly. I ignored the undercurrents of tension and calmly ate my meal. “Your room hasn’t changed at all. I cleaned it myself every single day. Go get some rest. I’ll have the family doctor check on you later, and your father will be flying back tomorrow,” my mother rambled, filled with worry. I nodded to everything. They didn’t say much about Chloe, but I wasn’t panicked. This was the confidence of being truly loved. But I didn’t expect the mountain to come to me. Late that night, there was a knock on my bedroom door. 4 I opened the door to find Chloe’s familiar face. She was holding a glass of warm milk. I raised an eyebrow, thinking she was here to awkwardly make peace. Instead, her face twisted into a mocking sneer. “If you were dead, you should have stayed dead. Why come back? Do you think you can compete with me?” “I’ve spent four years conquering them. Aside from this bedroom, everything you used to own is mine now. You’re too late, understand?” Conquering? That was a very specific word. Like something from a System. Before I could react, she suddenly splashed the glass of milk all over her own face. Then, she screamed and threw herself onto the hardwood floor. The glass shattered into pieces. She started sobbing, looking like a fragile, broken doll. “Serena, I’m so sorry! I just wanted to bring you some milk. I didn’t mean any harm!” How long had it been since I witnessed such a low-tier framing attempt? For a second, I almost found it funny. I looked down coldly at the pitiful girl crying on the floor. Her thin pajamas and hair were soaked with milk. She looked at me with pure terror, the perfect image of a bullied victim. Honestly, I had no real desire to fight Chloe. Regardless of her motives, she was the one who kept my family company during their darkest times. I didn’t hold deep malice toward her. I just wanted her to back off gracefully. But her hostility was crystal clear. A scream in the middle of the night in a house where no one was truly sleeping yet drew immediate attention. Doors slammed open down the hall. 5 “What happened?! Is Serena okay?” My mother stumbled out of her room, pale and panicked, haphazardly throwing a robe over her shoulders. She had even put her slippers on the wrong feet. She didn’t let out a breath of relief until she saw me standing there unharmed. Only after confirming I was safe did Chloe’s pitiful whimpering reach her ears. “What’s going on? Why are you on the floor?” my mother asked, frowning at the shattered glass next to Chloe. Before Chloe could answer, my mother continued, “Why are you so careless? What if someone steps on the glass? Get up quickly.” “It was Serena… she…” Chloe pouted, tears welling in her eyes, ready to put on a show. But she was interrupted again. “What happened to your hand?!” Spencer marched straight past Chloe and grabbed my hand. There was a tiny, bleeding scratch on the back of my hand, probably from a stray shard of glass. It didn’t even hurt, but Spencer looked at it like it was a fatal wound. “Do you not know how to take care of yourself? Didn’t you feel that?!” he scolded, instinctively blowing on the tiny cut like he did when we were kids. “I’ll get the first-aid kit,” he said, turning to run down the hall. My mother rushed over, her face full of heartache. “Hurry, Spencer! It’s bleeding. Oh, Serena, does it hurt? It’s Mom’s fault for not noticing.” She held my hand, looking incredibly guilty. Once again, Chloe was completely ignored. Her face twisted with resentment. Ever since she used her face to climb into the upper echelon of society, she hadn’t tasted defeat. The love of parents, the affection of a lover, the care of a younger brother—she had it all in the palm of her hand. She thought she was the luckiest girl in the world. Why did the dead have to come back to life?! 6 “Mom, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt,” I said, catching the raw jealousy in Chloe’s eyes. I knew she wouldn’t let this go. When you possess something for too long, you start to believe it rightfully belongs to you. “Mom, it hurts… I’m bleeding too.” Taking advantage of my mother’s turned back, Chloe had grabbed a shard of glass and squeezed it, cutting her own palm deeply. She held up her bloody hand, tears streaming down her face, looking like a desperate child begging for her mother’s attention. “I got the first-aid kit,” Spencer announced as he rushed back. He paused when he saw Chloe’s blood-soaked hand. “Spencer, it hurts,” Chloe whimpered. She knew exactly what worked on him. In the past, whenever she looked at him with that weak, dependent gaze, he would complain but gently take care of her, yielding to her every wish. Seeing him hesitate, she called his name again, softer this time. “Spencer…” Spencer pursed his lips. My mother took the first-aid kit from his hands and pulled me into my room to treat my scratch. “Spencer, help her up,” I finally spoke. I knew my mother and brother were ignoring her partly to show they prioritized me, and partly because they were afraid her presence made me uncomfortable. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew what she represented during the years I was gone. My voice surprised even my mother, who paused and looked back. Spencer always listened to me. He carefully stepped around the glass and helped Chloe up. “Spencer, do you and Mom hate me now?” Chloe leaned into his grip, her eyes red. All her calculated victimhood was instantly shattered by a single sentence from me. Spencer didn’t answer. “I just wanted to bring Serena some milk. I really didn’t mean any harm. I don’t know why she pushed me. Mom won’t look at me, Serena hates me… Spencer, are you guys going to kick me out?” “If I apologize to Serena, will she forgive me? I don’t want to leave…” “Chloe,” Spencer cut her off calmly. Chloe froze, looking up at him. Spencer met her gaze with an eerily calm look, almost like he was looking at a stranger. “Serena is my sister,” he said. 7 That single sentence was enough for Chloe to understand. Serena is my sister. Not her. Calling me “sister” in that sickeningly sweet tone was a mistake. Because Serena was his sister, he trusted me unconditionally. He didn’t believe a single word coming out of Chloe’s mouth. Tears rolled down Chloe’s cheeks. She bit her lip and asked stubbornly, “What about me, Spencer? What about the last three years we spent together? You used to call me your sister too…” her voice choked with sobs. “I didn’t. I never called you my sister,” Spencer denied it flatly. He never called Chloe his sister, except on the very first day they met, when he thought I had come back. Chloe choked on her tears, remembering the truth. Spencer had mostly been quiet around her. She thought he was just not much of a talker. She didn’t realize that from the very beginning, he knew the difference between the original and the replica. He had been too stingy to even give her that title. But she refused to believe it. Three years of living together, three years of accumulated “Affection Points” verified by her System. There was no way he felt nothing for her. “Aren’t we family?” she muttered. This time, Spencer didn’t reply. He gave her a long, deep look, then turned and walked into my bedroom. Chloe’s expression shifted wildly before she fell silent. She followed him into the room. It was the first time she had stepped inside this “forbidden zone” since becoming the adopted daughter of the Sterling family. It was decorated completely differently from her room, yet everything was exquisitely elegant. She had always thought that one day, she would move into this room as its rightful owner. She never expected the true owner to be the one to open its doors. 8 The scratch on my hand had already been bandaged. I hadn’t missed the drama by the door. “You should get Miss Chloe’s hand cleaned up. Spencer, go help her. The first-aid kit is right there,” I offered, my tone gentle and kind, perfectly matching the sister Spencer remembered. “Okay,” Spencer agreed without hesitation. He obediently got to work. Chloe felt utterly humiliated. She thought I was showing off my authority over him. She shot me venomous glares while Spencer worked on her hand. I acted completely oblivious, chatting away with my mother. “The doctor said your body went through a lot. You need a lot of rest. If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, you have to tell me immediately, understand?” “Yes, yes, I’ll listen to you, Mom. Don’t worry so much. I’m not a little kid anymore.” “No matter how old you get, you’ll always be my baby.” My mother was a loving woman, but she rarely expressed her affection so bluntly. My nose prickled. I thought of all the times I died in those foreign worlds, endlessly completing missions just for the chance to come back. I died over and over again. I thought I had grown completely hardened, but my mother’s simple words turned my heart to mush. “Hiss…” A sharp intake of breath broke the moment. Spencer paused his hands. Chloe had been ruthless with herself. The cut on her palm was deep, and picking the glass shards out required precision. “Bear with it,” Spencer said, his eyes lowered. He was very patient when executing a task given by his real sister. Chloe let out a nasal “Mhm.” She didn’t make another sound. Whenever the pain flared, her free hand violently gripped her crumpled pajama dress. Soon, Spencer finished bandaging her hand.

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For Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend said he was taking me back to his hometown to meet his family. Instead, the moment we arrived in his isolated backwoods village, he hogtied me and threw me to a mob of men. My boyfriend wrapped his arm around his childhood sweetheart, staring at me with cold indifference. “If I didn’t trick you into coming here, Chloe would be the one going up the mountain to be sacrificed to the Old God.” His little sweetheart gloated, parading in front of me. “Being chosen as the Forest God’s bride is an honor! People beg for this blessing and never get it!” You want this blessing so bad? Take it! Staring at the painfully familiar statue inside the decaying chapel, I wailed like a broken siren. When I ran away from the altar a century ago, the God swore that if he ever caught me again, he would crush me to death! “Carter, even if you don’t want to marry me, did you really have to kidnap me?” I was bound hand and foot, dumped on the freezing mud floor, surrounded by villagers glaring at me with malicious intent. A million possibilities raced through my mind. Was this a human trafficking ring? If he just needed cash, he could have asked! After all, the one thing I have an endless supply of is money. But Carter just held his childhood sweetheart, Chloe, looking at me without a shred of pity. “If I didn’t trick you into coming here, Chloe would be the one going up the mountain to be sacrificed.” “You always said you wanted to get married. Who cares who you marry? Just think of this as doing me a favor.” I thought I had been kidnapped for ransom. I never expected it was a cult sacrifice. Without giving me another glance, he signaled the villagers to take over. “I brought her back. You can do whatever you want with her, but nobody touches Chloe again. We have a deal.” Carter looked down at me, a twisted sense of self-righteousness on his face. “I treated you so well for two years. It’s time for you to repay me.” We had been together for two years. I truly thought Carter loved me. When he pursued me, he was incredibly attentive. Whenever I needed him, he was there. He even spent most of his meager paycheck on me. Different breakfasts every morning, cheap but thoughtful little gifts—I was so moved. I thought that was what true love looked like. I considered myself lucky to have found a good man. It wasn’t until I saw the fiercely protective way he held Chloe that I realized what the look of true love actually was. “Don’t worry, the Forest God only needs one bride. Carry her to the lodge.” The town’s mayor, an old man with rotting yellow teeth, puffed on his pipe. His greasy eyes scanned me up and down. “Tsk. She’s definitely prettier than Chloe. The Old God will love her!” Like a prized pig prepped for slaughter, I was bound so tightly I couldn’t move an inch. They forced me into a vintage crimson gown. They told me I had to be locked inside the unheated lodge for three days to fast and “purify” my body before being offered to the God. The Forest God’s bride had to be a pure, untouched virgin, inside and out. In the dead of winter, tied to a wooden pillar in the freezing chapel, I shivered uncontrollably, starving and freezing. I had already gone through this exact routine once before. Doing it a second time didn’t make it any less miserable. That night, when Carter came in carrying a wool blanket, I cried so hard I couldn’t breathe. “I’m begging you, Carter, let me go! I have money, I can pay you!” “If you just let me leave, I’ll give you whatever you want!” When Carter wrapped the blanket around my shoulders, I thought he had finally softened. Instead, his hands slid directly down to my waist. His face twisted into a greasy, greedy smirk. “Let me test the merchandise first. It’s a damn shame to let someone else have you when I haven’t even gotten a taste!” His hands slipped lower, grabbing my leg. For two years, he had completely respected my boundaries, claiming he wanted to wait until marriage because he cherished me so much. That was exactly why I trusted him so deeply, believing he was a decent, honorable man I could rely on. I never suspected that beneath his handsome exterior hid such a nauseating, vile monster. Terrified, I kicked my legs wildly. “What is it going to take for you to let me go?!” Carter’s rough fingers dug into my skin. His eyes were full of calculation. “Give me the passcode to your safe. You’re an orphan anyway, you can’t spend all that wealth yourself.” Staring at his greedy, venomous face, I suddenly calmed down. He wanted the money and my life! Even if I gave him the passcode, he would never let me walk out of here alive. During the honeymoon phase of our relationship, I had foolishly shown him all my cards. The contents of my private vault held enough wealth to last several lifetimes. Back then, I completely missed the flash of pure greed in his eyes. When he acted indifferent, I actually thought he was a man of high morals who didn’t care about money. Turns out, he was worse than any criminal I had ever met! He just hid it better. But right now, begging was my only option. I had to play along. “I really don’t want to be sacrificed. You just want the money, right? We can make a deal!” “I can give you more money than you could ever spend. Just let me go! With that cash, you and Chloe could move anywhere in the world!” Carter seemed tempted. He stroked my cheek, his hands getting bolder. “Such a great body, such a pretty face… Would that bullshit Forest God even know what to do with you?” “I might as well enjoy you first. If you’re a good girl, maybe I really will take you with us!” Carter started