Chapter 1

A fire broke out at my school, but as the principal, I didn’t call the fire department.

Instead, I calmly watched smoke swallow the entire classroom building and told every teacher and student to stay put in their classrooms.

In my previous life, I called 911 the moment I saw smoke. But the powerful streams of water hit a mysterious stockpile of sodium in the chemistry lab.

The school exploded. Not a single student survived.

The parents surrounded me on the athletic field, and my son told them I’d deliberately concealed the danger to kill their children.

Then my wife produced a video of me:

“I’ve had it with these idiots and their useless parents!”

“One day, I’m going to kill them all!”

The sodium in the lab had also been purchased in my name.

The enraged parents swarmed me and beat me to death on the field.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the scene of the fire.

“Daniel Bennett! Wake up! Wake up! The classroom building is on fire!”

At the sound of my wife Claire’s familiar voice, I jolted upright at my desk.

Her face was full of panic, as if she genuinely cared about those children.

“Honey, you’re finally awake! Thank God. Call 911, then get the teachers organized. I’ll find people to help bring over the firefighting equipment!”

Claire had landed a cushy job in the school’s facilities department solely because she was my wife.

In my previous life, I hadn’t hesitated when she said she was going to find people to move the equipment. I immediately went downstairs to organize the evacuation.

But as I lay dying on the athletic field, I saw her throw herself into another man’s arms.

This time, I wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

I stood, calmly poured myself a cup of tea, then settled comfortably back into my chair.

I spoke into the microphone connected to the school’s PA system:

“Teachers and students, please remain calm. This is only a drill. Stay in your classrooms and wait for my instructions before coming downstairs.”

Claire stared at me in disbelief, as though those children truly mattered to her.

“Daniel, is this how you do your job?”

“Even if you hate those students, can’t you at least think about me and Ethan? What are we supposed to do if you go to prison?”

Watching her panic, I took a leisurely sip of tea and smiled at her.

“What are you supposed to do? Isn’t me going to prison exactly what you want?”

From the look on her face, she understood just how serious this could become.

Even setting aside what the parents of these high school students would do, a criminal negligence conviction alone could destroy my son’s dream of getting into the police academy.

And if the parents got their hands on me while I was still alive, they would probably tear me apart in their grief and rage, just as they had before.

Claire tried to leave, but I caught her hand.

It was as delicate and soft as ever, though a little slippery. I couldn’t tell whether that was sweat or lotion she’d applied before meeting her lover.

“Don’t go. Things have already come to this. Why don’t we die together before they arrest us? At least that might give Ethan a chance.”

The shock on Claire’s face turned to terror. She knocked my hand away and fled my office.

As she ran, she shouted back:

“Daniel, you’ve lost your mind! You want to take me down with you? Dream on!”

The woman who had supposedly loved me for twenty years had said those words to my face. Even though I’d prepared myself, it still hurt.

Claire and I had been married for twenty years. Everyone who knew us said we were a loving couple. Even at school, people held us up as the perfect marriage.

But only I knew how much I’d poured into that relationship.

I had done everything in my power to grant every wish she had. I spoiled her endlessly and had never once argued with anything she said.

At home, I treated her like a princess. Even in her forties, she had never had to do a single household chore. Everyone who met her assumed she was under thirty. No one would have guessed her son was almost an adult.

Disappointment and grief made my hand tremble. Some tea spilled over the rim, and pain immediately flared across my palm.

I studied the smoke-shrouded classroom building, rubbing my chin as I thought.