1: 1

After my sister found out I'd bought a motorhome, she showed up with her whole family of six and demanded to come along on my trip.

Every time I traveled with them, I ended up being her wallet and her nanny. I paid for everything, the kids got dumped on me, and she just sat back and enjoyed herself.

This time I flatly refused. I never imagined that the very next day she'd steal my motorhome.

For the sake of family, I didn't report it to the police.

But on the drive back she hit a pedestrian and left him a vegetable. She denied she'd been driving, faked the evidence, and made it look like I was the one who'd fled the scene.

I went to prison for a crime I didn't commit, saddled with a massive debt in damages.

When she came to visit me in prison, I asked her through tears, "Why did you do this to me?"

She looked at me, her face full of mockery and a cold smirk. "Silly little sister. I stole your car and you didn't even call the police. You're that stupid, so who's supposed to take the fall if not you?"

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my sister demanded to ride along in the motorhome.

This time, I was going to make sure she got herself some nice silver bracelets.

1

"Bess Henson, I hear you bought yourself a motorhome!"

I opened the door.

There stood my sister and her whole family of six.

Before I could even catch my breath, her two sons came charging into my place one after the other.

"Ooh, that's a limited-edition collectible! I want it."

"These cherries look so good, I'm packing them up to take home."

The two boys paid no attention to anyone. The second they rushed in, they started tearing through the place.

Grabbing at everything.

My memories came back slowly.

Everything from my past life rose up in front of me.

"Put that down. Who told you to touch my collectible toy? Put it down!"

I walked back into the room and snatched the toy right out of his hands.

Rita's mother-in-law, Maureen Dickerson, spoke up, put out. "Oh, come on, we're all family. Why are you nitpicking with a child?"

"It's just a cheap little doll."

"There are piles of them in the two-dollar stores downtown. Is it really worth all this?"

Rita's father-in-law, Denys Gilbert, nodded along too. "If the kid wants it, just let him have it. A grown woman like you, no sense at all, fighting a child over a toy?"

Their righteous act had me shaking all over. "This is a limited-edition collectible a friend gave me. You can't buy it in any two-dollar store!"

"Quit talking nonsense!"

Maureen yanked the toy out of my hand. "This piece of junk is all over the place. How valuable could it be? So what if my grandson plays with it? If it breaks, I'll get you ten of them!"

Easy to say.

Last time her grandson was at my place, he smashed my laptop.

All she said was a light little, "The child doesn't know any better. You're not going to squabble with a kid over it, are you?"

In the end she didn't pay a cent.

And she walked off with the snacks I'd just bought and the beef dumplings in my freezer.

Remembering all of it, I said through gritted teeth, "What is it you actually want? I'm about to head out."

My sister, Rita Henson, looked at me and smiled. "We heard you bought a motorhome."

"We saw it downstairs on our way in just now. It's a really nice one, so pretty."

I nodded. "Yeah, paid in full yesterday. I'm planning to travel over the holidays, go wherever, stop and see whatever. It's convenient that way."

"Oh, well that's perfect." Rita smiled. "We happen to be planning a trip over the holidays too. Let's go together."

Looking at that sly, nasty little grin on her face.

My heart clenched hard.

In my last life I turned her down, and she stole my motorhome.

For the sake of family, I didn't report it.

But on the way back she hit someone, abandoned the car, and ran. Afterward she faked the evidence and turned me into the hit-and-run driver.

I couldn't clear myself, and I went to prison for a crime I didn't commit.

And the thing she said when she came to see me, I'll never forget it.

"Silly little sister. I stole your car and you didn't even call the police. You're that stupid, so who's supposed to take the fall if not you?"

Remembering all of it, I forced down the fury in my chest and looked at her through gritted teeth.

"No."

2: 2

2

"What? No?"

Rita blinked, then smiled at me. "My sweet little sister, playing stubborn with me again. Every time you say no, and every time you end up going along with it anyway."

Joseph Gilbert, my brother-in-law, chimed in with a grin.

"Exactly. Come on, don't make a fuss. It's settled. Over the holiday, the whole family rides in your motorhome and we all go on a trip together."

Maureen, his mother, was busy stuffing the cherries into her bag as she said cheerfully,

"That's right. We're one family, no need to talk like strangers. Traveling together is lively. Going all by yourself would be so lonely."

Denys nodded along too.

"And don't forget to bring that Romanée-Conti you've got tucked away. We'll all drink it together."

The Romanée-Conti.

That was the bottle I'd been saving for some important moment down the road.

This Denys really didn't hold back.

Looking at this shameless family in front of me.

I felt like I was watching a pack of demons prancing around before my eyes.

I half wished I could pull a magic staff out of my ear and smash them all dead with one swing.

Choking down my anger, I said,

"I told you. No means no!"

Rita and her whole family went quiet for a moment.

Then Rita gave a cold, contemptuous little laugh and asked,

"Little sister, what's gotten into you today?"

"I'm your older sister!"

Thinking of everything from my past life, especially that exact same look in her eyes while I was in prison.

I clenched my fists.

"Every time we travel, I'm the one who pays. Why on earth would I agree to go anywhere with you?"

Rita said, put out,

"Little sister, what kind of talk is that? We're family. How can you be so calculating?"

Joseph shook his head.

"Right, come on. Talking about money makes it awkward, doesn't it? We're family. What's there to talk about money for? We're not outsiders!"

I looked at them.

"Not talk about money? Then what should we talk about? You treat me like your wallet? On top of that I'm supposed to play nanny to your two kids, and then thank you for the privilege?"

