The first thing I noticed was the bitter taste in my mouth. I tried to swallow, but my throat felt strangely heavy. I couldn't move my arms or legs, and when I tried to speak, no sound came out. Panic rushed through me as I lay helplessly on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling while the room around me slowly came into focus. My body felt weak, almost as if all the strength had been drained from me. Then I saw him. Jared, the man I had loved and trusted with my heart, stood beside my bed, looking down at me with an expression I could no longer understand. For years, I had trusted that face. I had trusted him with my heart, my family, and everything I thought mattered. Now, as I struggled to move, he simply watched me without making any attempt to help. My eyes shifted toward the other side of the room, and my heart sank when I saw Chloe, my stepsister, standing there with my newborn baby in her arms. She held my son against her chest as though he already belonged to her. I tried to scream and reach for him, but my body refused to obey me. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I watched the woman who was supposed to be my sister hold the child I had carried for nine months. "Jared..." I forced the word out, barely louder than a whisper. He looked at me, but there was no concern or fear in his eyes. There was no trace of the love I had once believed he had for me. There was only a coldness that made it difficult for me to recognize the man standing beside my bed. "You shouldn't have trusted people so easily, Evelyn." My heart broke as I stared at him, desperately trying to understand how the man I had loved could stand there and watch me suffer without doing anything. Then his eyes moved to the diamond necklace around my neck. It was the necklace my grandfather, Raymond Vance, had given me, and it was one of the few things I still had that reminded me of him. Jared reached down and removed it from my neck. I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't even lift my hand. He walked over to Chloe and placed the necklace around her neck. Chloe looked at herself in the mirror and smiled as she admired it. "Does it look good on me?" "It suits you," Jared replied. My tears fell faster. That necklace had been one of the few things I had left from my grandfather, and I had always believed it would remain with me forever. Yet watching Jared give it to Chloe hurt even more than losing the necklace itself. In that moment, I realized how completely I had been replaced, as though everything I had once believed belonged to me could simply be handed over to someone else. I looked at my baby again. He was still so small, with his eyes closed as he rested quietly in Chloe's arms. I had carried him for nine months, dreamed about holding him, and imagined Jared standing beside me when he was born. Instead, I was lying helplessly on a hospital bed while the two people I trusted most stood together, already deciding what would happen to my child after I was gone. "You don't have much time left," Jared said calmly. My eyes returned to him. "What... did you do to me?" He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked at Chloe, who gave him a small smile before turning her attention back to my baby. "She'll be gone soon." My chest tightened as I listened to them. I couldn't believe this was happening. I wanted to believe there had to be some mistake, that Jared would eventually realize what he was doing and help me, but the expression on his face told me that he had already made his choice. Then I remembered the last time I had spoken to my grandfather, Raymond, before his death in my first life. He had looked at me seriously and told me to be careful. He warned me not to let love make me blind to the people around me. At the time, I had thought he was simply worried about me, and I had refused to believe there could be anything wrong with the people I trusted. I hadn't listened to him. I had chosen to believe Jared instead, and now I understood his warning far too late. Jared stepped closer to my bed and looked at me with the same cold expression. "Chloe will take care of your son. You don't need to worry about him." I stared at the woman holding my baby, and fear filled my heart. I didn't want Chloe raising my child, and I didn't want Jared deciding what would happen to my son's future after I was gone. I wanted another chance, just one chance to go back and see the truth before it was too late. I wanted the chance to protect my baby, make different choices, and listen to the warning my grandfather had given me. If I could go back, I would never trust Jared again. I would listen to my grandfather, protect my family, and never allow Chloe to take what belonged to me. My vision slowly became darker as the sounds around me began to fade. I could feel myself slipping away, but there was one thought I refused to let go of. I wanted another chance. I wanted the opportunity to change everything before it was too late. Then everything went black. I gasped and