rooting around my neck like a pig. Stripped of his disguise, his evil nature was on full display. He was vicious and rough, leaving dark bruises across my pale skin. Just as I was fighting back the urge to vomit and trying to break my bindings, Chloe ran into the lodge, crying hysterically. “You bastard!” Smack! Carter took a hard slap to the face, instantly snapping him out of it. Seeing Chloe’s tear-streaked face, his demeanor flipped. He hugged her, frantically trying to soothe her. “Chloe, it’s not what you think! I didn’t touch her, I was just trying to scare the vault passcode out of her!” “She forced me to do it! Yes, she was trying to seduce me! I didn’t touch her for two whole years, why would I want her now?!” Chloe glared at me with pure venom, acting like she was the ultimate victim, looking like she wanted to eat me alive. “You’ve been together for two years! The Mayor just said she’s prettier than me, I don’t believe you never had feelings for her!” Carter practically dropped to his knees. “I swear I didn’t! She doesn’t even compare to a single strand of your hair! I only dated her for you. She’s a sacrifice for the God, I wouldn’t dare touch her!” Hearing that, Chloe bought it. With a few whimpers, she leaned in, and they started aggressively making out right in front of me. The sick lust he had just directed at me was now being unleashed on Chloe. Watching them act like they were about to consummate things on the chapel floor, I quietly spat on the ground. Disgusting. Terrified they were actually going to put on a live show, I had to speak up. “Are you guys really not going to consider letting me go?” Chloe leaned against Carter, panting, glaring at me like a victorious queen. “Let you go? Then who goes to the God? Don’t try any tricks. If you try to seduce Carter again, I won’t hold back!” Seeing this toxic duo perfectly united in their delusion, I had to play my final card. “Let me tell you the truth. I actually know the Forest God. If you offer me to him, you are going to bring down a terrible curse on yourselves!” Chloe looked at me like I was a mental patient and burst out laughing. “That’s hilarious! You know the Ancient God?” She pointed to the faded portraits hanging in the back of the lodge. “See those? Those are the women who actually met the God. Not a single one of them ever came back alive!” The portraits were of previous sacrificial brides. If they looked closely, one of the heavily faded, ancient portraits in the corner looked exactly like me. But it was covered in a century of dust, totally unnoticeable. Carter frowned, losing his patience. “You’re going crazy because you can’t have me, aren’t you? Playing insane won’t work. I have plenty of ways to make you spit out that passcode!” I kicked my legs out, adopting a “nothing left to lose” attitude. If they weren’t going to let me go, they weren’t getting a dime! I was dead either way! Seeing me turn hostile, Carter slammed his fist into my stomach. “You bitch! Tell me!” I curled in on myself, tasting copper in my mouth, but my glare remained fiercely defiant. Carter raised his fist again, but Chloe stopped him. “Carter, stop. If you bruise her up too badly, the Mayor won’t accept the sacrifice. I have a way to make her talk.” Carter’s face lit up. “Really?” Chloe smiled maliciously, pushing him toward the door. “Of course. Go get some sleep. I promise I’ll get the code.” Once Carter left, I looked at Chloe’s wicked face, a deep sense of dread pooling in my gut. “What are you going to do?” Chloe swung her arm back and slapped me hard across the face, her acrylic nails leaving deep bloody scratches on my cheek. She gritted her teeth. “You really think you’re prettier than me?” My head spun from the impact, my ears ringing. I struggled instinctively. “If you ruin my face, aren’t you afraid you won’t be able to deliver the sacrifice?” Chloe grabbed my jaw. Pulling out several long sewing needles from her pocket, she viciously jabbed them into my arms. “What do I have to be afraid of? Once I get your money, Billy is going to take me far away from here.” “Even if the village investigates, the only ones taking the fall will be you and that cowardly loser, Carter!” “If Carter had just been man enough to protect me years ago, why would I have had to sell myself to all these disgusting men in the village?” “No woman who goes up that mountain comes back alive. You think you have a chance to fight me?” With that, she violently pinched my cheeks open and shoved a squirming, pitch-black insect into my mouth. Before I could spit it out, the bug slithered down my throat. As someone with a lifelong phobia of creepy crawlies, my entire world collapsed. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Forest God’s realm was full of bugs, I wouldn’t have run away from my wedding a hundred years ago! Watching me gag and tear up, Chloe smiled with immense satisfaction. “That’s a Veritas Parasite. Once you swallow it, you can only speak the truth. Now, give me the passcode to the vault!” If she had something this effective, why did she even bother torturing me first?! This evil witch did it on purpose! In the end, she got exactly what she wanted. The vault passcode slipped easily from my lips. The Veritas Parasite lived up to its name; my mouth was completely out of my control. Before Chloe left, she deliberately took a blade and sliced my cheek. The moment she stepped out, a hulking man stepped in. “Billy, didn’t you say you wanted a taste of that bitch? Once you’re done, we’re leaving! You promised you’d take me away from this dump!” Billy looked absolutely thrilled. “Carter is such a coward, how could he hold back with a piece of meat this prime? More for me!” “Good job, babe! I’ll reward you properly later. With that cash, leaving this town is gonna be a breeze!” Chloe left looking overjoyed, pulling the heavy lodge door shut behind her. Covered in blood and barely breathing, I watched the massive man approach, cursing every deity I knew. If I knew I was going to suffer this much in the human world, I would have just stayed on the mountain with the bugs! Terrified I would scream, Billy gagged me tightly with a dirty rag. Just as he was unbuckling his belt, Chloe’s voice shrieked from outside: “Billy! Your dad is coming with the elders!” Billy panicked, yanking his pants back up. He spat on the floor in frustration and shoved a burlap sack over my head. “Damn it! Whatever, with millions of dollars, I can buy whatever woman I want.” The door slammed shut. I heard voices talking outside. Billy, being the Mayor’s son, corroborated Chloe’s story, claiming he had already “inspected” the sacrifice, and shooed the elders away. Gagged and blindfolded, I whimpered as I listened to their footsteps fade away. It wasn’t until the third day that they finally came for me. Starving and barely conscious, with the sack still over my head, I was tossed into a wicker palanquin. As they carried me up the bumpy mountain trail, I used every last ounce of my strength to push the rag out of my mouth with my tongue. If I could just let them see my ruined face, they wouldn’t dare send me up the mountain! The Ancient God only accepted flawless brides. Even a single blemish was considered an insult. My tongue was completely numb by the time the rag finally popped out of my mouth. Using my remaining strength, I threw myself out of the palanquin, crashing onto the dirt trail, trying to scream with my hoarse voice. But all that came out was the metallic taste of blood. I couldn’t form a single coherent word. Three days without food or water, raging with a fever from my infected wounds, my throat felt like it was lined with broken glass. The Mayor panicked. He ordered the men to grab me and shove me back inside. “Oh, please, Bride of the God, stop fighting! If you get bruised, the Old God will unleash his wrath!” “Just accept your fate! This is an honor people beg for!” I let out desperate, raspy hisses, but couldn’t speak. I thrashed violently, and during the struggle, I managed to yank the burlap sack off my head. My heavily scarred, infected, and festering face was exposed to the daylight. The entire procession gasped in collective horror. Carter stared at Chloe in shock, but cowardly chose to keep his mouth shut. The Mayor turned pale. “Who did this?! Who the hell did this?! The God will destroy our town!” One of the villagers nervously suggested, “The damage is done! We have to swap the bride!” Instantly, every single pair of eyes locked onto Chloe. Carter instinctively jumped in front of her. “You promised you wouldn’t touch Chloe!” The Mayor’s face darkened. He brutally kicked Carter to the ground. “To hell with your promises! We’re out of time. It has to be Chloe!” “Or what, are you going to die to appease the God’s wrath?!” Carter, stunned and clutching his stomach, turned deathly pale and didn’t dare make another sound. Seeing his cowardly submission, Chloe ground her teeth in fury and rolled her eyes. “I’m not pure anymore!” she shrieked. “I can’t be the God’s bride! You have to send Scarlett! At least she’s never been touched by a man!” Carter’s jaw dropped. His face flushed beet red with absolute fury. He grabbed Chloe’s arm, shaking her. “What did you just say? I’ve been away working for two years and never laid a hand on you! You’ve been sleeping around behind my back?!” Chloe impatiently ripped her arm away and hid behind the Mayor. “You worthless loser. You disappeared for two years. Did you expect me to wait for you forever?” The surrounding men exchanged knowing, sleazy smirks. Carter’s face burned with humiliation, his eyes looking like he wanted to murder her. “Today is the God’s wedding day! Carter, are you really going to cause a scene?” The Mayor’s eyes roamed over Chloe’s body with a perverse glint, before making the final call. “Enough! We have no other choice. Send Scarlett up the mountain! Let’s just finish the ritual and hope for the best!” I stared at the mob in pure disbelief, fighting with everything I had. But it only earned me a brutal beating. They aimed for my ribs and stomach—places where the bruises wouldn’t be visible. I finally passed out from the pain, blindfolded once again, and tossed into the palanquin in utter despair. When I woke up, I was inside the familiar, ancient temple at the peak of the mountain, surrounded by the chanting of the villagers. Terrified to linger, the cultists quickly retreated and locked the heavy wooden doors. But the next second, I was magically violently hurled through the air, crashing hard onto the stone floor outside the doors. A freezing, booming voice echoed from within the temple: “I said no more women! Get out!” It was the Ancient God! The villagers outside fell to their knees, shivering in terror. Chloe was the first to react. She pulled out a hunting knife and lunged at my throat. “Please calm your wrath, O Great God! We will slaughter the imperfect sacrifice to appease you!” Wait, if he said he didn’t want a woman, why are you killing me?! I frantically rolled to the side. The knife plunged into my shoulder instead. Chloe pounced on me like a rabid animal, tearing away the thin fabric of my crimson gown. On my shoulder, the divine mark the deity had branded me with a century ago was exposed to the freezing air. “You have to die! I am not spending the rest of my life trapped on this mountain with a monster!” Chloe screamed. As the knife came down for a second strike, I squeezed my eyes shut. But from within the dark temple, a voice echoed in pure, shocked disbelief: “Scarlett?!” A blast of gale-force wind erupted from the doors. Chloe was sent flying backward like a ragdoll. The next second, I fell into a freezing, iron-hard embrace, shivering uncontrollably. This terrifyingly familiar sensation… it felt exactly like being coiled up by a giant serpent. I don’t know if it was my imagination, but the entity holding me seemed to be trembling slightly too. From above my head, Silas’s voice spoke through gritted teeth: “You said you’d rather die than stay here. Why did you come back?” “I told you… if I ever saw your face again, I would not spare you!” Weakly, I parted my lips to speak, but all that came out was a mouthful of dark blood. Great. He doesn’t even have to kill me. I’m already dying. I used to be so terrified of being caught by him again. But now, I didn’t find him scary at all. In fact, his freezing cold, scale-like skin felt incredibly soothing against my feverish body. I thought that if I died, Silas would be thrilled. But there wasn’t a trace of joy in him. Instead, his eyes turned blood-red. He gripped my neck, shaking me frantically. “Speak to me!” Even if he strangled me to death right now, I physically couldn’t speak. My throat was agonizingly tight, and I felt like I was fading fast. But I wasn’t afraid. I had lived a long, full life anyway. A hundred years ago, when I was originally offered as a sacrifice, I smashed a vase over the Serpent God’s head, stole the bridal hoard of gold, and ran away. After that, I realized I no longer aged and couldn’t die naturally. Like a freak of nature, I lived from the pioneer days all the way into the modern era. I had lost track of how old I actually was. I don’t know if it was a near-death hallucination, but I felt a powerful, warm current flowing from Silas’s body into mine. I couldn’t seem to take my final breath, so I just closed my eyes and played dead. But that warm energy only grew stronger, knitting my bones back together. Outside, none of the villagers dared to step closer. Everyone knew that those who looked upon the Ancient God never returned. Except for Chloe. Gripping the stone wall, she furiously staggered back to finish me off. But the moment her eyes landed on Silas, she froze in her tracks, a suspicious blush spreading across her cheeks. In utter disbelief, she stammered, “You… you’re the Forest God?” Silas was undeniably breathtaking. He had an otherworldly, razor-sharp beauty, his features completely flawless. Dressed in ancient, flowing black robes, he looked like an immortal god stepped out of a myth. He was gorgeous, sure, but he was literally a giant snake. His body was ice-cold and rock-hard. Not exactly ideal husband material. I was thinking practically, but Chloe was clearly blinded by lust. She had always assumed the Forest God was a grotesque monster. Who knew he was an insanely hot, ethereal being? If he didn’t look like a bug, she was perfectly willing to be his bride. She twisted her body, acting coy and shy. “My Lord, I am actually your true bride! Scarlett dared to impersonate me and desecrate your presence. I’ll throw her out for you right now!” Silas didn’t even spare her a glance. He was too busy glaring down at me, his handsome face radiating immense, overflowing resentment. Seeing him ignore me, Chloe looked thrilled and took a step closer. “My Lord, she’s an ugly monster! I am your destined bride! You must punish her severely!” Carter suddenly rushed forward and grabbed Chloe’s arm. Even though he was wearing the ultimate horns, when push came to shove, he still cared about her.