Joseph's face went cold.

"That's an ugly thing to say."

"When we go out to have fun, you don't expect to pay? You want to freeload off our family?"

I said furiously,

"When did I ever freeload? Which time wasn't I the one paying?"

Joseph kept his face cold.

"The way you talk, you'd think you paid for everything. Did I not pay anything? Last time we traveled, didn't I treat you to breakfast?"

He nearly stopped my heart with that one.

I asked,

"That trip was three days, nine meals. I paid for eight of them, plus every hotel room. I spent over twenty thousand. That one meal you treated us to cost a few bucks, a bowl of wonton soup and one donut each. How do you have the nerve to bring it up?"

Joseph's expression flickered, and he said guiltily,

"A few bucks is still treating you. Whose fault is it you didn't eat more? If you'd eaten ten bowls of wonton soup, would I not have treated you? I'd still have paid. You can't put it away and that's my fault?"

His twisted logic nearly broke me. I shot back,

"Fine. Let's leave the food and the rooms out of it."

"Then let me ask you. Last time we went traveling, you said there was a problem with your bank card and asked me to front the airfare, said you'd pay it back the next day."

"It's been half a year now. Have you paid it back?"

Joseph frowned, and his mother, Maureen, burst out,

"Girl, now you're being unreasonable. What's the harm in covering the airfare?"

"Family, and now you're keeping score?"

"Besides, after that trip, didn't I bring you a cake and some bananas?"

"Think about it carefully!"

I was so angry I laughed.

She had brought over a cake and some bananas.

But that cake had been sitting in their house for days before the trip, unfinished, and she handed it off to me to eat. It gave me diarrhea for three days.

As for the bananas, they'd been sitting who knows how long, all of them rotten, with tiny black gnats crawling over them.

3: 3

3

I'd finally seen just how shameless this whole family was.

I couldn't be bothered to keep arguing with them.

"I'm not agreeing to any of it. Now get out!"

My sister's face went cold.

"Bess, what's that supposed to mean? I'm your sister. You'd treat me like this?"

In the past, every time she said those words, I couldn't bring myself to refuse her again.

Back then I still believed family came before everything.

But I'd been reborn. I would never be that stupid again.

I looked her dead in the eyes, colder than she was.

"You want to come along in my motorhome? Fine."

"But first, you pay back every cent you've owed me all these years."

"Second, if your family wants to use my motorhome, it's two thousand a day. Not a penny less."

Rita exploded.

"You've turned into a money-grubbing miser! We're leaving!"

She stormed off, dragging the whole family with her.

"Hold it right there!"

I called after them.

Rita sneered.

"I knew it, you'd—"

"You're at it again!"

I scooped up her younger son and pulled the phone he'd stolen out of his pocket.

"Now you can go!"

"Waaah—" The second the phone left his hands, the little boy burst into tears. "Aunt Bess is mean, Aunt Bess is a bad guy, I'm never talking to Aunt Bess again!"

The moment he started bawling, the whole family melted with pity.

Every one of them stared at me like I was some kind of villain.

I said coldly, "The kid's been sneaking and stealing since he could walk, and he's got the nerve to cry?"

I couldn't be bothered to waste another word on them, so I just shut the door.

From outside came a stream of cursing.

"That sister of yours, Bess, gets more out of line every day. What does a little kid know? So he took her phone. How can you call a child a thief?"

"Exactly. Young as she is and already this bitter and mean. No wonder she's still single. She deserves to stay alone her whole life!"

Listening to it, I couldn't stop myself from opening the door again.

"So stealing a phone is nothing, is it? How about I call the police and let the cops sort out who's right?"

That shut them up. They rolled their eyes and finally left, dragging their feet the whole way.

I knew perfectly well they wouldn't drop it.

So I ordered some surveillance and listening devices online and spent the whole next day installing them.

The following evening, Rita and her husband Joseph showed up again. This time they weren't empty-handed. They'd even brought some fruit.

Rita was unusually pleasant, smiling.

"Bess, we were in the wrong last time. We bought some fruit specially to apologize."

Joseph smiled along with her.

"That's right, Bess. We thought it over, and we'll pay that money back as soon as we can."

I knew exactly what this was. A weasel wishing the chickens a happy new year. There was nothing good behind it.

Still, I invited them in and let them sit.

As we talked, Rita suddenly turned all secretive and said she needed to speak to me about something, just the two of us, outside.

I didn't think much of it and followed her out.

When we came back, Joseph was lounging comfortably against the sofa.

"All done chatting?"

"You two sisters, honestly. What secret's so important you had to take it outside?"

Rita smiled.

"Nothing to do with you. Come on, we're going home for dinner."

After they left, I checked the apartment right away.

Just as I'd expected, the motorhome keys were gone.

But I'd bugged the place long before.

I opened the app on my phone.

The recording played back.

"That damn Bess, she gets more clueless by the day."

"Old Lambert upstairs has been wanting to find himself a wife for ages, hasn't he? I say we push this through fast and marry her off to old Lambert. He'll even put up three hundred eighty thousand in bride price. When that comes, we collect it on her behalf. Once it's in our pockets, it's ours!"

"Yeah, we should get on it quick. But leave it until after the trip."

"She'll never guess we swiped the car keys, ha. By the time she figures it out tomorrow, we'll be long gone with the car."

I finished listening and saved the recording.

But I didn't call the police right away.

After all, they hadn't actually driven off yet. It didn't fully add up to grand theft of something worth hundreds of thousands.

Tomorrow, when they made off with my car, that was the moment they'd have no one but themselves to blame.