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?"