The very next moment, Teague came running over in a panic.

"Mr. Thornwell, Corbin tried to kill himself!"

Dad had only recently filed charges against Corbin. The case was still in the evidence review stage, so for the time being, Corbin was being held in the basement of our family villa.

In this life, perhaps because I had not stopped Senna from pleading on his behalf, his suicide attempt came earlier than before.

By the time I arrived, the scene was in chaos.

Senna cradled Corbin in her arms. He had gauze wrapped around his thin wrists, and his face was white as paper. The moment he saw me, he shrank further into her embrace like a frightened rabbit.

"Senna... I really don't want to live anymore..." His voice cracked with sobs, and it was barely above a whisper. "If I'm going to be framed like this, I'd rather be dead."

Senna stroked his hair with a tenderness that vanished the instant she turned to look at me. Her eyes were as cold as ice. It was the same look she had worn in my previous life when she killed me to avenge him.

"Gage, are you and your father really set on pushing him over the edge? He's already tried to prove his innocence with his own life. What more do you want?"

The guard on watch stood off to the side and explained in a low voice, "He sharpened a toothbrush handle and tried to cut his wrists. We caught it just in time."

Senna looked down at Corbin who was trembling in her arms, and her voice went soft again. "Don't be scared. I'm here."

He leaned weakly against her. However, he looked straight at me over her shoulder and let out a small, triumphant smile.

I clenched my fists. In my previous life, I had fallen for this exact performance, and it had cost me everything. Senna ate it up every single time.

I turned on her. "If he didn't have a guilty conscience, why would he pull something like this? And you, Senna. Do you even remember your place? What gives you the right to talk to me like that?"

Corbin's tears spilled over. "Sir, I'm sorry... Please don't take it out on Senna..."

He clutched at her sleeve with trembling hands. "Senna, just go. Forget about me. I don't want to drag you down with me."

Senna's head snapped up, her eyes blazing. She pulled Corbin tighter against her and lifted him into her arms. "Corbin, I'm not leaving you. Ignore this lunatic. We're going to the hospital. Now."

She carried him past me, and as she did, she dropped her voice low enough so that only I could hear. "Gage, if anything happens to Corbin, I'll bury your entire family."

I watched them disappear and slowly uncurled my fingers. My knuckles had gone white. I took out my phone and dialed a number I had not used in a very long time.

"Ms. Kay, I'm accepting the marriage arrangement. But before that... could you do something for me?"

…

That night, I had barely stepped into my apartment when Senna threw the door open so hard that it cracked against the wall. That face of hers, always so poised, so untouchable, was now twisted beyond recognition. Her eyes burned with pure hatred.

"Gage, you almost got Corbin killed!"

I froze where I stood, and a flash of my previous life tore through my mind. I had been bound hand and foot, forced to watch helplessly as Senna pulled on rubber gloves and cut me open.

Blood poured out of me. I screamed until my throat gave out, but she just smiled, looking soft and tender the entire time.

"Don't be scared. It'll be over soon."

"Something happened to Corbin?"

Back in the present moment, I forced myself to stay calm and played dumb. Senna's nails dug into my jaw, wrenching my face toward hers.

"Don't play stupid."

She let out a cold laugh and flung a stack of documents from her briefcase. "Sign."

I looked down. It was a written confession stating that I had framed Corbin for embezzlement. She wanted me to take the fall for him.

"Sign it and I'll pretend none of this ever happened." Her voice softened. She traced a slow line down my cheek with her thumb.

"We can still get married and go back to the way things were. I'll love you and spoil you, just like before."

My stomach turned. This woman truly thought she could manipulate me like a child.

In my previous life, she had used that same gentle voice to coax me into drinking milk she had laced with drugs. It was after that that she sliced me open with her own hands.

"Senna, I've already told my dad to dissolve our engagement," I said, my voice cold. "I'm the eldest son of the Thornwell family. Marrying me was your privilege, not mine. What makes you think you can use it as leverage?"

Her expression twisted. The next second, a searing pain ripped through my scalp. She grabbed a fistful of my hair and drove my head down against the coffee table.

"You worthless piece of trash!"

Something warm ran down my forehead. I crumpled to the floor, and her heel came down on my hand. The pain was blinding, but I bit down on my lip and refused to make a sound.

She crouched over me and pressed her thumb into the base of my throat. Her voice was so cold that it could have come from the grave. "Are you signing or not?"

"In... your dreams," I choked the words out.

Her eyes flashed. She snatched the fruit knife from the coffee table and drove it straight through my palm.

I screamed. Blood sprayed across her white dress like scattered petals.

My entire body seized with pain, but she leaned her weight onto my wrist and held it there. "This is just the beginning."

