Chapter 2

“I promise, my daughter isn’t mentally ill. This is all just a misunderstanding.”

My mother kept explaining herself to the officers.

But every time they remembered my abnormal behavior the night before, they shook their heads.

“Can you guarantee that she won’t do anything dangerous if we let her out?”

“She won’t. Absolutely not!”

My mother pulled out my medical examination report, her eyes red from crying.

“This is my daughter’s recent medical report. She’s perfectly healthy. She would never do anything so horrible. She must have suffered some kind of shock and lost control in the moment.”

“And this is the deed to the property. The house she burned belonged to us.”

“Please, Officer. Let Harper go. You’ve kept her here all night. She must have calmed down by now.”

“We’re willing to pay whatever fine you impose.”

Watching my parents run around desperately trying to help me, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

In my previous life, when I was framed for killing someone in a hit-and-run, they had done everything in their power to clear my name.

But every fingerprint at the crime scene belonged to me.

I had no alibi.

And with my fiancé and best friend giving false testimony against me, I was convicted of murder.

My family was destroyed overnight. My parents were even beaten to death.

Yet they had never once blamed or doubted me.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the night they committed their crimes. I didn’t have time to explain anything to my family, so I had set the fire first.

Silent tears streamed down my face.

I apologized to my parents in my heart.

Once everything was over, I would explain it all to them.

My parents did everything they could to prove that the house belonged to me and that I had only set the fire in a moment of emotional instability.

Since no one had been injured, the police ultimately gave me a warning. Once I paid the fine, I was free to leave.

I looked up at the time.

I had finally survived the night.

The house was gone, and I had an alibi. This time, I should be safe, right?

On the drive home, I looked at the trending headlines online.

“Billionaire Heiress Livestreams Herself Burning Down Her Million-Dollar Engagement Mansion—A Collapse of Morality or Humanity?”

My mother snatched the phone out of my hand and stared at me anxiously.

“Harper, what happened? Why would you set fire to the house? That was the engagement gift you gave Adrian!”

The moment I heard Adrian’s name, my chest tightened.

“Mom, I’m calling off the engagement.”

“What?”

The car suddenly screeched to a stop.

Everyone lurched forward from the force, their heads slamming into the backs of the seats.

I covered my aching forehead and was about to ask what had happened when two familiar figures rushed toward us.

“Harper! You’ve gotten yourself into serious trouble!”

Adrian yanked open the car door and dragged me out.

Standing beside him was my best friend of more than a decade, Bianca Hart.

“Do you know that the person you hit last night died after doctors failed to save them?”

My mother looked as if she had been struck by lightning. She stared at me in disbelief.

“Harper, you hit someone? Is that why you lost control last night?”

I shook my head and was about to explain, but Adrian had already taken out his phone.

“Hello, is this the police? I’d like to report that I’ve found the suspect in last night’s fatal crash on Riverside Avenue!”

“Yes, she’s right here with me.”

He ended the call and glared at me viciously.

“Harper, even though I’m your fiancé, you have to pay for what you did!”

I stared at him in shock and kept shaking my head.

“That’s impossible. I didn’t drive anywhere last night. How could I have hit anyone? Do you have evidence?”

Bianca let out a cold laugh.

“Harper, didn’t you burn the evidence?”