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After breaking up with Liam Sterling, I found out I was three months pregnant. I raised our little Lily all by myself for five years. But the sheer exhaustion of working three jobs finally caught up with me. I suffered a massive stroke and died suddenly. Now, I was floating in mid-air. And suddenly, I saw him. Liam Sterling, who was now a Hollywood superstar. He was knocking on my front door. 01 It took a long time for the door to open. “Who are you?” The one opening the door was my daughter, Lily. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach the deadbolt, which took her a while. She looked warily at my ex-boyfriend—her biological father, Liam Sterling. Seeing it wasn’t me, Lily immediately tried to close the door. Liam caught the frame with his hand. He frowned. “Where is Emma Hayes?” Lily thought for a moment, looked up at him, and gave a bright smile. “You’re looking for my mommy! Mommy isn’t home.” “She’s at work.” Liam’s face darkened. He asked again, “Where is your dad?” It’s you! You are Lily’s father! I screamed frantically from mid-air, but he couldn’t hear me. Lily tilted her head. “My daddy is far, far away making lots of money. Mommy said when he makes enough money, he’ll come pick us up.” Liam’s frown deepened. Suddenly, he let out a self-deprecating laugh. He muttered to himself in a low voice. “Heh, I must be out of my mind. I actually thought you’d wait for me.” With that, he turned to leave. But he suddenly stopped. He asked for Lily’s full name. “Lily. Lily Hayes.” “Mommy says I’m her little flower, so my name is Lily.” Lily said it with so much pride. Liam’s eyes searched her small face. It was as if he was looking for some kind of proof. But in the end, he didn’t say anything. He stepped into his black stretch SUV. I looked at the car driving away into the distance, screaming. Don’t go, Liam! If you leave, what is our Lily going to do? She’s only five! How is she supposed to survive all alone? I turned back to my daughter, who was blinking her big eyes at the dust kicked up by the departing car, and coaxed her softly. Be a good girl, Lily. Go chase after Daddy. Mommy is gone now, he’s the only one who can take care of you. But Lily couldn’t hear me either. She just muttered, “What a weird man.” And she closed the door. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to slap myself across the face. Why didn’t I tell Lily who her father was sooner? Why didn’t I ever show her a picture of him? This was all my fault. It didn’t matter that I was dead. But my daughter… what was going to happen to her? 02 Lily swung her little legs from the chair, waiting for me to come home. The last light of the sunset faded. The sky grew dark. Normally, I would have been home by now. Because I knew Lily was terrified of the dark. But I was already dead. My coworker, Sarah, had just received the notification at the hospital that my resuscitation had failed. She was told to contact my next of kin. But when she opened my phone, she found the “Family” section of my contacts completely empty. However, everyone at work knew I had a child. So, that night, the phone in our tiny apartment rang. Lily ran toward the phone on her little legs. “Hello?” That sweet, innocent voice brought tears to my coworker’s eyes. She didn’t know how to explain to a little girl that her mother had passed away. That she was never coming back. “Is that you, Mommy?” Lily’s voice was full of excitement. “Are you working late again? It’s okay, I’m fine. I’m not hungry at all. I just ate the muffins Mommy bought.” She patted her round little belly as she spoke. “Lily… your mommy… she just passed away.” Lily asked, confused: “Where is passed away? Is it far? It’s okay, Mommy will definitely take me with her.” Once, because of a last-minute schedule change, I had to travel out of state for work. I couldn’t bear to leave Lily home alone. So I took her with me. It was Lily’s first time leaving our city. Sitting on the Amtrak train, she pointed at the scenery outside the window, thrilled. So right now, Lily still thought I just went on another business trip. Hearing her innocent reply, Sarah let out a heavy sigh. She didn’t know what else to say. She could only hang up the phone. In the end, she represented the company and sent my body to be cremated. All that was left of me was a single urn of ashes. 03 That night felt agonizingly long. It was the first time I hadn’t come home. Every so often, Lily would run to the front door, peeking out to see if I was there. But quickly, the darkness of the hallway would scare her back inside. She ran back and forth like this countless times. Unable to fight off her exhaustion. She finally fell asleep hugging the teddy bear I had bought her. Dawn broke. She jolted awake. She hurriedly ran to the door again. Seeing I still wasn’t back. A flash of disappointment crossed her face. But soon, she comforted herself. “It’s okay. Mommy is just really busy. She’ll be back soon.” Having eaten almost nothing the night before, her stomach began to rumble. She could only eat another muffin to fill the void. Then she opened a carton of milk I had bought. Mimicking what I used to do, she wanted to heat up some water on the stove to warm the milk. “Mommy said I can’t drink it cold, or my tummy will hurt.” As she spoke, she held a heavy pot filled with water. But her hands were so small, how could she possibly lift it? I was frantic, screaming at her to stop. But I was completely powerless. Standing on a stool, just as she tried to heave the pot onto the stove burner… Her grip slipped. Water splashed everywhere. The heavy metal pot crashed down right onto her tiny foot. Instantly, the top of her foot swelled up. My heart ached as if it were being carved out with a knife. But at the same time, I was so thankful the water hadn’t been boiling yet. Lily began to whimper softly. Quickly, she hugged her foot and blew on it. “Mommy isn’t here. I’ll blow on it myself, and it won’t hurt anymore.” She wiped her tears away. She dragged the stool over. She sat right in front of the living room, staring unblinkingly at the front door. “I won’t cry. When Mommy comes back, she’ll tell me how brave I am.” Lily was so well-behaved. So mature. So mature that it shattered my heart. How I wished she would resent me right now, blame me for being a terrible mother. But she just sat there, waiting so patiently for me to come home. 04 Two hours later. A car pulled up in front of our apartment building. Sarah knocked on the door. Lily was overjoyed, thinking it was me. She ran as fast as she could. But she tripped and took a hard fall. Her little leg was scraped by the sharp edge of the doorframe. But she just frowned, quickly scrambled back up, and opened the door. When she saw it wasn’t me. Her emotions finally broke. She burst into loud, heartbroken sobs. “Mommy… why isn’t Mommy back yet?” “My foot is swollen, and my leg hurts so much. I’ve been so brave!” “But Mommy still isn’t back. Mommy doesn’t care about me anymore.” “Does Mommy not love me anymore?” Lily cried so hard she could barely breathe. Hearing her, my heart shattered into a million pieces. … Sarah hurriedly comforted her. She found the first-aid kit in the bathroom, disinfected Lily’s scrape, and put a Band-Aid on it. After making sure she was okay. Sarah brought in my urn and the belongings cleared from my desk at work. Lily looked confused. But then she spotted a photograph I had kept on my desk. It was from a recent trip to the amusement park. In the photo, I was holding Lily, and we were both laughing brightly. She recognized me. She asked, “Miss, are these my mommy’s things? Where did my mommy go?” Sarah fought back her tears. She pointed at the small urn. “Your mommy… she’s inside here. If you miss her, you can hug it and talk to it.” Lily violently shook her head. “How could my mommy turn into a jar? She’s not a wizard, she can’t just magically shapeshift! You’re lying.” She pulled my photograph tightly into her arms. “This is my mommy.” She pressed a loud kiss to the photo. And smiled sweetly. Sarah let out a heavy sigh and placed my urn high up on a shelf. Then she looked around the empty apartment. She asked, “Where is your daddy? Are you all alone here?” Lily lowered her head. “Mommy said Daddy went far away to make money. I haven’t seen him since I was born.” Sarah looked at her in disbelief. “Do you have any other family? Grandparents? Aunts or uncles?” Lily shook her head. Sarah couldn’t hold back her tears any longer and pulled Lily into a tight hug. “You poor, sweet girl.” “You’re so little… how could your mother bear to leave you all alone in this world?” Lily argued back. “Mommy didn’t leave me! Mommy loves me the most!” Sarah pressed a debit card into Lily’s small hand. “This is the compensation money from your mommy’s company. There’s $30,000 on this card. The PIN is 0000. Keep it safe. Don’t ever lose it.” Lily nodded seriously. She gripped the card tightly in her fist. Because we were so poor, I had taught Lily from a young age that money was important and had to be guarded carefully. Now, she had etched that lesson into her heart. After figuring out the next steps. Sarah made a call to the local child protective services. They were an organization specifically for children with nowhere else to go. My heart swelled with profound gratitude. Floating in the air, I bowed deeply to my coworker. Thank you. If she could get into a safe children’s home, at least my little Lily would survive. 05 When the social workers arrived to pick Lily up. She refused to go. She clung to the doorframe, wailing at the top of her lungs. “You’re kidnappers! Don’t take me! I’m not worth any money!” The social workers didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The lead woman crouched down. She spoke to her gently: “We aren’t kidnappers, sweetie. We’re taking you to a new home.” Lily frowned. She told them very seriously. “This is my home! If you take me away, Mommy won’t be able to find me when she comes back. She’ll be so worried!” I covered my mouth, tears streaming down my face. The social workers exchanged a look, their own eyes growing damp. They gently coaxed her: “Be a good girl, Lily. Your mommy is the one who asked us to take you there. She had to go on a very long trip for work, and she can’t come back just yet. She asked us to take care of you until she does.” “Plus, there are lots of other kids just like you there. You won’t be lonely.” Lily listened carefully. She blinked her big eyes at them. “Really?” “Of course.” Only then did Lily slowly let go of the doorframe. But right before getting into the car. Lily ran back inside the apartment. She grabbed the teddy bear I bought her and the photograph of us. She held them tight against her chest. As the car drove away. It was Lily’s first time traveling so far with strangers. The bravery she had forced herself to show earlier… Shattered. Fear and panic washed over her all at once. She finally broke down sobbing. “Mommy, I promise I’ll be good. I’ll be so good.” “You have to come pick me up soon, okay?” I drifted behind the car, floating, following. Wherever Lily went, I went. But she couldn’t see me. And I couldn’t hold her.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “391490”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

Years after we parted ways, we crossed paths again. I was holding my son’s hand; he was arm-in-arm with his new girlfriend. When someone mentioned his ex, he scoffed. “I paid for her entire college education. Once she graduated, she dumped me because I was too poor and married someone else.” Someone joked, “I bet your ex is drowning in regret right now.” His eyes flashed, locking onto mine. “Does Mrs. Vance think she regrets it?” I choked down the bitterness in my throat. “No regret…” He let out a cold laugh. “Well, I regret it.” “I regret ever taking that stray cat home.” 1 When I was eighteen, Liam took me in when I had nowhere to go. He worked to put me through college, loving me with everything he had. We agreed to get married right after graduation. But after graduation, I left him, citing his lack of money, and married someone else. Five years later, he appeared at a high-end charity auction, a beautiful girlfriend on his arm, throwing money around without a second thought. “Three million.” “Three point five.” “Four million.” Liam seemed intent on outbidding Arthur Vance. Every time Arthur raised the bid, Liam immediately countered. The entire room of elite guests settled in to watch the show. Unfazed, Liam casually raised his paddle again. “Five million.” A collective gasp echoed through the room. Arthur hesitated for a moment, contemplating another bid. I reached out and gently rested my hand on his arm, stopping him. “It’s fine, Arthur. Let it go.” Arthur tilted his head slightly, whispering, “You don’t want it?” I shook my head. “Five million going once. Five million going twice. Sold!” “The antique gold and kingfisher feather hairpin goes to Mr. Sterling for five million dollars. Congratulations.” The room buzzed with gossip about the CEO of Sterling Enterprises spending a fortune to impress his date. Back when we were together and struggling to get by, he had bought me a simple wooden hairpin. It cost fifty dollars. It felt too expensive. He worked so hard for his money back then. I cried, begging him to return it. He just ruffled my hair, unfazed. “I’ll buy you much more