Chapter 1

My uncle, Thomas, was completely whipped.

In my past life, he finally decided to grow a spine, dragging my parents along to help him catch his wife cheating. But when things turned violent, he cowardly ran away, leaving my parents to be brutally murdered by his wife's lover.

After their deaths, Chloe and I were adopted by Thomas, but only because he wanted to get his hands on my parents' estate.

Later, for a massive cash payout, he literally kidnapped me and sent me to a back-alley clinic in Thailand for a forced gender-reassignment surgery, just so he could sell both Chloe and me off to wealthy, twisted old creeps as brides.

Chloe died during a difficult labor after being forced to give birth to five children. As for me, because I couldn't get pregnant, I was beaten to death by my "husband."

When I opened my eyes again, I had traveled back in time—right to the day my parents went to help him catch his cheating wife.

I saw my mom pick up her phone, a look of relieved pity spreading across her face. I knew instantly that it had to be Thomas on the other end.

My uncle, Thomas, was a total coward who let his wife walk all over him. He knew damn well that his wife, Rachel, was sleeping around, but he didn't dare to say a word to her.

Every single time Rachel cheated on him, he would call my mom to cry about it, swearing up and down that he was finally going to get a divorce.

This had to be the ten-thousandth time he had made this exact same call...

My mom hung up the phone and immediately urged my dad to start the car.

Dad rolled his eyes at the empty air.

"Stop wasting your time, Sarah. How many times has your brother said this? Every single time we drive to the motel, he doesn't even dare to knock on the door. He just stands outside listening to his wife with another guy..."

This uncle of mine was afraid of everything under the sun, but the only people he wasn't afraid of was our family.

I remembered my dad complaining about it before. Years ago, to raise enough cash for his wedding expenses, Thomas had demanded fifty thousand dollars from my mom, threatening to cut ties with her forever if she didn't give it to him.

In the end, Mom fought with Dad for half a month, giving Thomas all the money they had saved to renovate our house. To this day, he hadn't paid back a single dime.

I could see Dad really didn't want to go, but he was also terrified of Mom throwing a tantrum. He stood up reluctantly.

"Fine. Let's go help your precious brother."

Hearing this, Mom's tense shoulders finally relaxed.

"But this is the absolute last time!" Dad warned.

Mom nodded repeatedly. "I promise. Even if he begs me next time, I won't help him."

However, it wasn't until they both walked out the front door that the realization hit me—I had been reborn. We were doomed. The tragedy of my past life was about to repeat itself!

"Chloe! Call Mom and Dad right now! Or we're going to end up as orphans!"

Chloe looked at me, completely confused. I didn't have time to explain. I snatched the phone right out of her hand and dialed my parents' number.

My heart hammered against my ribs, but Mom’s line was busy. Dad was probably driving and couldn't pick up. Chloe looked at me in a panic, demanding to know what was going on.

...

Mom finally called back. In a stroke of desperate panic, I wailed into the receiver, "Mom! Chloe is dying! You need to come back right now!"

"What did you say?!"

I threw Chloe a desperate look, and she caught on instantly, letting out a blood-curdling scream in the background.

"What's happening?!" I heard Dad's anxious voice from the speaker.

"Chloe’s appendix exploded!" I lied.

I heard Dad shout that they were turning around immediately. But to my horror, they had already picked up Thomas.

I could hear Thomas grumbling in the background, completely indifferent. "An appendix won't kill her! Just let her suffer for a bit and she'll be fine!"

Hearing his cruel words, Chloe screamed even louder.

"Dad, come back! Bring Mom with you!"

Ten minutes later, my heart sank to my stomach when I saw only Dad walk through the door.

"Where's Mom?!"

"Your uncle dragged her to the motel anyway!"

In that second, my entire world turned black. It was over. I had only managed to save my dad.

"Dad! Call Mom right now! Tell her not to go!"

I burst into tears of sheer terror. Dad, thinking something was seriously wrong with me, looked panicked. "Why are you crying?! Where's Chloe?"

"Chloe is fine! Just go get Mom! How can she handle a confrontation like that alone?!"

I practically dragged my dad toward the door, and Chloe followed closely behind us.