Chapter 1

Andrew's POV

Ever since he was a child, my brother, Samuel Beckford, dreamed of getting rich overnight. He genuinely believed he was the dominant male lead in a romance novel.

To catch the attention of spoiled heiress Natasha Sturridge, he acted like a total lunatic. In fact, in my past life, his insanity caused my parents and me to lose our lives.

Instead of the fiery confrontation Samuel expected after destroying Natasha's family heirloom—an emerald pendant she had worn for a decade—he was met with nothing more than a lawyer's letter.

However, Samuel simply assumed that Natasha was playing hard to get.

"None of you understand! This is the beginning of my fiery romance with a spoiled heiress!"

Mom and Dad had no idea what to do. In the end, they did everything they could to scrape together enough money to pay off the astronomical compensation fee, just to keep Samuel from getting locked behind bars.

When Samuel found out what was going on, he confronted Natasha with tears in his eyes, exclaiming, "Do you really think you're all that just because you have some money? I just accidentally broke your pendant. Do you have to be so petty?"

Natasha couldn't be bothered to entertain his antics and had him shipped off to Gold Miller Cave, a ruthless and merciless place.

But Samuel still wasn't willing to give up and continued doing foolish things. When he discovered that Natasha enjoyed horseback riding, he bought a donkey from the countryside and made up all sorts of excuses to ride it in front of Natasha every day.

"You like horseback riding, don't you, Natasha? Well, I like riding donkeys. We're practically a match made in heaven!"

His words caused everyone to burst into laughter.

The Sturridges also became the laughingstock of their social circle.

In a fit of anger, Natasha sent Samuel to Afrondo to fend for himself.

My parents and I were beside ourselves with worry when we learned what had happened to Samuel. Although we had to risk our own lives, we managed to drag Samuel back home.

Shockingly, Samuel didn't show even a trace of gratitude after we saved him. On the contrary, he trapped us inside the house after turning on the gas stove.

"The male and female leads have to go through a series of trials and tribulations before they can finally be together. Why did you have to ruin my plans when I was on the brink of success? You're nothing but burdens to me, so you should just die!"

Samuel had completely lost his mind.

My parents and I drowned in despair as we lost our lives to gas poisoning. Seconds before I succumbed to the darkness, I could still hear Samuel's manic laughter.

"I'm the male lead! I'll definitely succeed in getting together with Natasha!"

I lost consciousness after that.

…

When I opened my eyes again, the first things I saw were Mom's and Dad's ecstatic faces. They pulled me into a hug with tears in their eyes, exclaiming, "We were given a second chance at life! I'm going to watch that ungrateful brat dig his own grave with my own two eyes this time!"

My phone rang the moment the words left their lips.

"Samuel's signing his own death sentence, Andrew," my best friend said. "He destroyed Natasha's emerald pendant in front of everyone. I heard she spent 800,000 dollars buying it at an auction!"

A few seconds later, he sent me a video.

Samuel was wearing a mismatched suit in the video. Pouting his lips as if he were completely innocent, he rushed toward Natasha and ripped the emerald pendant right off her neck.

Faced with her stormy expression, he said innocently, "That emerald pendant was probably a low-quality product, Natasha. It snapped the moment I touched it."

He then tried to lean against her, but she swiftly dodged out of the way.

Suppressing her fury, Natasha hissed, "That pendant was worth 800,000 dollars. You couldn't even buy another one even if you had the money. I'll make sure you rot behind bars."

Although her voice was devoid of warmth, Samuel still fearlessly tried to close the distance between them.