expensive ones in the future. My Scarlett deserves something worth at least five million.” Today, he really did spend five million on a hairpin. It just wasn’t for me anymore. After the auction, Liam was surrounded by people. Some were networking; others were asking for photos with his girlfriend. His girlfriend was famous—Chloe, a rising starlet currently trending everywhere. I was holding little Leo’s hand, walking out beside Arthur, when we collided head-on with Liam. He was wearing a bespoke suit, radiating an intimidating, aristocratic aura. His expression was cold and detached—a look I had never seen on him before. The woman clinging to his arm was smiling brightly, looking absolutely radiant. “Thank you for yielding the floor today, Arthur.” Liam stopped and greeted Arthur, but his eyes were fixed entirely on me. In the past, whenever he looked at me, his eyes were always full of a unique, gentle adoration. Now, his gaze was freezing and completely alien. The moment our eyes met, my heart seized. I gripped Leo’s little hand tighter. “Don’t mention it, Liam. The highest bidder wins, simple as that.” Arthur smiled warmly, offering a polite handshake. “This is my wife, Scarlett, and my son, Leo.” Liam’s eyes flickered. His gaze drifted down to where my hand held Leo’s. He froze for a fraction of a second before a dark, unreadable smirk curved his lips. “You’re a lucky man, Arthur.” Arthur returned a modest smile. “I can’t compare to you. Chloe is even more stunning in person than on screen.” Chloe blushed, offering a happy, contented smile, and tightened her grip on Liam’s arm. Arthur joked lightly, “Spending five million dollars just to make a beautiful woman smile—that’s a story people will be talking about for a while.” The surrounding crowd echoed his sentiments, admiring the picture-perfect couple. But then, the assistant standing next to Liam suddenly let out an inappropriate, mocking laugh. “That’s nothing. You should have seen how our boss treated his ex-girlfriend. He practically ripped his own heart out to give it to her.” I almost didn’t recognize him. It had been years. He used to be a punk kid with dyed red hair who hung around Liam. Now, Chris was wearing a sharp suit, his hair cut into a clean, professional style. His eyes swept over me, carrying blatant, undisguised mockery. “It’s just a shame that some people are completely blind.” The crowd immediately started whispering among themselves. “I didn’t know Mr. Sterling had an ex.” Liam shook his head, his expression indifferent. He let out a light chuckle. “It’s not worth mentioning.” His cold eyes carried a faint, derisive sneer. “I paid her way through four years of college. Once she graduated, she decided I was too poor and married someone else.” Chloe, sensing the tension, playfully chimed in. “Chris, why didn’t you ever tell me about this? A girl who could make Liam act like such a hopeless romantic must be incredibly beautiful, right?” Chris scoffed. His mocking gaze locked onto me, his tone dripping with cruel amusement. “You know what’s funny? Mrs. Vance here actually looks a lot like my former sister-in-law.” He emphasized the word ‘former’ heavily, his expression dripping with absolute contempt. “If she knew how successful Liam is today, do you think her guts are green with regret?” I lowered my eyes, desperately avoiding his stare, but Chris only pressed harder. “I heard Scarlett is Arthur’s second wife. They say being a stepmom is a tough job, but Scarlett seems to be handling it pretty comfortably.” Suddenly, everyone was looking at me. The whispers grew louder, filled with veiled speculation and judgment. The humiliation washed over me like a suffocating wave. I ducked my head as low as I could. Just as my embarrassment peaked, little Leo violently ripped his hand from mine, charged straight at Chris, and bit down hard on his arm. Chris hissed in pain, his face contorting, but he couldn’t exactly hit a child in public. Arthur quickly stepped forward and pulled Leo back. “My apologies. My son can be a bit unruly.” He picked Leo up, his demeanor remaining polite but noticeably colder. “I don’t believe I have any prior grievances with you, Mr. Sterling. What exactly is your assistant trying to achieve by publicly humiliating my wife?” Liam frowned slightly, reaching up to loosen his tie. His gaze shifted back to me. “My apologies. Perhaps Mrs. Vance just looks a little too much like my ex.” He turned to Chris. “Chris, apologize to Mrs. Vance.” Chris shoved his hands into his pockets, barely lifting his eyelids. “My bad, Mrs. Vance. I hope you—don’t take offense.” His voice was lazy and insincere. It wasn’t an apology; it was a taunt. “You know how it is for guys like us who grew up on the streets. We’re just uneducated trash with no manners.” Chris’s words pierced my heart like a needle, leaving a dull, aching pain. Five years ago, when we broke up, I had screamed at Liam: “Liam, you’re nothing but a broke, uneducated thug! You are completely beneath me!” Now, he had transformed into an industry titan. He was highly successful, with a beautiful woman by his side. It felt like a resounding slap across my face. My hands, hidden beneath my sleeves, were clenched so tightly they were trembling. Just as the humiliation became unbearable, Leo ran back over and grabbed my hand. “Mommy, bathroom.” “Okay, Mommy will take you.” I grabbed Leo’s hand and practically fled the scene. 2 I leaned against the tiled wall outside the restrooms, letting out a shaky breath. My entire body was trembling slightly. Liam. Liam… Even now, I couldn’t believe this sudden, unexpected reunion was real. Then, footsteps echoed from the end of the hall. When I looked up, that sharply defined face, backlit by the hallway lights, was stepping closer and closer. It felt like something slammed violently into my chest, making it impossible to breathe. I didn’t dare look at him. My only instinct was to run. I spun around in a panic, trying to leave. “Scarlett.” His deep voice resonated behind me. My trembling fingers twisted tightly together. “What are you running from?” He stepped in front of me, casting a tall shadow over me. He had taken off his suit jacket, leaving only a black dress shirt. The collar was unbuttoned, his tie hanging loosely around his neck. Familiar scent. Unfamiliar eyes. “Liam… it’s… it’s been a long time…” I tried desperately to suppress my panic, but the words stumbled out in a broken, trembling whisper. He stared at me, a violent storm seemingly raging in the depths of his eyes. After a long silence, his Adam’s apple bobbed twice. “Don’t you think you owe me an explanation for what happened?” His thin lips were pressed tightly together, his jaw clenched hard. Meeting his dark, unfathomable gaze sent waves of panic and sour pain crashing through me. I had seen him in so many different states, but this—this familiar yet terrifyingly foreign version of him—felt like an illusion layered over the Liam I remembered. I stayed silent for a long time, only managing to force out two words: “I’m sorry…” He stared at me, suddenly letting out a harsh scoff. “Hah. Five years, and all I get is ‘I’m sorry.’” He suddenly stepped closer. I scrambled backward in panic until my spine hit the cold wall. “Scarlett, I have a lot of money now.” His voice was icy, his expression steeped in profound loneliness. He trapped me in the corner. I could hear his heavy, uneven breathing right next to my ear. I pressed myself tightly against the wall, keeping my head down, too terrified to meet his eyes. “Liam, I… I’m married…” His breathing grew heavier. He suddenly reached out, gripping my chin and tilting my head up, staring intensely into my face. “Do you regret it, Scarlett?” I was forced to look into his eyes. The corners of his eyes were rimmed with red, his gaze burning hot and cold at the same time. I clenched my fists, desperately suppressing the agonizing ache in my chest. “No regret…” He suddenly laughed softly. His hand slid from my chin down to my neck, tightening just enough to restrict my breathing. “Scarlett, you really are… something else…” His bloodshot eyes glared at me, his icy stare piercing my heart like a blade. “But I regret it.” “I regret ever taking that stray cat home.” —— The “stray cat” he was talking about was me. Ten years ago, I was curled up on a hard plastic chair in a hospital hallway, shivering from the freezing cold. He sat down next to me, covered in fresh cuts and bruises. When I caught a glimpse of the tattoos on his arm, I was terrified and secretly scooted a few inches away. He shot me a bold, sideways glance. “Scared of me?” I hugged my knees tightly, not daring to look at him or answer. “I’m a pretty handsome guy, am I really that scary?” I snuck a quick peek at him. His face was bruised and swollen, and a slightly crooked bandage was wrapped around his head. He looked absolutely nothing like ‘handsome.’ I frowned and shook my head. He looked confused. “What does shaking your head mean? Not handsome enough, or not scary?” I didn’t answer. Instead, he stood up and stood directly in front of me, looking me up and down. “Whose kid are you? What are you doing in a hospital all by yourself?” “Did you get into a fight with your parents and run away?” I still didn’t respond. He frowned, looking at me with genuine curiosity. “Are you mute?” He pulled out his phone and started dialing. “Kid, I’ll have the cops take you home in a second.” Seeing him about to call the police, I panicked. I grabbed his shirt and begged, “Please, don’t…” “Oh, so you can talk,” he teased. “Where do you live?” he asked again. “I… I don’t have a home…” I whispered. “Aren’t you afraid of freezing to death sleeping here in the middle of winter?” “None… none of your business…” I was pretty scared of him. He looked exactly like the kind of violent thug you shouldn’t mess with. “Tch, fine. I don’t want to get involved anyway.” He shot me a look and turned to walk away. Just as my racing heart began to settle, he suddenly spun around and marched right back. Without a word, he grabbed my backpack and jerked his chin at me. “You can either go to the police station, or you can come home with me. Pick one.” I was terrified by his sudden aggression and frantically tried to grab my backpack back. But he was tall. He just lifted his arm straight up in the air, and even when I jumped, I couldn’t reach it. “Give… give it back to me…” I was so desperate I was on the verge of tears. “Do I really look that much like a bad guy?” He frowned, looking at me in utter disbelief. I stared at his bruised face, biting my lip hard, too scared to speak. “My good looks are just temporarily sealed away right now. Once these heal, I’ll be handsome again.” He shot me a disdainful look. “Besides, kid, look at yourself. What do you even have? My taste isn’t that bad.” “Either come with me, or I’m taking you to the cops. Pick one.” I was so anxious I didn’t know what to say. Seeing me stay silent, he drawled lazily, “I’m counting to three. If you don’t speak, I’m calling the cops.” “Three, two…” “No, no police station…” In my panic, I grabbed the hem of his jacket. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He grabbed my wrist, holding my hand with one hand and carrying my backpack in the other, and walked out the door. At the entrance, a guy with dyed red hair saw Liam holding onto someone and looked absolutely shocked. “Wait, bro… you went to get checked out and came back with a cute girl?” His eyes darted around slyly. He nudged Liam, grinning mischievously. “Where’d you find her? She looks super young. Is this your type?” Liam shot him a lethal glare and snapped impatiently, “Found her.” Years later, curled up in his arms, I asked him why he decided to take me home that day. He said that back then, I was blinking at everything with big, wet, terrified eyes, defensive against the whole world, just like a stray kitten. I looked so pathetic it inexplicably triggered his protective instincts. Later on, he always joked that he had literally picked his future wife up off the street. 3 That night, my heart was in my throat the entire time I followed him upstairs. It was a rundown, ancient apartment complex. The motion-sensor light in the stairwell was incredibly dim, shutting off just a few seconds after it flickered on. When the stairwell plunged into darkness, my foot missed a step. Just as I was about to fall, he quickly grabbed my shoulder to steady me. But my heart was hammering faster and faster. I regretted it. Why was I following a strange man to his apartment? My brain started flashing through every true crime documentary I had ever seen about missing teenage girls. When we reached his door, I stood completely frozen, refusing to go inside. He threw me an annoyed glare. “What, you like squatting in doorways?” He stepped over the threshold, tossed my backpack onto the sofa, and then flopped down right next to it. He grabbed a black puffer jacket, threw it over himself, and closed his eyes. He casually added: “Forgot to tell you, this building is haunted. Weird noises start echoing through the walls around midnight.” Standing in the doorway, I looked back at the pitch-black stairwell and was absolutely terrified. I stood there, paralyzed with fear, not knowing what to do. A draft blew through the hallway, making me shiver violently. The guy in the living room let out a sudden, annoyed huff. “Either go sleep in the bedroom, or shut the front door.” With that, he pulled the puffer jacket completely over his head. The night was far too quiet. So quiet I could only hear the wind and my own heartbeat. I glanced at the guy on the sofa. He seemed to be asleep. It was too cold and I was too exhausted. I tiptoed into the bedroom. Compared to the hard plastic chairs at the hospital, the bed felt like heaven. I fell asleep almost instantly. