Chapter 4

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying inside an old, abandoned staff dormitory belonging to the Kane Group, my body covered in raw, sticky bruises from forced intimacy.

"Hahahahaha..."

I didn't panic at all. I laughed until my stomach ached.

Everything was happening exactly as I guessed.

As long as I killed both Luke and Chloe, the timeline would jump backward.

This time, I woke up on the exact day I was drugged and forced onto Preston Kane's bed.

In my first life, I passed out cold after drinking the wine Chloe handed me.

Luke had carried me here to this abandoned dorm.

Chloe lured Preston Kane in, lit an aphrodisiac incense stick, and tossed me into his bed.

After Preston left, they left me lying in the dirt, then faked a frantic search and kicked open the door with witnesses.

Seeing the marks all over my body, the two of them played good cop, bad cop, cementing the label of "cheater" firmly onto my head.

No matter how I cried, begged, and tried to explain, the insults—"whore," "bitch," "slut"—stuck to me like glue.

Worst of all, because I had no memory of what happened while I was unconscious, I actually believed them.

I even ended up thanking Chloe for helping me keep it a secret, and feeling endlessly grateful to Luke for staying with a "ruined" woman like me.

Remembering the suffocating shame and agony of that past life made pure hatred boil in my veins.

This time, neither of those scumbags was getting a single chance to spit insults at me.

I scanned the small dusty room, then walked out to the dirt yard and found a jagged rock the size of a human skull.

Hearing the approaching footsteps of Luke and Chloe, I carried the rock back inside and positioned myself directly behind the wooden door.

They pushed the door open, eager to put on their show.

"Serena, how could you do something so disgusting..."

"Serena, you filthy bitch—"

"Crack—!"

"Smack—!"

Without a second's hesitation, I slammed the heavy rock directly into the back of their skulls, one after the other.

Chloe collapsed instantly, out cold.

Luke, however, was still conscious. Clutching the gaping, bleeding hole at the back of his head, his vision blurred with agony.

He spun around, catching sight of me holding the bloody stone, and gasped in disbelief:

"Serena?! You're trying to kill me?! Why?!"

"How do you have the audacity to ask me why?"

I dropped the heavy rock, pulled the fountain pen from my pocket, and lunged.

I aimed straight for his jugular, but he scrambled frantically out of the way, taking the strike directly in his shoulder instead.

Luke let out an agonizing howl and stumbled backward through the doorway into the yard.

"Serena, you're the one who cheated on me! And now you're trying to murder me to cover it up?!"

I chased after him, slashing the pen across his forearm, slicing open a long, red trench.

"I cheated on you?! What did I ever do to wrong you?!

I saved both your miserable lives! My parents raised you with their own hard-earned money! You drugged me to force me into marrying you!

And you threw me onto Preston Kane's bed!

Who wronged who, Luke?!"

With every furious accusation, the sharp metal left another bloody gouge across his skin.

The stench of blood grew thick and heavy in the abandoned courtyard.