Chapter 1

My phone vibrated urgently, jolting me awake.

I looked down to see Isabel Stafford spamming the group chat.

"I'm saying this one last time. If anyone refuses to follow my orders, get out immediately!

"If there's wind and rain every day, does that mean everyone should just stay in bed?

"The company is in crisis, and we all need to weather this storm together! Reply if you received this! Anyone who doesn't respond within one minute will be kicked from the group immediately!"

I froze.

Wasn't I... dead?

My coworker, Mara Sweeney, nudged me. "Eden, you'd better reply quickly. She's the long-lost daughter Mr. and Mrs. Stafford just found. Don't provoke her."

Seeing Mara's young face clearly, I realized what had happened. I'd been reborn. I blinked, still disoriented, then deleted the words of persuasion I'd typed on the screen one by one.

In this lifetime, if Isabel wanted to court disaster, I wouldn't stop her.

Just as I was about to leave the group, Dad suddenly chimed in, "Isabel is right. The company invested a lot in training everyone, so you must all follow her instructions."

Immediately after, Mom also spoke up, "Isabel will make a perfect heiress. She never makes excuses for herself when getting things done."

I frowned. In my previous life, they hadn't said these things in the group chat.

Back then, they'd only called me privately. "Eden, your sister just came back and isn't familiar with company procedures yet.

"If she says something that makes the employees uncomfortable, you need to help her out more as her older sister."

When I had mentioned that having everyone come back to work during a typhoon wasn't appropriate, they'd said, "Just try to talk her out of it.

"If you can't even handle something this small, how can we trust you to assist your sister in inheriting Stafford Corporation properly?"

At the time, I thought they were also against Isabel's decision. Looking back now, they simply wanted me to clean up her mess when things went wrong.

When I didn't reply to the group messages, Isabel quickly kicked me out. Then, she sent a message in the family group chat. "Sorry, Eden, but I keep business and personal matters separate."

Mom and Dad were already sending thumbs-up emojis.

She followed up with a private message. "Just you wait. This time with Mom and Dad backing me up, nothing's going to happen to me!"

I understood then. Isabel and my parents had also been reborn.

I let out a cold laugh and replied in the family group chat with a voice message, "It's fine. I'll be stopping work tomorrow anyway."

Hearing this, Mara quickly covered my mouth. "Eden, are you crazy? Ms. Stafford is sitting just two rows behind us right now!"

I turned to look. Isabel was holding her phone, watching me with a triumphant expression. Before she came back, I'd already been working at Stafford Corporation for five years. But during those five years, Mom and Dad never publicly acknowledged our relationship.

Isabel had been back less than a month, and everyone already knew who she was.

I gave her a faint smile in return, then said to Mara, "You should listen to me, too. Don't come back tomorrow."

She immediately withdrew her gaze. "But I can't afford to lose this job..."

I sighed. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

I'd just sent screenshots from the group chat to the authorities anyway. I could let Isabel court disaster, but I couldn't let innocent coworkers go down with her.

I calmly finished tomorrow's work ahead of schedule, then personally delivered it to our partner. When I returned to the company, everyone turned to look at me in unison.

Confused, I suddenly heard a sharp crack as my cheek stung with burning pain.

Mom stood there pointing at me, her face full of rage. "How dare you report Isabel? You're nothing but a regular clerk!"