Chapter 3

Grandma Rose saw me and was both surprised and overjoyed. She quickly pulled me inside, looking me up and down:

"Oh, my sweet girl, why did you come back alone?"

"Are you hungry? Grandma will cook for you!"

Looking at Grandma Rose's gray hair and her concerned eyes, a lump formed in my throat.

In this world, Grandma Rose was probably the only one who truly cared about me.

That night, I snuggled beside Grandma Rose, listening to her chatter about how much money she'd saved.

It was all for my college education, she said, telling me to settle in and not worry.

My heart felt both warm and terrified.

I was scared that even hiding here with Grandma Rose, Mom wouldn't easily let me go.

Right now, I had to figure out who Mom truly wanted to take, and why she was doing all this.

Otherwise, it would just be putting off the inevitable.

On the day I went to handle my school transfer paperwork, I secretly snuck off to Matteus’s school.

Matteus saw me and jumped in surprise:

"Chloe, why are you back? Mom came to school yesterday looking for me, asking if I knew where you were."

I pulled him into a corner and lowered my voice:

"Matteus, tell me the truth. Have you felt like something's wrong with our family lately?"

Matteus’s eyes suddenly changed, filling with fear.

He looked left and right before whispering:

"Chloe, I had a really scary dream. I dreamt we both died!"

My whole body stiffened!

"In the dream, Mom and Dad divorced, and she wanted to take you, but you pushed me towards her! At first, she was really nice to me, but then one day, I accidentally messed up a photo of you..."

Matteus’s voice choked with tears:

"Mom saw it and became a different person. She hit me hard with a hanger, saying I wasn't worthy of touching your things. Later, she tricked you into coming, and she locked both of us up..."

The more I listened, the more alarmed and confused I became.

This was too strange.

In the first life, I was beaten to death by Mom for ruining Matteus’s drawing. At that time, I thought Mom loved Matteus and wanted to take him.

But in the second life, Matteus was punished by Mom for messing up my photo.

Mom seemed to love both of us siblings, yet she also seemed to love neither.

What was going on?

"Matteus, when you go back, secretly observe Dad."

I instructed Matteus:

"See if he's acting strangely. I have a feeling Mom and Dad's divorce wasn't as simple as it seemed!"

After settling things with Matteus, I used the money I'd saved to hire a private investigator, asking him to focus on the real reason for my parents' divorce.

My gut told me that the person Mom truly wanted to take was closely linked to the reason for their divorce.

A few days later, the detective told me my parents had divorced peacefully due to irreconcilable differences, and the property division went smoothly.

Neither of them had been cheating. However, the detective mentioned an old secret.

My Aunt Sarah, who had died in a car accident many years ago, had apparently been with my dad before marrying Uncle Daniel.

But she was gone, so that lead seemed dead.

I comforted myself, thinking that in this life, neither Matteus nor I had gone with Mom, so she should have no reason to go crazy again, right?

However, I was still too naive.

That day after school, as I walked out of the school gates, I saw Mom standing by her car, smiling and waving at me.

She was holding a fancy cake box.

A chill shot down my spine.