Burden of Blood

In my last life, my husband, Vincent Cohen, had died in an accident. To honor him and do my duty, I basically lived at my in-laws' house, helping take care of my mother-in-law, Vanessa Cohen.

That day, I had just returned from a business trip when Maeve called. She said Richard wasn't home and she needed a car to go back to her parents' place, so she asked to borrow mine.

Since she was family, and I'd always gotten along with her, I agreed.

In the end, she floored my car and raced at 125 mph. She didn't even slow down through the crowded stretch.

Right then, a family of three was about to cross the street. They hadn't even stepped onto the crosswalk when Maeve hit them.

The baby she was holding flew out of her arms.

Maeve didn't call 911. She backed up and ran over them again, making sure they were dead.

Her brutal actions angered the people nearby.

But she pretended to be me and acted as if nothing could touch her.

"Those idiots walked into my path! It's not my fault they got hit!" she snapped.

Someone shouted at her, "You can't just do that! I'm calling 911!"

She just scoffed, "I'm the Lincoln Enterprise heiress. Who's gonna touch me? You can call them if you want. If they're still alive, I'm not gonna cover the medical bills. Besides, there aren't any cameras here!"

She said that and left.

The family died on the spot.

Maeve then lied to me, saying the car had been scraped and she needed me to send money to compensate the driver. She tricked me into wiring funds to the victims.

The victims' relatives planned to settle the funeral arrangements first, then pursue whoever was responsible.

Maeve, meanwhile, put on sunglasses and a cheery pink tweed dress, brought a few bodyguards, and burst into the funeral hall.

"They're just three worthless people! I'm the Lincoln Enterprise heiress; why did you insist I come personally? I already paid for the funeral. Don't bother me about this again," she spat.

The family wouldn't let her leave, but she had bodyguards, so she just walked out.

By then, the family had had enough and stormed my in-laws' house. When I got home, they wouldn't hear any of my explanations and stabbed me dozens of times.

I collapsed into a pool of blood, every inch of me cut.

My father was devastated when he heard about it. He couldn't believe I would do something like that, so he launched his own investigation.

Maeve found a team to make the story blow up online.

Angry trolls who hated the rich started filing fake complaints against my father's company.

My father was buried in chaos, trying to deal with the attacks and a tax audit, to the point of exhaustion. One night, he fell asleep at the wheel, and the car plunged off a cliff, killing him.

Only after I died did I discover it had all been Maeve's plan.

She was jealous that Vincent had a better head for business than Richard, and I lived the life of a rich wife, so she planned everything.

What she had forgotten was that I was born the daughter of a wealthy business family myself.

She thought I was just lucky, but my good life wasn't only because of who I married.

Knowing she would destroy my father and me over such petty jealousies made my blood boil. I wanted to tear her apart.

But I wasn't going to let her get away so easily.

I was determined to let her feel every ounce of pain I felt in my last life.

I had 50 minutes until the mob stormed in, and I didn't have enough time to arrange for security.

As I thought about how to survive this, the vendors outside the airport caught my attention.