Chapter 2

As long as I didn't end up alone with Marianne in the house tonight, I wouldn't fall into their trap.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and took a deep breath. Then I slammed my foot on the gas.

The engine roared as the car lunged forward.

Without a second thought, I aimed straight for the concrete barrier on the roadside. A deafening crash exploded through the air as the vehicle plowed directly into it. The entire car shook violently from the impact.

The next second, the airbags deployed, wrapping around me and cushioning the blow.

My head fell back against the seat.

A powerful wave of dizziness swept over me at once. It felt as if a sledgehammer had smashed into my skull, leaving me dazed and barely conscious.

Moments later, I felt something warm trickling down my forehead.

A sticky liquid ran across my skin. Through my blurred vision, I could vaguely make out more and more people gathering around the car. Some were filming with their phones while others were making calls.

Several figures in fluorescent yellow uniforms pushed through the crowd and hurried toward the vehicle.

"Miss, are you okay? Can you hear us?"

A traffic officer's voice came from outside the window.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

Before long, I was lifted onto a stretcher. Only after confirming that I had been loaded into an ambulance did I finally relax enough to close my eyes and slip into unconsciousness.

After I arrived at the hospital, the doctors treated the wound on my head.

By then, my mind had cleared considerably.

I cracked my eyes open and glanced at the digital clock on the wall. It was exactly 7:00 pm.

I closed my eyes again and told myself that all I had to do was hold on for another ten minutes.

During that time, I learned the original course of events through the live comments.

It turned out that Isaac and Kathie had been having an affair for a long time.

Isaac wanted me to leave the marriage with nothing, but he had never been able to find a suitable excuse.

On top of that, Marianne had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Isaac saw his own mother as nothing but a burden. She drained his time and his wallet, so he and Kathie cooked up a vicious scheme to get rid of her.

After sending me to court, Isaac cried his heart out and accused me before the judge. He claimed that I regularly abused Marianne, both verbally and physically, and that I had repeatedly expressed a desire for her to die.

His performance successfully stirred up public outrage. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions demanding that I pay for Marianne's life.

The police then presented surveillance footage from our residential complex in court. The video clearly showed my car entering the underground garage at 7:00 pm. It showed me taking the elevator to the tenth floor.

Even neighbors living on the same floor testified that they had heard me cursing at Marianne and beating her inside the apartment.

Then, ten minutes later, a sickening crash echoed through the house.

Right on cue, Marianne plummeted from the balcony. She died on impact.

With all that evidence stacked against me, I was sentenced to death in court.

Meanwhile, Isaac and Kathie got exactly what they wanted. They got rid of Marianne, the burden they no longer wanted to deal with. Then they collected a huge compensation payout, sent me to prison, and seized all of my assets.

Those comments sent an ice-cold shiver down my spine.

The monsters had been right beside me this whole time, and I never even saw them coming.

Although I still had no idea how they had managed to fabricate such a perfect crime scene or how they had somehow made the "me" in the original timeline cooperate so completely, there was only one thing I could do now.

I had to be patient.