My husband's sister had been kidnapped, and the abductors were demanding ransom. I was supposed to deliver the $500,000 to save her.

Instead, I donated every cent to charity.

When Luke found out, the color drained from his face. He screamed at me.

"Have you lost your mind? That money was supposed to save Sophia's life!"

In my previous life, I'd taken that ransom and gone to save her. She repaid me by driving a knife into my chest.

In that moment, there hadn't been a shred of fear on her face. She'd smiled, triumphant and gleaming with satisfaction.

"Just because I called you 'sister-in-law,' you actually thought you mattered? Without you, Luke would've married me a long time ago. But don't worry. I'll take good care of your daughter. In a few days, she'll be coming down to join you."

Afterward, Luke helped Sophia fabricate a false testimony and fled the country with her.

Days after my funeral, they got their marriage license.

My mother killed herself. Depression. She left behind only my disabled brother, who spent every day fighting to clear my name.

Then I opened my eyes, and I was back. Back to the day Sophia demanded the ransom.

……

Sophia's lackey called me, told me to bring the $500,000 to an abandoned construction site on the edge of town.

I hung up. Then I wired the money to a charity.

The notification chime confirming the transfer made Luke Simmons go rigid.

He snatched the phone from my hand.

His face went white. He shouted, voice cracking with fury.

In my previous life, I'd been so worried about Luke's panic that I grabbed the cash and rushed straight to that construction site. Sophia killed me with her own hands.

In that moment, there hadn't been a shred of fear on her face. She'd smiled, triumphant and gleaming.

Luke helped Sophia fabricate her testimony and took her out of the country.

My mother killed herself. Depression. She left behind only my disabled brother, fighting alone to clear my name.

Then I opened my eyes again, and I was back. Back to the day Sophia demanded the ransom.

...

"Marlene Barnes, do you understand that was Sophia's lifeline? Why would you do this?"

The man who was always so composed now had reddened eyes. He stared at me, brimming with accusation and disbelief.

He demanded to know why I'd done it.

Not once did he ask if I was safe.

Not once did he wonder whether the kidnappers might kill the hostage. Whether they might come after me.

Just like in my previous life. I'd gone there to deliver the ransom. So why had I been the one who died?

Why had I lain dead for three full hours before anyone noticed?

Why had the kidnappers taken Sophia, yet the person they killed was me?

Luke Simmons had never thought about any of it.

Instead, afraid my corpse might upset Sophia, he'd rushed to have me cremated.

Ten years of marriage. That was when I finally understood: to him, my life had never been worth a thing.

Hatred flooded through me, seeping into every bone, every nerve. I looked at him. Calm. Steady.

On the video call, Sophia Simmons's wailing started up again.

"Luke! Marlene! Please help me, he's hitting me, it hurts so bad! Save me! Please, save me!"

Tears streaked her face. She looked lost, helpless, like a lamb waiting for slaughter.

Eleanor Simmons burst into tears and started pounding her small fists against me, one after another.

"Mommy's mean! I hate you, Mommy! You're a bad person! A bad person! Why won't you save Auntie?"

I let out a cold laugh. This was the wonderful daughter I'd raised.

The daughter I'd endured months of spinal injections to bring into this world.

Too bad they were all worried for nothing.

Because Sophia was never going to die.

She'd tried to kill my baby long before this. Back when I was still pregnant with Ellie, she'd brought me a bowl laced with something meant to destroy my child.

If it hadn't been for my dog Mochi knocking over that bowl of medicine, Eleanor would never have been born.

Sophia had cried about it endlessly afterward, insisting she was young and naive, that she hadn't known the concoction could harm a pregnancy.

Luke shielded her, as always. And I'd told myself she probably hadn't meant any harm.

Until my last life, when the cold edge of a blade split my heart open.

Sophia had leaned in close, her voice dripping with mockery.

"You've gotten old, dear sister-in-law. My brother stopped loving you a long time ago. Did you really think he still cared about you the way he used to? It's me he loves. Why else would he let you come alone to deliver the ransom?"

Every last ember inside me went dark. I stopped fighting.

I lay on the rubble of that abandoned site for a full hour. By the time someone found me, the blood had nearly drained out.

A bone-deep chill ran through me, and I shuddered.

"Please, Marlene, I know you don't like me, but I really have no one else. You and Luke are my only family. I'm begging you, save me!"

On the video, Sophia wailed at the screen, tears streaming, as if my refusal to rescue her would make me a murderer.

Sophia had been adopted from an orphanage by Luke's mother. His mother had spoiled her rotten, demanding that Luke look after her and yield to her in everything. After his mother passed, that blind devotion transferred straight to Luke.

His indulgence of Sophia became the knife that carved into me, over and over.

What he didn't know was that the little sister he'd protected his entire life had long since twisted her feelings for him into something else entirely.

Luke had raised her for thirteen years. I'd treated her like my own sister. I used to chalk up her clinginess and suspicion to the insecurity of a child who'd grown up without parents.

I never imagined the truth: a heart that was vicious and a greed that knew no limits.

In the end, I went to the abandoned construction site on the outskirts of town.

Only this time, I brought a voice recorder. And I'd insisted Luke follow me in secret.

