Rebirth: No More Kindness This Time

The indicator light flicked on.

The 2,000-watt electric pot hummed loudly. In the cramped car cabin, the heavy scent of the creamy meatball soup filled the air.

Under normal circumstances, it might have felt like a warm, homely scene. But on a deserted highway in the middle of nowhere, it was practically a death warrant.

I leaned back in the passenger seat and scanned the dashboard. The remaining driving range was dropping at a visibly alarming rate.

"See? Raine knows what she's doing. This power strip works great!"

My fiance's sister-in-law, Pamela Kensington, sat in the back seat and grinned smugly as she tossed meatballs into the pot. Beside her, her spoiled ten-year-old son, Toby Vance, was banging his silverware.

"I want meat! Hurry up and cook!"

In the driver's seat, Mason Vance, my fiance, glanced at them through the rearview mirror with a doting smile.

"Raine, see? This is how it should've been from the start. Family trips are supposed to be about making memories and being happy."

A cold smile curled on my lips, and I didn't answer.

In my past life, this exact scene had played out. We were on the highway, caught in a blizzard that forced the road to close down. The temperature plummeted to well below the freezing point.

Pamela insisted on cooking hot food in the car, and I desperately fought to stop them.

I earnestly explained that electric cars drained their battery quickly in extreme cold, and the remaining power was our only source of heat. It was our lifeline. But they wouldn't listen.

Pamela called me a drama queen and accused me of wanting to starve her child.

Desperate to look like the big provider in front of his family, Mason slapped me across the face, calling me selfish and heartless. They kicked me out of the car, leaving me in the blizzard, and said I had to be taught a lesson.

Dressed only in a thin coat, I pounded on the windows and begged for mercy, but they locked the doors.

While devouring their meal, they watched as my body slowly lost warmth until I froze to death, becoming a corpse in the snow.

In my past life, they managed to hold out until rescue arrived because they saved the food meant for me and had gained a little more space in the car.

As for me, I became the unfortunate woman in the news who supposedly froze to death after leaving the car in an angry fit.

Now that I was reborn, I wouldn't be a fool trying to wake them from their foolish thinking. I was going to watch them swallow their poison.

"Ugh! Why is the pot taking so long to get hot?" Pamela complained impatiently as she poked at the half-raw meatballs.

"Raine, could you turn off the heating in the car? It's fighting the pot for power."

Mason instinctively reached out to turn off the heat.

History was repeating itself.

In my past life, they'd turned off the heater and warmed themselves entirely with the steam from the pot so that they could cook meatballs. But once the meal was over and the pot went cold, the car turned into a tomb of ice without heating.

I pulled the thick wool coat tighter around me. It was the thickest piece I owned, and I'd made sure to put it on before getting in the car.

"Go ahead," I said calmly. "Focus all power on the burner so it'll cook faster."

Mason froze. His hands hovered over the screen as he looked at me with a flash of genuine surprise in his eyes.