Chapter 1

"Your sister is gone! What is going to happen to Sonny? He's only seven. He may not survive at the hands of a wicked stepmother if his father remarries!"

The burning pain in my stomach lingered faintly as I stared blankly at the scene before me.

All I saw was black and white. Everyone who came to mourn hung their heads and sobbed quietly.

My mother, Amber Green, was kneeling on the ground and clutching the hem of my pants. She was crying her heart out.

Her noisy sobs dragged my consciousness back to the present moment.

I had somehow gone back in time!

Seeing that all I did was stare back at her with a blank expression, Mom slapped me hard across the face. She stood up and glared at me with eyes full of hatred.

She screeched, "Stella, you heartless woman! Winona died saving you, but you won't even shed a tear for her now! How can you be so cold-hearted?"

Feeling the sharp sting on my cheek from the slap, I countered flatly, "She didn't die saving me. Those men were after her from the start."

In my previous life, my sister, Winona Clarke, owed some loan sharks a massive debt. However, she paid it off overnight.

Before I could ask where she got the money, she was stabbed to death by those thugs while trying to save me.

As I was overcome with grief by Winona's unexpected death, I never stopped to think about the suspicious circumstances of her death.

It was at that time that Mom suggested I stand in for Winona and become the wife of my brother-in-law, Kenneth Cohen. Firstly, it was to repay all the kindness he had shown our family over the years. Secondly, it was because I could protect my nephew, Sonny Cohen, from being mistreated.

Kenneth had threatened that if I didn't marry him, he would take back all the money he had given us.

Mom had stammered and said pitifully that she couldn't pay him back. My dad, Brad Clarke, had died early, so Mom had worked several jobs for years just to raise Winona and me.

I didn't want Mom to suffer, so I married Kenneth.

To my horror, I found out he was a sadist only after I got married to him. I endured his torment day and night just to protect Sonny from his cruelty.

While I was being tortured, Sonny listened to my screams at the door and burst into laughter. Even so, I struggled to hold on for years just to raise him. Finally, Kenneth died one day.

Only then did I learn it had all been a scam.

This time, Winona could deal with her astronomical debt herself.

Mom flew into a rage when she heard that I was shirking responsibility, as if everything had nothing to do with me.

She shrieked, "You must be the cause of Winona's death! Otherwise, why would those thugs spare you? You fooled around out there and got involved with those unsavory men! My poor Winona was killed by her own sister! Now, she can't even rest in peace!"

Everyone around who heard Mom's words began whispering among themselves, condemning me for being ungrateful.

I had never understood why Mom blatantly favored Winona in everything since we were little. After all, we were twins. She had been willing to pay for Winona to attend a private college, but she wouldn't let me attend Northvale College, the top university across the country.

Right before I died, I had discovered that Winona and I didn't even share the same father. Winona was the product of Mom's affair with her first love. So, Mom had no qualms about ruining my life to pave a path for Winona.

"Since your sister died for you, you should marry Kenneth in her place!" Mom exclaimed.