She raised the knife again. This time, the blade pointed at my stomach. "I don't think you want to experience being gutted alive a second time."

In that instant, her face and the face from my previous life became one. I looked into those merciless eyes, and my heart lurched with panic. She had been reborn too.

The memory of that unbearable agony flooded back, and my whole body began to shake.

"I'll sign," I said, my voice trembling.

I held out my uninjured left hand.

Senna smiled with satisfaction and pressed a pen between my fingers. Blood dripped onto the paper and spread in dark blooms as I scrawled my name in shaking, crooked letters. On the final stroke, I deliberately tore through the page.

"You think this is going to save Corbin?"

I managed a weak, bitter laugh. "Even if you can force my signature, can you keep my mouth shut? I'll see you in court, Senna. And when I get there, I'm going to lay out every single thing you've done for the whole world to hear."

In this life, Dad was still alive. As long as he was here, I had nothing to fear.

Her face contorted with rage, and her nails dug into my throat again. "You worthless piece of trash!"

Yet almost as quickly, she let out a cold laugh and released me.

I clutched my neck and gasped for air. When I looked up, that vicious smile was still on her face.

"This is the path you chose. I have plenty of ways to shut you up." She spat the words out and walked away without looking back.

A wave of dread washed through me. Something terrible was coming. I could feel it.

It did not take long.

"Mr. Gage! You need to get here now! The warehouse is on fire!"

That afternoon, a single phone call from Teague made my blood run cold. By the time I reached the warehouse, the sight in front of me nearly stopped my heart.

The entire building, which housed hundreds of millions of dollars in imported raw materials, had been swallowed by fire. Thick smoke billowed into the sky, and the wail of fire trucks grew closer by the second.

Inside the blaze, Dad was trying to salvage the inventory alone.

"Dad!" I screamed and charged in without thinking.

The smoke was so thick that I could barely keep my eyes open. The heat seared my skin with every step. I groped my way forward and finally found him behind a collapsed shelving unit. His face was covered in blood, his breathing thin and fading.

"Gage, why did you… You need to go…"

"I'm getting you out of here. We're leaving together!"

I gritted my teeth and pulled him to his feet. However, the next thing I saw nearly tore a scream from my chest.

At the only escape route out of the warehouse, Senna was easing the fire door shut. She stood in a red dress against the glow of the flames and had a poised smile on her lips, as though she were admiring a piece of art she had arranged herself.

"Senna!" My voice cracked. "Open the door!"

She tilted her head and pressed a slender finger to her lips. "Shh..."

With that, she closed the fire door, sealing us off from any way out.

"No!"

I dragged Dad toward the exit like a man possessed, but a collapsing shelf unit crashed down and blocked our path at the last second.

Smoke filled my lungs, and my vision began to blur.

Through the haze, I could see Senna on the other side of the glass door, smiling as she mouthed the words to me. "You brought this on yourself."

In the last moment before I lost consciousness, I heard my own heart shatter. Even with a second chance at life, I still could not save Dad.

As the darkness closed in, I fixed my eyes on Senna's fading silhouette and forced out every last ounce of strength I had left. "Senna... I swear... If it's the last thing I do... I will make you pay."

…

Outside, Senna's assistant shifted uneasily beside her. "Ms. Harlow, are we really just going to let them burn to death in there? When the police investigate, won't they..."

Yet Senna only smiled and gave the signed confession in her hand a casual shake. "What's there to worry about? They'll burn to nothing but ash. There won't be anything left for the police to find."

The smile that spread across her face was so cruel that everyone standing near her felt a chill.

…

The next day, Senna walked into Wainwright Group's office building looking like she owned the world.

On the massive screen mounted on the building's exterior, a news broadcast was covering the Thornwell Group warehouse fire. Senna paused to watch for a moment, seemingly admiring her own handiwork.

As far as she was concerned, the father and son were both dead, and the signed confession was in her possession. Everything had gone exactly as planned.

"Gage, so what if you got a second life? I still won."

She carried her documents into the CEO's office, that triumphant smile still firmly in place. "Mr. Wainwright, the Thornwells are dead. Both of them. About our partnership..."

She set the documents respectfully on his desk.

"Well done. You've earned it."

Declan Wainwright flipped through the papers, then looked up and gave his secretary a subtle nod. The secretary understood immediately, stepped out of the room, and locked the door behind him.

While Senna was still processing the confusion, Declan rose from his chair and turned toward the figure standing behind the partition and addressed them with visible deference.

"Ms. Kay, the person you asked for is here. Evidence of her crimes, including arson and corporate espionage, has already been submitted to the police. Before they arrive, is there anything you would like to say to her?"