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed my backpack, and practically sprinted out the door. His apartment was very close to my high school. It wasn’t until I arrived at school and saw the zipper of my backpack open that I realized my English textbook was missing. After frantically retracing my steps and finding nothing, I narrowed the prime suspect down to that sofa from yesterday. But he looked so intimidating. I didn’t dare go back and ask him. We were from completely different worlds anyway. I figured our paths would never cross again. Until a few days later, when someone stood at the back door of my classroom and called my name. I turned around. It was a guy wearing a black puffer jacket, hands shoved deep in his pockets, leaning lazily against the doorframe. He was tall, with sharp, narrow eyes, thin lips, and a lazy, slightly feral aura about him. I thought I misheard. I didn’t know him. I glanced at him once and turned back around. “Hey, Liam! What brings you down here?” a guy from my class asked as he walked by. Liam answered impatiently, “Looking for someone.” “Scarlett, senior class four.” He called out again. The voice sounded familiar, but the face didn’t. “Scarlett! Liam is looking for you!” a guy yelled at the top of his lungs. The entire class turned to look at me. Under the scrutinizing stares of thirty students, I slowly shuffled over to him. “H-hi… did… did you need something?” He let out a cold scoff, dropped a book directly onto the top of my head, and turned to leave. I confusedly pulled the book down. It was my missing English textbook. It was him. It really was him… His battered, swollen face from that night was completely unrecognizable from how he looked now. He truly did have a very handsome face. A group of classmates immediately swarmed me, burning with curiosity. “Hey Scarlett, how do you know Liam Sterling?!” He was Liam Sterling??? Even though I had only recently transferred to this school, I knew that name. He was the secret (and not-so-secret) crush of half the girls in the school. The notorious bad boy from the science track upstairs who fought like he had a death wish. But thinking back on it, he didn’t seem quite as evil as the rumors claimed. 4 That afternoon, my mom unexpectedly showed up to pick me up from school. My mom didn’t like me. In fact, she resented me. She was incredibly beautiful and had spent most of her life relying on men to support her. I had always been her dead weight. Her new husband, Richard, was very wealthy. He looked refined and cultured. And he didn’t seem to hate me. He smiled at me and bought me pretty clothes. I thought my days of wandering aimlessly with her were finally over. But then I noticed my stepdad finding excuses to casually touch me. Until one day, while I was taking a shower, he used a key to unlock the bathroom door. That night, I fled the house in sheer terror. With nowhere to go, I hid in the hospital corridors. That was the night I met Liam. “Mom, is Richard still away on his business trip?” I asked cautiously, testing the waters. “He just got back today. That’s why he asked me to pick you up so we could all have a nice family dinner.” “I’m not going. Let me out of the car.” Sheer terror instantly paralyzed my body. “What are you throwing a tantrum for? Your stepdad had a little too much to drink that night and accidentally opened the wrong door. It’s not a big deal.” My mom glared at me impatiently, pointing a warning finger at me. “Scarlett, I finally managed to land a rich man. Do not ruin this for me. Pissing off Richard won’t do either of us any good.” That night, Richard bought me more expensive clothes, and at the dinner table, he calmly explained away the “misunderstanding.” But I was still terrified. The bed in that massive mansion was incredibly soft, but I didn’t dare fall asleep. At 2 AM, I heard the lock on my bedroom door click open. Richard stood silently behind me, reaching for the hem of my pajamas. He told me to put on the new clothes he bought me so he could see how they looked. I had a total breakdown. I called the police and showed them the hidden camera footage from my bedroom. Yes, I had secretly installed a camera just so my mom would finally believe I wasn’t lying. I handed the footage to the police, but the officers said the video “didn’t prove anything concrete.” My mom stood next to them, laughing nervously, dismissing it as a family squabble caused by a rebellious teenager acting out. Richard was a highly influential local businessman. In the end, the police actually apologized to him before leaving respectfully. My mom slapped me hard across the face. She called me cheap. She accused me of trying to seduce her husband. She said I ruined her life. She told me to get out. She said she no longer had a daughter. I didn’t understand what I had done wrong. If she hated me so much, why did she even give birth to me? With nowhere to go, I aimlessly wandered the dark streets. In a narrow alleyway behind my high school, several stray cats were huddled together inside a battered cardboard box. Someone was crouching down, tearing open a cheap sausage and breaking it into pieces to feed them. The person caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye. When we made eye contact, I was a little surprised. It was Liam. “Liam…” He fed the last piece of sausage to the kittens and gave them a gentle pat on the head. “What?” He stood up and walked over to me. I stayed crouched on the ground, not daring to look up at him. “Hello? Scarlett.” When I didn’t answer, he gently nudged the toe of my sneaker with his shoe. “Can… can I come home with you?” I whispered, slowly lifting my head to look at him. The moment our eyes met, he froze slightly. “What, is my place a designated safehouse now? Or a hotel? The kind you sleep at once and then run away from?” He glared at me, clearly displeased. “Weren’t you fighting tooth and nail not to go the other night?” “I… I don’t think you’re a bad person…” I explained softly. He couldn’t help but let out a cynical laugh. Maybe it was because he was willing to feed cheap sausages to stray cats that I felt like, despite his intimidating exterior, he was actually kind-hearted. “My… my mom doesn’t want me anymore. Can… can you take me in for a little while?” “Hah. Why the hell should I take you in?” he fired back. “I can take care of you! I can cook, wash your clothes, clean your apartment! And… and I don’t eat very much…” I looked up at him with pleading eyes, hoping he would show some mercy. I was terrified to live on the streets alone, and I had almost no money. I genuinely didn’t know how I was going to survive. He gritted his teeth, looking incredibly irritated, before turning around and walking away. Just as my head dropped in bitter disappointment, he stopped, frowned, looked back over his shoulder, and snapped impatiently, “Well? Are you coming or not?” But when he saw the burnt, rock-hard pancakes I tried to make for him, he grabbed one, used it to smash a walnut open, and looked like he seriously regretted his life choices. “Scarlett, this is what you call knowing how to cook?” “Are you trying to murder your… trying to kill me?! This is what you call taking care of me?!” He yelled at me, looking furious. “I… I’ll learn. I promise I’ll learn fast.” I explained in a tiny voice. He let out a heavy huff, turned around, walked into the kitchen, and boiled two bowls of ramen for us. 5 Even though he constantly complained about me, he eventually bought a folding cot and put it in his bedroom. He even hung a curtain between our two beds. For the first time in weeks, I didn’t have to stay awake paralyzed by fear. The sound of his steady breathing coming from the other side of the curtain inexplicably made me feel incredibly safe. I spent most of my time in the bedroom doing practice exams to prep for the SATs. He spent most of his time in the living room, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, playing video games on his computer. There seemed to be a very clear, impenetrable boundary line between us. But as time went on, the tension between us began to ease. He looked mean, and he constantly threatened to kick me out, but he was always the one aggressively cooking enough food for both of us. I reminded him that smoking was bad for his health. He brushed it off with a careless, “When it’s your time, it’s your time.” I pulled out my phone and read webMD articles to him out loud: “Long-term smoking leads to cardiovascular damage, throat cancer, and lung cancer.” He ignored me, blowing smoke rings at the ceiling. “It also leads to low sperm count, sperm abnormalities, and severe infertility…” He cursed loudly under his breath and aggressively crushed his cigarette into the ashtray. One night, right before we went to sleep, a sharp scream echoed from the apartment above us. I was so startled I clutched my blanket tight. I suddenly remembered Liam telling me this building was haunted and that weird noises happened at midnight. Terrified and shaking, I called out, “Liam… are you asleep?” “What do you want?” he answered, his voice thick with sleep. “Did… did you hear that weird noise upstairs? Is this place actually haunted?” I was petrified. “I…” He gritted his teeth, rolled over aggressively, and didn’t answer me. The noises from upstairs continued intermittently. It wasn’t until my face was burning hot that I finally realized what the sound actually was. Blushing furiously, I pulled the blanket over my head, but I couldn’t fall asleep. Once the noises upstairs finally stopped, Liam got out of bed and went to the bathroom. He went back and forth three times. I started getting worried. “Liam, are you sick? Do you need to go to the hospital?” He ground his teeth together. “No.” “You really need to stop smoking. It’s destroying your immune system,” I advised him earnestly. He snapped back fiercely, “Scarlett, if you don’t go to sleep right now, I’m throwing you out the window.” He yelled at me again, but I knew he wouldn’t actually throw me out. That night, for whatever reason, we both suffered from a mutual, unspoken bout of insomnia. Through that thin curtain, we talked for hours. I asked him why he lived alone. He said his parents divorced when he was little, and two years ago, his dad was killed by a drunk truck driver. Now it was just him. He asked me why I was crying that day in the alley, and why I had a handprint on my face. I told him my mom married a new guy, they both hated me, and she threw me out. I didn’t dare tell him about my stepdad. I was young, and I felt like being assaulted was dirty and shameful. He said, “If they don’t want you, I’ll take you. You’re easy to take care of anyway, and you barely eat anything.” I asked him, “Liam, are you going to college?” I knew his grades were terrible. Even if he tried, he’d only get into a community college at best. He said he wasn’t cut out for school. Once he graduated high school, he was going to start working, save up money, and marry a good wife. I stayed quiet for a long time before saying, “Liam, I want to go to a college out of state.” I hated this city. I was terrified I might run into Richard again one day. He stayed silent for a very long time before finally grunting, “Good. Then nobody will be here to annoy me anymore.” I thought that maybe our story would just quietly end after high school graduation. He was like a beam of light that shone on me for a brief moment, but I couldn’t hold onto him. I was just a stray cat, destined to wander the world alone. 