Chapter 1

The city's billionaire mogul publicly announced his search for all 100 children born from his past sperm donations.

My best friend, Leo Maxwell, knew he was one of them and was thrilled to claim kinship.

I, Liam Blackwood, kindly advised him that the mogul was gravely ill, and his search might have ulterior motives.

I told him to observe the situation first.

Leo listened, holding back from connecting with him.

Later, the mogul died, and all the recognized children inherited millions.

Leo, convinced I had cost him his fortune, ruthlessly stabbed me to death.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Leo came to tell me he was the billionaire's son.

I was shaken awake roughly, my body jolting.

Opening my eyes again, I saw my best friend, Leo, beaming with excitement by my bed, rousing me.

"Dude, you won't believe it! I'm actually the billionaire's son!"

I felt a dizzying sense of déjà vu, instinctively pulling back, avoiding his closeness.

My hand went to my throat. The suffocating memory of Leo, in a fit of madness, plunging a knife into my jugular, made it hard to breathe.

Just like in my previous life, Leo wildly gesticulated as he told me his biological father couldn't have children due to low sperm count. Through some means, the couple acquired high-quality sperm and had him via IVF.

And just yesterday, Mr. Sterling Thorne, the city's mogul, had publicly released his sperm donation information, stating he wanted to find and acknowledge all children who shared his genes.

Every child who claimed kinship would gain inheritance rights to his estate.

"My genetic information matches Mr. Thorne's exactly! I'm his son! Liam, should I go claim him as my father or not?"

Leo stared at me, his face alight with wild joy.

He'd always been a penny-pincher, and in college, his only ambition was to hook up with a rich woman so he could live a lavish life.

But rich women rarely lacked male attention, and Leo was usually just a casual fling for them.

That's why, in my previous life, once Leo learned he was the billionaire's son, he immediately wanted to claim kinship, to fulfill his dream of being a trust fund baby.

However, I knew the mogul was gravely ill, and that he had a staggering 100 children born from his sperm donations.

Concerned for Leo's safety, I kindly advised him not to rush.

"I heard many wealthy people use sperm donation to cultivate their mobile blood banks and natural organ supply stations. Plus, he didn't try to find his kids earlier, only now that he's seriously ill. You should really wait and see."

At the time, Leo had been dismissive. It wasn't until he heard that several children who had gone to claim kinship had mysteriously disappeared that he gripped my hand, looking terrified, and said, "Thank goodness you warned me in time! Otherwise, I would have been finished!"

Yet, it was this same person, who had expressed such gratitude, who later, after failing to charm the wealthy Scarlett Dubois and hearing that the mogul's recognized children *did* inherit property, blamed me for blocking his path to riches.

On my birthday, he lunged at my throat with a knife, stabbing me again and again, his voice choked with hatred:

"If you hadn't stopped me! I'd be a rich kid already! Scarlett wouldn't have dumped me, and I wouldn't be living this pathetic life!"

"Liam! It's all your fault! Just die!"

But what he didn't know was this:

In my previous life, on the day he killed me,

The police had just announced the scam. The mogul's sperm donation was real, but the claims of kinship were fake. All the recognized children were just lab rats for a medical experiment.

The inheritance rights were real, but the mogul's illness and death were fake. He had already transferred all his assets, simply waiting for the scam to unravel before faking his death.

What he left behind wasn't millions in inheritance, but millions in debt.

And I hadn't had the chance to tell Leo any of this before I died by his knife.

The image of Leo's eyes, brimming with vengeful satisfaction in my memory, overlapped with the fervent gaze of the Leo standing before me now.

This time, I offered no more warnings. I just curled my lips into a slight smile:

"Congrats."

I chose to respect his destiny.