The derelict site sprawled under a gray sky.

I gripped the recorder in my pocket and walked toward the crumbling warehouse, one step at a time.

Luke trailed not far behind. I could feel his gaze boring into my back, anxious and skeptical all at once.

But he had no idea.

This time, I was going to tear off Sophia's pitiful little mask with my own hands.

Inside the warehouse, Sophia sat bound to a chair, her wrists tied behind her back. Her hair was tangled, and a few faint red scratches marked her face. An unnatural flush crept along her neck and up behind her ears.

I could guess what she'd been doing to keep her so-called kidnapper cooperative.

The second she saw me, her eyes turned red and she let out a gut-wrenching sob.

"Marlene, you finally came! I thought you were going to leave me here to die!"

Her lackey Kurt Braddock stood off to the side, gripping a wooden club, glaring at me like some kind of thug.

"Where's the money? Five hundred grand, not a cent less. If it's short, nobody's walking out of here."

I pulled out my empty wallet, dangled it lazily, and kept my voice flat.

"There's no money. I came to see just how far my dear little sister is willing to take this performance."

Sophia's wailing cut off like a switch had been flipped. Panic flickered through her eyes before she threw herself back into the act, crying harder than before.

"What are you talking about? I've been kidnapped! How can you say something like that?"

Kurt raised the club, ready to swing at me.

I was ready for it. I sidestepped and deliberately raised my voice.

"Kurt, how much did Sophia pay you to stage this kidnapping? Did she promise you half the money once she got her hands on it?"

The words landed like a grenade. Every drop of color drained from Sophia's face.

She jerked her head up, her gaze sweeping over me before locking onto the faint red light peeking from my pocket.

My stomach dropped. I'd been a beat too slow. She'd spotted the recorder.

Sophia thrashed violently against her restraints, screaming through her tears.

"You're framing me! How can you say something so horrible about me?"

Sophia screamed the words while kicking wildly at the chair, deliberately creating as much commotion as possible. Her wrists bled where the rope had bitten into skin from all her thrashing.

But when she looked up, there wasn't a trace of panic in her eyes. Only calculation.

Her gaze slid toward Kurt, and a perfectly timed whimper escaped her throat.

"What would you even gain from killing me? Do you really hate me that much? Is this still about the time I slipped something into your drink? I told you it was an accident! Why are you doing this to me?"

Kurt caught the signal instantly.

He swung the metal rod hard across Sophia's back. A dull thud echoed through the warehouse.

She let out a strangled gasp, slumping against the chair, her voice shaking so violently it barely held together.

"What did I ever do to you... to make you want to hurt me like this..."

The performance was flawless. My grip tightened around the voice recorder, and I kept my voice flat and cold.

"Sophia, drop the act. You and Kurt have been working together. How long did you think you could keep it hidden?"

She acted like she hadn't heard a word. Her tearful cries were aimed past me, toward the warehouse entrance.

"Luke... Luke, help me... I'm so scared..."

As she stumbled to her feet in a show of desperate struggle, she knocked the recorder from my hand and crushed it underfoot.

The next second, the warehouse's iron door slammed open and Luke burst inside.

The first thing he saw was Sophia, battered and sobbing, a mess of tears and bruises.

His face went white with fury.

In three strides he was at her side, tearing the ropes free, pulling her into his arms.

When he turned to look at me, his eyes were glacial. Nothing but disgust and rage.

"Marlene, you've gone too far! Look at her! And you're still trying to smear her name?"

Sophia buried her face in his chest, shoulders trembling, crying harder now.

"I know she's never liked me. But I never imagined she'd have someone beat me to death..." Her voice cracked with manufactured terror. "That recorder... she brought it on purpose, didn't she? To set me up? She was trying to force the kidnapper to say I was behind everything..."

Kurt jumped in on cue, playing his part without missing a beat.

"Mr. Simmons, your wife pressured me into giving a false confession! She said she wanted to frame Miss Simmons. She offered me money. She told me to hit her. I just needed the cash. I had no choice!"

The two of them fed off each other seamlessly, piling every ounce of filth onto me.

Luke's gaze carved into me like a blade. He didn't let me get a single word out. He just held Sophia tighter and said, low and final:

"Marlene, I have never been more disappointed in you."

The police took Kurt into custody on the spot. As they led him away, he shot Sophia one last reassuring glance.

Sophia stayed curled against Luke's chest, coughing weakly.

"I'm fine, Luke. Don't blame her. Maybe she just... lost her head for a moment."

The perfect martyr. Every last detail polished to a shine.

The officers took brief statements. Luke shielded Sophia through every question.

I stood to the side, and the cold that had settled in my chest spread through my entire body.

He had been exactly like this in my last life. And in this one, nothing had changed. He still refused to see what was right in front of him.

After we got home from the police station, Sophia's eyes rimmed red again, tears spilling freely.

"Am I just causing trouble for everyone? Maybe I should leave."

She turned as if to go, and Luke caught her arm immediately. Then he rounded on me, his voice hard.

"Marlene, enough! What happened back then was an accident. And you carried the baby to term safely. Why can't you just forgive her?"

Eleanor ran at me, small fists swinging blindly.

"Bad woman! I don't want you as my mommy! You're a bad person!"