6 But stories rarely go the way you expect. I never predicted the ending, and I certainly never imagined that one day, he would be pinning me against a wall with bloodshot eyes, demanding to know if I regretted leaving him. I choked back my agony and told him no, but he told me he regretted it. He stared at me like he wanted to rip me apart and devour me whole. Until little Leo started furiously kicking and punching his legs, screaming, “Bad man! Let go of my mommy!” His grip loosened immediately. He stared at me, completely stunned, and whispered, “Scarlett. This isn’t over.” I didn’t have time to overthink what his “not over” meant until three days later, when a massive shipment of Arthur’s company goods was unexpectedly detained at the port. Customs flagged the entire shipment for “suspected smuggling” and ordered a full-scale inspection. Arthur was bleeding thousands of dollars a day in penalty fees, the delivery deadline was looming, and the port authority refused to release the cargo. I went to Liam’s corporate headquarters. It was the tallest skyscraper in the city. The massive letters “Sterling Enterprises” gleamed blindingly in the sun. His secretary told me politely but firmly that Mr. Sterling was busy and had no time for visitors. “That’s fine. I’ll wait until he isn’t busy.” I waited in the reception lobby for five agonizing hours. Eventually, his girlfriend Chloe walked straight into his office, and a few minutes later, walked out with her arm linked happily through his. I swallowed my humiliation, lowered my pride, and approached him. “Mr. Sterling. Do you have a moment now?” He slowly, casually checked his luxury watch and let out a mocking laugh. “It’s only been five hours. Have you ever tried waiting for someone for five years, Scarlett?” I forced down my crushing embarrassment, my tone incredibly submissive. “Mr. Sterling, what happened back then was entirely my fault. Arthur had nothing to do with it. Please, let his company’s shipment go.” He shook his head, a cruel, mocking smile spreading across his face. “Nothing to do with it? You are Mrs. Vance. He is your husband. You think he has nothing to do with it?” “Liam, what do you want? I’ll do whatever it takes,” I asked, fighting to keep my composure. He looked at me, a dark, unreadable smirk playing on his lips. “What if I want you to divorce him?” His eyes burned into me, as if trying to see straight through to my soul. When I stood there frozen in silence, he let out a harsh scoff and turned to walk away. “Mr. Sterling.” I panicked and stepped in front of him to block his path. “I can divorce him…” Arthur and I had never actually had a real marriage anyway. He had helped me survive the darkest period of my life. I refused to let my past destroy his company. His eyes flickered. He looked at me, his gaze swirling with emotions I couldn’t decipher. “Do you still remember 52 King’s Hill Road, Scarlett? Be there tonight. Wait for me.” 52 King’s Hill Road. That was the address of the apartment he bought to be our future home. Walking down that familiar street again made my chest ache with a suffocating pain. The passcode to the smart lock was still my birthday. I pushed the door open. The tiny 900-square-foot apartment, which had just been bare concrete and exposed wires five years ago, had been transformed into a warm, beautiful home. Standing in the center of the room, every conversation we had in this exact spot played through my head like a movie. “Liam, I love minimalist Scandinavian design.” “Let’s fill the balcony with potted flowers.” “I want a massive bookshelf right here.” “Let’s make this a photo wall.” “How about a rocking chair over here?” He had held me in his arms, agreeing to every single thing, promising to buy me an even bigger house in the future. Now, standing in this apartment, the home I had dreamed of was completely real. The bookshelf, the fresh flowers, the rocking chair, the beautiful renovations. On the photo wall behind the sofa hung picture after picture of us together, from age 18 to 22. Running my fingers over the photos, my control shattered. I broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. The memories of those years crashed over me like a tidal wave.

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My husband’s secretary was trapped in a locked car for half an hour. In a fit of blind rage, he locked me inside the storage room. I knelt on the floor, desperately gripping the hem of his shirt, confessing to a crime I didn’t commit. But he impatiently pried my fingers away and stomped hard on my hand. His eyes held not a single shred of warmth. “Who do you think you are, daring to hurt Chloe?” Suffering from severe claustrophobia, I curled up in the pitch-black, cramped space, gasping violently for air. My palms were torn and bloody from clawing at the door, yet it did nothing to fend off the suffocating, impending grip of death. A week later, he finally remembered me after returning from an overseas vacation with his secretary. But little did he know, I had long died in a pool of terror and hatred. Chapter 1 1 When Ethan Carter walked into the villa with his arm wrapped tightly around Chloe Davis’s waist, the maids had already decorated the house perfectly. Rose petals scattered across the floor, a dazzling diamond necklace resting on the dining table, and beside it, a three-tier cake featuring a custom cartoon caricature of a girl. Everything screamed of just how much Ethan valued Chloe. Leaning against Ethan’s chest, Chloe saw the surprise. She covered her mouth in shock, her eyes shimmering with tears as she looked up at him. “Ethan, you treat me so well!” Ethan affectionately tapped the tip of her nose, his tone incredibly gentle. “I have one more gift for you.” He turned to his personal assistant and ordered coldly: “Go upstairs and tell Mia to come down. I’m going to make that vicious bitch kneel and apologize to Chloe in front of everyone.” I watched the man I had loved for ten years with cold, dead eyes. My heart was utterly numb. “Ethan, please don’t blame Mia. I believe she didn’t mean to hurt me on purpose. We are half-sisters, after all. If you punish her, it’ll break my heart.” Chloe’s voice took on a tearful edge, but with my omniscient view, I caught the fleeting gleam of pure malice in her eyes. Yes, I was already dead. A week ago, an infuriated Ethan decided to “teach me a lesson” by locking me inside a storage room that was barely ten square feet. I had desperately clawed at the doorframe, admitting to every fabricated sin he accused me of, just begging him not to lock me in that dark, suffocating box. But all he left me was his back and a vicious promise: “I will make you suffer a hundred times over for the pain you caused Chloe. This is what you owe her!” He seemed to have completely forgotten that I suffered from severe claustrophobia. While he held Chloe’s hand and flew to Iceland to watch the Northern Lights, I was curled into a tight ball, suffocating. I had pinched and clawed at my own arms and thighs until they were a bloody mess, desperately trying to anchor my fading consciousness. But in the end, it wasn’t enough. In my final moment, my soul violently tore itself away from that terrifying room. Hearing Chloe plead for me, Ethan’s heart melted. He reached out and gently cupped her cheek. “You’re just too kind for your own good. That’s why she keeps bullying you. I won’t let her hurt you ever again!” I couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh. So, in his eyes, I had always been this evil, venomous woman. Everything I had ever sacrificed for him had become nothing more than a colossal joke. Just then, his assistant came running down the stairs in an absolute panic. 2 “Mr. Carter, there’s no response from the storage room. Mrs. Carter… she doesn’t seem to be breathing.” A flicker of panic flashed across Ethan’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a knowing, cynical smirk. “Liam, has Mia bought you out too?” “I let it slide when you helped her trap Chloe in the car, but now you’re helping her fake her own death?” “It seems you’ve forgotten who signs your paychecks. Pack your things. You’re fired.” Before Liam could even utter a word of defense, Ethan took Chloe’s hand and led her up to the master bedroom. Liam stood frozen in the foyer. He opened his mouth, but ultimately, no words came out. I genuinely couldn’t fathom how Ethan had morphed into this monster. We used to be so deeply in love. I had known Ethan for ten years. I stayed by his side when he built his startup from the ground up, all the way until he became a rising corporate magnate. But it wasn’t until I died that I finally understood: the scale in Ethan’s heart had tipped the very second Chloe walked into his life. Chloe Davis was Ethan’s personal secretary. She was also my half-sister. A week ago, Ethan took Chloe and Liam on a business trip to visit a supplier. That same day, my mother—who was in the final stages of terminal cancer—had a rare moment of clarity. She held my hand, softly asking about my marriage with Ethan. But the very next second, the numbers on her monitor plummeted. Staring at the closed doors of the resuscitation room, I helplessly dialed Ethan’s number. He rushed over and sat silently beside me in the waiting area. That is, until his phone rang. It was Chloe, and his face instantly drained of color. Over the phone, Chloe weakly sobbed about how scared she was, even having the nerve to tell Ethan to “take good care of your legal wife.” Panic consumed Ethan. Ignoring my tearful pleas, he didn’t even grab his coat before sprinting out of the hospital to save her. What he didn’t know was that just ten minutes after he walked away, my mother left this world forever. The pathetic part was that even then, I still hadn’t grasped how much Chloe meant to him. Not until he shoved me into that storage room with a deadpan expression, crouched down, pinched my jaw hard, and said with ice in his voice: “Mia, I used to think you were just a bit jealous, but I never realized you were this venomous. Chloe is your own sister, and you actually tried to kill her.” “If it weren’t for you and your short-lived mother, I wouldn’t have left Chloe’s side when she was in danger!” “Stay in here and reflect on what you’ve done. You can come out when you finally figure out exactly what you did wrong.” My fingers were crushed beneath his expensive shoes, and my heart was left numb with agony. And now, he was still waiting for me to lower my head and obediently apologize. Too bad for him, this was one expectation I would never meet. Ethan stood outside the storage room door, his face radiating icy disdain. “Mia, it’s time to drop this little temper tantrum of yours. You know my patience is limited.” “Crawl out here right now and give Chloe a proper apology, and I might just consider forgiving you.” He was met with dead silence. Growing impatient, Ethan pounded heavily on the storage room door, his voice turning malicious. “Fine. If you don’t want to come out, then rot in there.” Watching his retreating figure, a profound sorrow welled up inside me. I had no choice but to admit that the man I once loved so fiercely had rotten away from the inside out a long time ago. Chapter 2 3 For the next few days, Ethan stayed by Chloe’s side. He didn’t come home once. I watched him diligently care for another woman—taking her out to dinner, watching movies with her, doing every romantic thing couples do. All I could do was laugh at my own pathetic life. Today was my father’s birthday. Bright and early, Ethan showed up at the Davis residence with bags of expensive gifts, Chloe right by his side. My father, who was watering the plants in the front yard, beamed with joy as he ushered them inside. Chloe skipped over and intimately hooked her arm through my father’s, acting spoiled and sweet. Ethan just watched her with a fond smile, carrying the gifts behind them. It was so natural. It looked like the three of them were the real family. At the dinner table, Chloe’s sweet-talking had my father laughing non-stop. Ethan routinely picked up Chloe’s favorite dishes and placed them in her bowl. From beginning to end, not a single person mentioned me. It was Ethan’s ringing phone that shattered the domestic bliss. He answered it, and the voice on the other end made his expression freeze. “Hello, Mr. Carter. I am a doctor at City General Hospital. We received a female corpse today. Based on DNA matching, we have confirmed that the deceased is your wife, Mrs. Mia Carter.” “Would it be convenient for you to come to the hospital now to process the paperwork?” Ethan furrowed his brow, listening to the caller. Then he scoffed, his tone dripping with mockery. “Oh? Let me guess, Mia hired you to put on this little show? Do me a favor and tell her that playing dead won’t earn my forgiveness.” “Also, tell her this trick is incredibly boring.” Without waiting for a response, Ethan hung up the phone. Seeing him put the phone down, Chloe asked with a face full of concern: “Ethan, did something happen to my sister?” Ethan reached out, affectionately patted the top of her head, and shook his head. But for the rest of the dinner, he was completely distracted. He even accidentally served Chloe celery several times, knowing it was the vegetable she hated most. Even my father noticed something was off, so he didn’t insist Ethan stay late. To my surprise, after Ethan drove Chloe home that night, he didn’t stay over at her place like he usually did. Instead, he drove straight to City General Hospital. I followed him to the chilly hallway outside the morgue. His hand rested on the door handle, but he hesitated to press it down. I saw his lips moving. It wasn’t until I drifted closer that I heard what he was whispering. “Mia, if I find out you’re playing another prank on me, I’m going to flay you alive!” Hah! Even now, he was still threatening a dead woman. If I had a physical body, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from slapping him across the face. As if he finally braced himself, Ethan pushed the door open and walked into the morgue. The medical examiner on the night shift was dozing off at his desk. Seeing Ethan’s dark figure, he jumped up in alarm. “Who are you?!” Acting as if he heard nothing, Ethan walked slowly toward a steel gurney a few feet away, where a body lay covered by a white sheet. “Mia, get the hell up! Stop pretending!” Ethan stood before the corpse, his fists clenched tight, shouting as if he were trying to suppress a massive surge of anger. But it was a corpse. How could a corpse answer him? Suddenly, Ethan lost his mind. He grabbed my lifeless body through the sheet and began shaking it violently. Somehow, even floating in the air, I felt a phantom wave of severe dizziness. The doctor finally snapped out of his shock, rushed over, and tackled Ethan in a bear hug to stop his manic shaking. “Mr. Carter, please calm down!” Ethan shoved the doctor away roughly, screaming: “This can’t be Mia! You’re