Chapter 1

"Find her now! If you don't find Janelle today, I'll skin you alive!"

I opened my eyes to find my father-in-law, Lawrence Erwin, standing before me, boiling with rage.

The wounds from the knife attack still ached faintly. But when I looked down, I saw no injuries on my body. It was as if being ambushed and slashed to death by family members of the victim at the entrance of North Hill Corporation had been nothing but an illusion.

Seeing my dazed expression, Dad grew even more furious. He grabbed his cane and raised it to strike me hard.

The cane slammed into the wall behind me with a bang, snapping me back to my senses.

I glanced around and was certain I'd returned to the wedding.

Dad continued pointing and cursing at me, while the murmurs of the surrounding guests closed in around me.

"I always said that adopted sons are unreliable. He can't even be bothered to go look for his own runaway wife."

"Adopted son? Look at him—he's a total coward. To put it bluntly, he's nothing more than a live-in son-in-law!"

Janelle had disappeared?

I furrowed my brows tightly, a storm of shock surging inside me.

In my previous life, Janelle and I had gone through with the wedding without a hitch. She only gave herself to Lance on our wedding night. I caught them in the act right then and there, but she used the debt of gratitude she claimed I owed her to silence me.

Now, for her to suddenly vanish… Unless she, like me, had also been reborn.

But before I was hacked to death with knives, Janelle had already drained all the funds and run off with Lance.

Could it be that something happened to them as well?

The pain of betrayal clung to me like a shadow. I took several deep breaths just to barely keep myself upright.

The only thing I was certain of was that their elopement had cut off my only chance to survive.

Before I could sort through my thoughts, I heard a familiar voice.

I looked up and saw that it was Janelle, the very one who had disappeared. She was arm-in-arm with Lance, walking toward me.

Her neck was covered in hickies, and her red lips still glistened with traces of moisture.

"I will never marry a good-for-nothing! Besides, he's just a lapdog of my family!"

Right in front of everyone, Janelle slipped the wedding ring onto Lance's finger and declared that he was her true groom.

I sneered inwardly. Her actions confirmed that she was the only one who had been reborn.

If Lance had already been reborn, there was no way he'd ever get involved in the mess of North Hill Corporation.

Janelle walked up to me with disdain in her eyes, her contempt reaching its peak.

"After today, you'll hand in your resignation and transfer all your duties to Lance."

Lance jeered at me with a smirk, "Don't take it too personally. Janelle simply trusts me, that's all."

I paid no mind to their taunts. Instead, my gaze drifted past them to the small figure standing behind them.

That was my son with Janelle, Theodore Dunham.

In my previous life, Theo had fallen with me into a pool of blood. He'd glared at me bitterly, his eyes carrying a maturity beyond his years, and then taken Lance's hand on his own.

"Mr. Huff has a PhD from studying abroad, while you're just an undergraduate, Wes. So, it's only natural Mom trusts Mr. Huff."

The moment he finished speaking, I was certain that Theo had also been reborn.