Chapter 1

After making sure Mom, Dad, and Aurelia were settled somewhere safe, I called Jeremiah Clarke and told him to cancel tomorrow's engagement party. I also told him and Kylie Yates to get out of my house.

To be safe, I even asked the neighbors closest to me to stay somewhere else for the night.

I thought that would be enough to prevent the accident.

I never expected to receive a call in the middle of the night telling me the new house had exploded.

"Damn it! My place got hit, too. What are we supposed to do now?"

"Good thing we went out tonight. At least nobody got hurt. Wait… Isn't that Olivia's boyfriend? Who's the woman in his arms?"

"What kind of man does that? He's getting engaged to Olivia tomorrow, and he's still holding another woman."

Smoke billowed into the air as I pushed through the crowd of neighbors. Before I could fully steady myself, I saw workers in protective suits carrying out three charred bodies.

I felt a chill creeping into my chest.

I had already taken my family out of the house, so why was everything unfolding the same way it had in my previous life?

Besides, my family was resting at the hotel. If that was the case, then who were the three people being carried out?

Jeremiah walked toward me, and his eyes held no flickering respect for the life just lost. All I saw was irritation directed at me.

"Olivia Shaw, what took you so long? I told you not to buy this place, but you wouldn't listen. Now, look what happened."

As he spoke, he wrapped an arm around Kylie and comforted her, "It's not your fault, Kylie. If anyone's to blame, it's Olivia."

After saying that, he shoved me.

"Are you even listening? You insisted on choosing this place. The airflow's terrible here. If the ventilation had been better, would it have blown up so easily?"

Looking at his shameless face, I stepped forward and slapped him.

"Didn't I tell you the engagement is off? Why were you having a candlelight dinner with Kylie in my house? Who were the three people sleeping there? When you left, why didn't you take them with you?"

A flicker of anxiety crossed his face before he quickly calmed down.

"The engagement's already been announced to family and friends. Do you think you can just cancel it because you feel like it? Your family insisted on coming tonight. Maybe they got up to make a late-night snack and caused the explosion themselves.

"You should be thanking Kylie and me for noticing in time. Otherwise, the neighbors might've died because of you."

Kylie, who had just been acting distressed and worried, instantly straightened up.

"Exactly. If you hadn't invited your parents over, would they have died in an accident? And your neighbors' losses should be on you."

I was shaking so hard my teeth nearly chattered.

In my previous life, things had unfolded the same way. My family had died because of Kylie's negligence. I had rushed at her, demanding she pay with her life, only for Jeremiah to claim I was mentally unstable and have me locked in a psychiatric hospital.

He didn't feel a shred of guilt for the dead. The only person he ever cared about was his childhood sweetheart, Kylie.

Even when I escaped from the psychiatric hospital and tried to get revenge, he still defended her.

"Olivia, didn't you always complain that your parents were too controlling? Kylie's gotten rid of them for you. If anything, you should be thanking her."

My fists clenched so tightly that my knuckles turned white.

"I don't have time to listen to your excuses. Three people are dead. I'm calling the police."

They still thought the victims were my family.

If I could uncover how these three had died, then I would also uncover the truth behind my family's deaths in my previous life. But before anything else, I had to confirm who the victims were.