all liars! You’re all lying to me!” Honestly, it had been a very, very long time since I had seen Ethan lose control like this. Yet, at this moment, I only felt an overwhelming urge to laugh. The doctor shook his head at Ethan’s hysterics. He walked back to his desk, picked up a piece of paper, and handed it to Ethan. Chapter 3 4 I floated closer and saw that it was my official death certificate. “Mr. Carter, it was your housemaid who noticed a foul odor coming from the storage room. That’s how your wife’s body was found.” “My condolences.” The doctor patted Ethan’s shoulder and quietly left the room, giving him space. Ethan was left entirely alone. He crouched on the floor, his head bowed, staring blankly at the death certificate in his hands. “How is this possible? Mia, how could you be dead?” “You’re lying to me, aren’t you?” “Yes, that has to be it! I’m going to expose your lie right now!” When Ethan tried to stand, he stumbled, staggering awkwardly toward the covered corpse. “Mia, I’m giving you one last chance. Get up right now, and we can pretend none of this ever happened.” The room was dead silent. Ethan pinched the corner of the white sheet but couldn’t bring himself to lift it. I saw his fingers trembling uncontrollably. A sudden, wicked urge flared within me—I wanted to scare him. I wanted him to taste true terror and despair. Summoning all the spectral energy I had, I blew a gust of cold air directly at the sheet. It slipped off the body and drifted to the floor. My corpse was entirely exposed to his eyes. Due to suffocation, my face was a bruised, mottled purple. It was so grotesque that even I found it horrifying to look at. My eyes, which had never closed even in death, bulged out grotesquely. Under the eerie fluorescent lights of the morgue, it was a nightmarish sight. “Ahhhhh!” Ethan screamed, stumbling backward until he fell hard onto his rear. He kept scrambling backward, shouting: “Stay away from me! Don’t come closer! I was wrong!” Seeing his pathetic, comedic reaction, the heavy knot of resentment in my chest finally loosened just a bit. Ethan sat paralyzed on the floor for a long time before he finally caught his breath. When he stood up, his legs were still shaking violently. He slowly inched his way back to the corpse. Staring down at the lifeless, horrifying shell that used to be his wife, his eyes turned bloodshot. “How is this possible?” “Nothing happened between me and Chloe! Please, don’t be mad at me anymore, okay? Just come back!” A massive tear fell from his eye. Then a second, and a third. I truly didn’t understand this man anymore. When I was alive, he ruthlessly trampled all over my devoted heart. Now that I was dead, he was putting on this grand, tragic performance. Who was he acting for? 5 I had known Ethan for ten years, and I had loved him for ten years. When we first met, he was the untouchable, brilliant golden boy of our university, while I was quiet and gloomy due to my broken family. I never expected our paths to cross, but I couldn’t stop myself from watching his every move from afar. I was like a rat hiding in the dark, desperate for the light but too terrified to touch it, only able to admire it from a distance. In our senior year, I heard he was starting his own tech company. Without hesitation, I threw away a lucrative offer from a Fortune 500 company to join his scrappy startup. In the early days, it was just the two of us. I lived with him in a damp, moldy basement apartment. I ate stale leftovers and even ended up in the hospital with food poisoning just to save a few bucks. Even the claustrophobia that eventually killed me was entirely because of Ethan. Back then, we were desperately searching for a decent office space on a shoestring budget. We toured building after building. The accident happened on one of those tours. We found a newly built high-rise in the suburbs. Little did we know, the developers had cut corners and installed an elevator that didn’t meet safety standards. That day, Ethan and I were trapped in that pitch-black elevator for five excruciating hours. I genuinely thought I was going to die in there. Ever since that day, I suffered from paralyzing claustrophobia. But I never imagined that the man who survived that brush with death alongside me would eventually use an almost identical method to push me into my grave. Chapter 4 When the company finally stabilized, we threw a celebration party for landing our first million-dollar contract. That night, I confessed my feelings to him. I will always remember how we held each other tightly under the cheering of our colleagues. At that moment, I truly believed we were going to be together forever. The turning point came in our second year of dating. We were preparing for our wedding, but my parents suddenly announced their divorce. My normally elegant, composed mother went absolutely hysterical. That was when I learned my father had been cheating on her for years, and he had an illegitimate daughter born two months before me. That daughter was Chloe Davis. How hilarious was it? Just a few months prior, my father had pressured me into making Ethan bend the hiring rules to give Chloe a job at our company. The night before the wedding, my mother sat next to me, holding my hand. She told me all men were garbage and asked if I was really sure about this. At that time, I was naive but firmly convinced that Ethan would be the exception. Looking back now, my innocence was laughable. After leaving the hospital, Ethan drove back to our house. Seeing him enter, the maids rushed forward to greet him, but he just waved them off, his face deathly pale. He walked straight up to the storage room in the attic. Even though the maids had thoroughly cleaned it, a faint, foul odor of death still lingered. Returning to this terrifying place made my ghostly stomach churn. The despair and suffocation I felt right before I died crashed over me like a tidal wave. But Ethan acted as if he didn’t smell a thing. He walked right in. He suddenly pulled his arm back and punched the wall with everything he had, muttering like a madman: “Fine! You dare run away from me, Mia? Faking your death to trick me? When I catch you, you’re dead meat.” I didn’t even know how to react anymore. My literal corpse had been laid out right in front of his eyes, and he was still lying to himself. It was beyond pathetic. 6 Ethan locked himself in the master bedroom for two whole days, drinking bottle after bottle of whiskey. It wasn’t until the third day that a heavily dressed-up Chloe came to the house with a new assistant to pick him up. Today was the company’s annual gala. It sounds absurd, but as the CEO’s wife, I had never once attended an annual gala. After we got married, Ethan told me that a house needed someone to manage it, and he couldn’t bear to see me exhausted from the corporate grind. Like a fool, I believed him. I left the company and became a full-time housewife. Fast forward to today, and aside from a few founding members, almost no one at the company even knew Ethan was married. At the gala, Chloe hooked her arm through Ethan’s, flashing a radiant smile and never leaving his side. As the banquet neared its end, Ethan went on stage to give the CEO’s address. Towards the end, his tone shifted: “Tonight, I want to thank a very special someone. She has walked this long road with me, staying quietly by my side.” “Without her, I wouldn’t be who I am today, and this company wouldn’t exist.” … Before Ethan could finish, a commotion broke out near the front tables. Chloe had somehow collapsed onto the floor. The man who was just giving a speech instantly dropped his champagne glass, bolted off the stage, pushed through the crowd, and helped her up. Ethan’s face was fraught with tension. “Chloe, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” Chloe looked up, her eyes wide and tearful as she stared at his face. “I think I sprained my ankle. I’m so sorry, Mr. Carter, I interrupted your speech.” Without another word, Ethan scooped her up into his arms in a bridal carry. Chloe buried her flushed face into his chest, looking like a shy, delicate flower. Hah. Chloe was just using her old tricks to prove she held more weight in his heart than I did. Back when my parents first divorced, I only hated Chloe’s mother for destroying our perfect family. I had genuinely thought Chloe was innocent. I even entertained the delusion of being friends with her. But what did she do? At my father’s 60th birthday banquet, she pulled me aside near the staircase. Dropping the innocent facade she wore in front of the elders, she glared at me with pure venom. “I want you to watch very closely as I take everything that belongs to you. Not just our dad. Your man, too.” Then, she intentionally threw herself backward, tumbling down the stairs. I stood at the top, frozen in shock. By the time I snapped out of it, I was met with my father’s explosive fury: “How did I raise such a vicious daughter?! You’re exactly like your psychotic mother!” I stared numbly as the father I had always respected held Chloe with agonizing tenderness, while Ethan stood behind them, looking up at me with a complicated, dark expression. I tried to explain, but absolutely no one believed me. Although Ethan never said it out loud, I knew deep down he believed I was the one who pushed her. And from that day onward, Ethan and Chloe grew closer and closer. Chapter 5 Whenever Ethan went on business trips, he always remembered to bring her a gift. He reasoned, “She’s your sister and my subordinate. It’s only polite.” Whenever Chloe felt the slightest bit sick, Ethan was the first person she called. He would rush out in the dead of night to take her to the ER. To him, my complaints were just signs of a jealous, unsympathetic shrew. I watched Chloe slowly infiltrate my life and Ethan’s life, and I couldn’t do a thing to stop it. Because Ethan looked me dead in the eye and said, “I despise jealous women.” Just like tonight. Chloe clearly realized the “special someone” in his speech wasn’t her, so she deliberately bumped into a waiter and faked a sprained ankle. But I no longer had the right—or the desire—to intervene. 7 The gala ended abruptly due to Chloe’s “injury” and Ethan’s hasty exit. He carried her straight to his car and drove to the hospital. I couldn’t help but remember last winter. A nasty flu was going around, and I caught it. I laid in bed all day, burning up with a high fever, drifting in and out of consciousness. That night, unable to endure the pain, I called Ethan and begged him to come home and take me to the clinic. And what was his response? He said he was incredibly busy and told me not to bother him with such trivial things. He added that even if he rushed home, he wasn’t a doctor, so it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. You see, when it came to me, he was always so rational, so detached. But now, over Chloe’s minor ankle sprain, he dropped his entire company of employees just to rush her to the doctor. Strangely, though, when they arrived at the examination room, Ethan didn’t follow her inside. Chloe grabbed his sleeve, looking up with a confused, cautious expression. “Ethan, aren’t you coming in with me? Did I… did I make you mad?” Her voice grew quieter and quieter until she lowered her head, playing the role of the fragile victim perfectly. I had to admit, her acting was getting professional. It was a pitiable sight. But oddly enough, this time, Ethan wasn’t swayed by her routine. He stared blankly at the top of her head before finally speaking. “Be a good girl. I’ll have Liam’s replacement go in with you. I’m going to grab a smoke. I’ll be right back.” With that, he turned sharply and walked away. I followed him, only to find ourselves back in a very familiar place: the morgue. The night-shift doctor was the same as before. Seeing Ethan, he didn’t try to stop him. He just patted Ethan’s shoulder in sympathy and stepped outside. My corpse was still in the exact same spot. Ethan walked straight over to it, pulled back the white sheet, and stared with bloodshot eyes. “Mia, you’re just punishing me, right?” “Well, I’m telling you, it worked. You won. So please, just get up now.” He sat on the cold floor, his back leaning against the steel table, staring hollowly at the opposite wall. “Are you mad because I got too close to Chloe? As long as you come back, I’ll fire her immediately. I swear I’ll stay far away from her.” “I refuse to believe you’re dead. You loved me so much. How could you bear to leave me?” Ethan’s voice was hoarse, as if the words were being forcefully squeezed from his throat. By the end, he was choking back sobs. In the past, whenever he did something to upset me, all he had to do was lower his head and act slightly apologetic, and I would throw away all my boundaries and forgive him unconditionally. But that was in the past. Now, watching him play the victim and beg, I only felt nauseated. “That’s right. How could you bear to leave me? There has to be more to this. I’m going to find out the truth!” Ethan wiped away his tears, completely discarding his melancholic breakdown, and suddenly looked intensely driven. Seriously, I really wanted to ask him where he got the sheer audacity to assume I still harbored any lingering affection for him. He sprang up from the floor and marched out of the hospital with wide strides. He completely forgot about Chloe, who was still waiting for him in the examination room.

