Chapter 1

At my brother's funeral, my stepmother struck me and called me his killer.

"You left the gate open. You let Leo run into the road. He is dead because of you."

My father, Arthur, didn't believe me. He locked me in the basement in a blind rage.

Then I managed to escape. Only to find Eleanor in a stranger's embrace.

She was sobbing, pounding his chest. "If you hadn't left the gate open that day, my son would still be alive."

So, it was Eleanor's affair that killed her own son!

I turned to run, to call my father Arthur and scream the truth. But Eleanor saw me.

Terrified her secret would be revealed, she shoved me down the stairs. I died.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Leo died.

I pointed at Eleanor's room.

"Dad! The man in her room left the gate open!"

"Lily! You saw a man? You saw him leave the gate open?"

My father stood outside the yard gate, looking furious.

I sneered internally.

Look how much my dad doted on Leo.

In my last life, I'd sworn I shut that gate. He didn't listen. Eleanor's word was his truth, and that truth condemned me as his son's killer.

My mother passed away right after I was born. Before the mourning period was even over, he brought he brought Eleanor home-already carrying his child.

That child, born too soon, was her ticket in. The birth broke something inside her, leaving her barren.

So Leo became his most precious possession.

After Leo's death, I'd been less than a dog to him-fed scraps, housed in the kennel, forced to bark. It was how he channeled his impotent rage and nursed his guilt toward Eleanor.

Not this time. I wouldn't be that foolish again.

I would leverage his masculine pride and his brittle paternal love, to expose that despicable couple.

My first act upon rebirth was simple: go home and catch Eleanor in her sin. But I never expected that as soon as I turned back, I'd see Leo standing in the middle of the road.

In the distance, Arthur's face paled, horror dawning. I was closer. And I needed him to believe me, now and always. So I lunged, yanking Leo back from the curb.

This time, the car didn't shatter his skull. It crushed his legs instead. He would never walk again

"Arthur!" The shriek was pure, undiluted panic. Eleanor was on him in an instant, a mess of tears and snot, clawing at his arm. "Don't listen to her! She's hated us from the day her mother died! She opened that gate! She wants Leo dead!"

Before he could react, I ran to Arthur and wrapped myself around his, pressing my dirt-streaked face to his knee. When I looked up, my eyes were wide pools of shattered innocence.

"Daddy, I didn't!" I whispered, letting my voice fracture with the perfect note of bewildered hurt. "I just...I want a mommy who loves me too. Eleanor doesn't. I thought...if I was extra good to Leo, you'd both want me..."

As I spoke, I forced out a few tears, pointing my small hand towards Leo, who lay sobbing pitifully nearby, his legs broken.

"I share my milk with Leo every day, and I let him play with my favorite teddy bear... Just now, if I hadn't pulled him back, he would have flown to heaven and wouldn't be able to play with me anymore. My teacher says we should respect elders and cherish the young. Lily did that, Lily is a good kid, Dad, you have to believe Lily."

Because I usually put on a show of being good to Leo to appease Arthur, I said all this without batting an eye.

I clung tightly to Arthur's leg, using all a child's strength to depend on him, then I dropped my heavy bait.

"If Dad doesn't believe me, you can go upstairs now and find that man! He's definitely still here!"