Chapter 4

Half an hour passed, and I found nothing.

I checked my watch.

Cold sweat began to bead on my forehead, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I was running out of time.

In my past life, Lily’s "accident" happened exactly at noon, under the blistering midday sun.

Yet, everything was shrouded in a thick fog. I couldn't see the truth.

Even playing my recorded video frame by frame, Adrian looked like the perfect, loving father.

I put my phone down and sat at a small coffee shop across the street from the school, scanning the surroundings for any clue, any anomaly.

But even when the morning bell rang and the kids went inside for classes, I was still completely in the dark.

Even with a second chance at life, I had no leads.

I had too little information from my past life, and time in this life was ticking away.

I felt like a drowning woman, watching the water rise, helpless against the freezing current.

There were less than three hours left until noon.

Panic clawed at my chest. I forced myself to take deep, slow breaths to keep from losing my mind.

I forced myself to focus on the most critical question:

Why did the surveillance footage show me behind the wheel?

The truth had to be right in front of me. I just needed to tear down the veil.

But as the minutes ticked by, I still couldn't grasp it.

"What am I missing? What is the key to all of this?" I muttered, clutching my head in frustration.

"Hey, kiddo, you alright? Do you need me to call 911?"

The old man running the hotdog stand nearby looked at me with deep concern.

I remembered him. In my past life, he was one of the people who threw garbage at me and cursed my name.

"911? Wait..."

A bolt of lightning struck my brain. I had been looking at this from the wrong angle!

The truth wasn't in what I could see. It was in what was hidden.

Joy surged through me. I thanked the old man, pulled out my phone, and opened the video again.

Finally, in one single, split-second frame, I saw it.

A cold smirk played on my lips. I immediately dialed my billionaire father’s private secretary.

"Vance..."

After giving Vance his instructions, I paced around the sidewalk, waiting.

Whether my theory was right depended entirely on what Vance found.

A few minutes later, my phone buzzed. It was Vance. His voice was shaking as he delivered the results of his investigation.

Hearing his words, my blood ran hot with pure adrenaline!

Unbelievable. The most twisted, insane theory was actually the truth!

I took a deep breath and quickly gave Vance a series of orders.

At noon, the news of Lily’s death arrived. I popped open a bottle of expensive red wine, smiling.

When Evelyn called, I hung up.

When Adrian called, I blocked him.

I poured a glass of wine and opened a local influencer's TikTok Live stream.

On the screen, Evelyn’s eyes were red, her body trembling as she cried to the camera:

"Lily was such an angel! I don't understand how her own mother could be such a monster to run her down!"

Because the story was blowing up online, the school board members had rushed to the scene.

To save the school’s reputation, they had security set up a large digital screen, playing the traffic camera footage on a loop.

In the video, "I" was driving my car, waiting at the school gate. The moment Lily walked out, the car surged forward, striking her down, then rolling over her body again and again.

Evelyn sobbed uncontrollably on camera.

The stream's viewer count exploded, surpassing 100k in minutes. The live chat was a waterfall of pure rage, all directed at me.

Adrian was there too. He was kneeling beside Lily's covered body, lifting his shirt to show the crowd deep bruises on his torso.

He sobbed hysterically, a far cry from his usual composed self.

"I never thought... we had a small fight this morning, and I told her she couldn't take Lily to school. She went completely psycho! She took the car and killed our baby! Oh god, my sweet Lily!"

Adrian’s tearful confession broke the hearts of everyone watching.

The comments section went wild:

"She ran over her own daughter? Hang this bitch!"

"I can't imagine how terrified that poor girl was when she realized her own mother was driving the car!"

In an instant, I became the most hated woman in the country.

In my past life, faced with this wave of hatred, I had been unable to speak a single word of defense.

I was trampled to death by an angry mob.

I took a sip of my wine, smiled, and headed toward the school.

Let’s see if they can destroy me this time.