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My father loved my mother to the point of obsession, but she died because of me. Later, he adopted another daughter. The adopted daughter looked exactly like my mother. On our sixteenth birthday… He treated his adopted daughter like a beloved princess, while his guests mistook me for the maid’s daughter. Right then, my phone rang. “Happy birthday, baby! It’s been so long, Mommy missed you so much!” Me: ! My mother had returned. 1 When Chloe’s guests ordered me to wash her car, my father, Arthur Davis, happened to return from an outing. His assistant, trailing behind him, presented a priceless crystal castle to Chloe. Immediately, Chloe’s classmates gasped in awe. Their envy was palpable. Then, I heard Arthur’s voice, filled with indulgence and affection: “A castle for my princess. Happy birthday, my one and only little princess.” His only princess. I rolled those words around in my mind, a bitter taste spreading through my chest. Today wasn’t just Chloe’s birthday. It was mine, too. But, just like every other year, I received nothing. Because in Arthur’s eyes, I was a sinner. I didn’t deserve a birthday. Because I killed my mother. 2 Ten years ago today, my mother was in a fatal car accident while going out to buy the strawberry cake I was crying for. She left us forever. From that day on, Arthur hated me with every fiber of his being. At her funeral, he announced to everyone, “Harper Davis is no longer my daughter.” I crouched on the ground, blinking my red, swollen eyes at him, completely lost and confused. I was too young then to understand his cruelty. Only as I grew older did I realize how absolute that rejection was. Later. His company went public, and his net worth skyrocketed. After becoming a wealthy CEO, he adopted Chloe. From then on… He only loved Chloe. Chloe lived in the master suite of our mansion; I lived in the maid’s quarters. Chloe was chauffeured to school; I took the public bus. Chloe’s closet overflowed with new designer clothes; I wore whatever she discarded. Chloe lived like royalty. I lived like a live-in servant. It was true, though. I was a servant with no parents. 3 But I wanted to be a princess, too. I remembered Arthur promising me that when I was little. Back then, my mother was still alive. Arthur’s company was just starting out, and our family of three was crammed into a tiny, two-bedroom apartment. To support him, my mother secretly transferred the holiday money my grandfather gave me into Arthur’s account. “Harper and I don’t need much. Don’t worry,” she would always coax him. I loved to parrot her words. “Daddy, don’t worry! Harper will give you all her allowance…” Before I could even finish, Arthur broke down. He pulled us close, pressing his face between ours. Soon, scalding drops fell onto my chubby cheeks. They tickled. Looking back, those must have been his tears. Before I turned ten, he would constantly tell me: “When Daddy becomes successful and makes lots of money, my Harper will be a princess. How does that sound?” … See? He promised. But he broke his promise. As I was lost in thought… A snobbish, polite voice interrupted me: “Excuse me, maid girl? Why aren’t you washing the car? Do you think just because I’m Chloe’s classmate, you can ignore me?” Chloe went to an elite private school. Her classmates were all rich kids, naturally acting high and mighty. But. I wasn’t a maid. I glared at her, about to snap back. But the next second… Arthur’s cold voice cut through the air, directed at me. “Why aren’t you going?” Why aren’t you going? Hearing those words felt like taking a sledgehammer to the chest. How could I forget? In Arthur’s eyes, I was just a maid. “Right away.” 4 Arthur had made it clear: if I ever displeased him, he would cut off my tuition and living expenses. But. I had promised my mother I would get into the best university. I couldn’t break my promise to her. So. As long as Arthur kept paying my tuition, I would endure anything. I bit my lip gently and turned around. Then. A soft voice called out from behind me: “Daddy, why don’t we let Harper blow out the candles with me? It’s her birthday today, too. She was actually really looking forward to it. Yesterday, she even snuck into my closet and tried on my evening gown…” I frowned. I turned around to say I hadn’t done any such thing. But a wave of disgusted murmurs erupted: “Oh my god, a maid actually dared to wear her employer’s dress?” “Chloe, did you get that dress dry-cleaned?” “Unbelievable.” “So she’s a thief, too.” 5 Hearing those whispers, I almost charged over and shoved Chloe’s face into the cake. I wanted her dead. I admit it. Last night. When she was showing off her new dress, I was envious. But that was it. Just envious. I never stole anything… I am not a thief. My eyes turned red with fury, but I didn’t dare move an inch. Because. Arthur seemed to anticipate my reaction and stepped protectively in front of Chloe. He glared at me, his face dark with fury. Disgust. Hatred. Coldness. “How could she give birth to a daughter like you? Apologize. Or you’re expelled tomorrow.” Threatening me again. Hah. “How could she marry a husband like you?” I shot back. The moment the words left my mouth. Arthur’s face turned completely black. I had never seen him look so terrifying. 6 Slap— A resounding slap echoed through the living room. Arthur had ignored me for a decade, but this was the first time he ever struck me. Within seconds. My right cheek swelled up painfully. I was furious and heartbroken. But. What could I do? I was only sixteen. I only had this father in name. A father who… Ignored me. Hated me. Threatened me. Hit me. It was true. He didn’t love me. Not even a little bit. Meanwhile. Chloe, acting as if she had accidentally caused a scene with her “good intentions,” rushed over to play peacemaker. “Daddy, it’s normal for girls to like pretty dresses! I didn’t mean to get her in trouble.” Then what did she mean? Whatever. I had already been hit. Nothing else mattered now. So. Slap. Slap. Slap. I slapped Chloe three times in rapid succession. “That’s the price for framing me.” 7 After I hit her, Chloe crumbled like a fragile flower. “Harper Davis!” Seeing Chloe looking so disheveled, Arthur’s face filled with distress. He helped her up himself. He comforted her softly: “Does it hurt? Daddy will call the doctor right now.” Chloe covered her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It’s okay, Daddy. Don’t blame Harper. Please… don’t hit her again.” Once she said that. Her classmates snapped out of their shock and began condemning her for being too “kind.” They all urged Arthur to throw me out. Hah. Throw me out. It was ironic, and pathetic. I looked up, making eye contact with Arthur for the first time in years, and saw the absolute coldness in his eyes. His voice was devoid of any emotion. “Harper. I am sending you to an orphanage. Starting today, you will never set foot in this house again.” An orphanage. I was perfectly fine with that. I was already an orphan anyway. Plus. I could still go to school if I lived there. It was miles better than staying near Arthur. …A few moments later. Arthur’s assistant escorted me out. I turned and walked away, head held high. I felt no attachment whatsoever. However. I hadn’t taken two steps when the phone in my pocket suddenly rang. I didn’t want to answer it at first. But the vibration pulsed steadily, like someone knocking on the door to my heart. Finally, I pulled it out. I glanced at the caller ID. Instantly. I froze. I couldn’t believe it. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again. “Mom…” “It’s Mom!” I stopped dead in my tracks. The assistant beside me rushed me, “Hurry up, Mr. Davis doesn’t want to see you…” I ignored him. With trembling fingers, I answered the call. Even though I knew it was impossible. My mother was dead. It had been ten years. This number had never been active. Was it a cruel prank? But even so. My mother was dead. I answered, but didn’t dare speak. I just stood there, mouth agape, frozen. Then, a voice came through the speaker. A painfully familiar voice— “Baby! Happy birthday! It’s been so long! Mommy missed you so much!” Her voice, amplified by the phone’s speaker, echoed throughout Arthur’s living room. 8 My mother’s voice was exactly as I remembered it. It hadn’t changed at all. Like a warm cup of water. Comforting and soft. “Mom…” I burst into tears. Is it really you? Mom? Are you calling me from heaven? I gripped the phone tightly, my fingers trembling. In that moment, it was the most precious thing in the world to me. But the next second. My hand was empty. Arthur had snatched the phone away. “Give it back!” I ground my teeth in fury. Did I not even have the right to talk to my dead mother? She called me. Not him! I reached up to grab it, but Arthur was too tall. He shot me a cold look and ordered the assistant to pull me away. As our eyes met, I saw that his were red. Yet, when he spoke, his voice was perfectly calm. “Who is this? Why are you impersonating my late wife?” Me: … Was he deaf? Could he not recognize her voice? Every instinct told me that this was my mother. Sure enough, a moment later. The voice snapped through the phone: “I am Eleanor Vance, your wife! Arthur Davis, didn’t you used to say you’d recognize me even if I turned into the wind?! What is this? You can’t even recognize my voice now? Have you forgotten me?! Fine, give my daughter back, we’re getting a divorce!” It had been a very long time since anyone dared to speak to Arthur like that. His assistant trembled, terrified he was going to explode. Instead, Arthur’s face visibly softened. When he spoke, he sounded like he was choking back sobs. “Eleanor. Is it really you? Where are you? I’m coming to get you right now.” He looked overjoyed. A middle-aged man acting like an ecstatic boy. “And don’t you dare say the word divorce! I will never divorce you!” Eleanor sighed in exasperation. “Make sure you bring our daughter. Our Harper must be so beautiful now.” 9 Hearing that I was going to see my mother. I was delirious with joy. I wanted to sprint out the door right then and there. But as I turned. A hand yanked me back. I looked over my shoulder. It was Arthur. He stared at my face for a moment. “Let’s go together.” I paused, touching my right cheek. It was still swollen. My mother just said I must be so beautiful now. She was going to be disappointed. I wasn’t beautiful at all right now. Arthur seemed to realize this too. He ordered a maid to take me upstairs to shower and change. I refused. “No need.” Even if I wasn’t pretty right now. I didn’t want to lie to my mother. And I especially didn’t want to lie to her with Arthur. I wanted her to know that my life had been miserable these past few years. I wanted her to know that Arthur had slapped me. Arthur was silent for a few seconds, but didn’t force the issue. Before leaving, he glanced back at Chloe’s guests and frowned. He ordered his staff to see them out. Instantly, Chloe’s face turned a sickly shade of green. She walked over, looking pitiful, staring up at Arthur with wide, starry eyes. “Daddy, are you leaving? My mom is coming over soon. She said you have a weak stomach, so she made you a special dinner.” Hearing that, I almost rolled my eyes. A special dinner. The mere sight of that mother-daughter duo was enough to make anyone sick. Chloe’s mother had been in a coma from a car crash, which was why Arthur adopted Chloe. A few years later, her mother woke up. Instead of taking her daughter back, she constantly used “visiting Chloe” as an excuse to cozy up to Arthur. Arthur just gave a noncommittal “Hmm,” grabbed the car keys from his assistant, and looked at me. “Let’s go.”

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