sat upright. My hands immediately moved to my stomach as I struggled to catch my breath. I looked around the room in confusion, trying to understand where I was. This wasn't the hospital, and I wasn't lying in the bed where I had died. I was in my old bedroom, surrounded by things I hadn't seen in years. My eyes moved around the familiar room, but I still couldn't understand what I was seeing. I climbed out of bed and hurried toward the mirror, and the woman staring back at me was younger. Much younger. I touched my face as if I needed to make sure it was really me before slowly looking down at my stomach. It was already showing. I was pregnant. My heart started pounding as I stared at my reflection. I knew this room. I knew this place. I had lived here three years before my death, and the realization hit me so hard that I had to hold onto the edge of the table to steady myself. I was back. Somehow, I had been given another chance. I looked at my reflection again, hardly able to believe what was happening. I remembered everything: the hospital, the bitter taste in my mouth, Jared taking my necklace, Chloe holding my baby, my grandfather's warning, and my death. All of it was still inside my mind, as clear as if it had happened only moments ago. But I wasn't dead anymore. I was alive, and I was carrying the child I had lost. Then another thought hit me. My grandfather. Raymond was still alive. I remembered that he hadn't died until later in my first life, which meant I had returned to a time when I still had him. The realization left me stunned. I had spent so much time thinking about my own death that I hadn't considered the fact that some of the people I had lost were still alive. For the first time since waking up, I felt something other than fear. Maybe this second chance wasn't only about changing my own fate. A sudden sound came from the bedroom door, making me turn quickly. The door opened, and Jared walked in. For a moment, I couldn't breathe. He looked exactly as I remembered him from before everything went wrong. His face was softer, his expression was warm, and there was no trace of the coldness I had seen in the hospital. When he saw me standing there, he smiled. "You're awake." I stared at him without answering. My mind was struggling to accept the difference between the man standing in front of me and the man I had watched betray me. Jared walked toward me and placed a hand gently on my shoulder. "You should rest. You're pregnant, remember?" My body stiffened at his touch. He didn't know. He had no idea that I remembered everything. He had no idea that I had already died because of him, and he certainly had no idea that the woman standing in front of him had been given another chance to live. For the first time, I realized something that frightened me even more than death. I had three years before it happened. Three years to find out the truth, three years to protect my baby, and three years to make sure that the ending of my life would not be the same as before. This time, I would not make the same mistakes.

For a few seconds, I couldn't move. Jared's hand was still on my shoulder, and the way he touched me felt completely wrong against everything I remembered. Three years ago, I would have leaned into him without hesitation. I would have trusted that smile and believed he cared about me. I would have felt safe simply because he was beside me. But I had already seen what this same man was capable of. I had watched him stand beside my hospital bed while I struggled to breathe, and I had watched him give what belonged to me to Chloe while my newborn baby was taken from me. Now he was standing in front of me as if he could never hurt me, while I was the only one carrying the memory of how our story had ended. I wanted to move his hand away from my shoulder, but I stopped myself. I couldn't suddenly start behaving strangely around him. If I changed too much, Jared might become suspicious and start wondering what was wrong with me. So I forced myself to act normal, even though every part of me wanted to pull away from him. Jared looked at me for a moment, as if he could tell that something had changed. His hand slowly fell from my shoulder, and his expression changed. "Are you okay?" he asked. I quickly changed my expression so he wouldn't notice the fear in my eyes. I couldn't tell him the truth. I couldn't tell him that I knew he would hurt me and betray me. So I forced a small smile and tried to think of an excuse that wouldn't make him suspect anything. "I'm fine," I said quickly. "I just feel a little tired." Jared stared at me for another moment before nodding. "You should rest then." His concern confused me. This was the same man I remembered standing beside my hospital bed while I was dying, yet now he looked genuinely worried about me. I didn't know whether I should believe the kindness he was showing me or be afraid of the person I knew he would eventually become. For now, I decided it was better to watch him than to make any assumptions. I looked around the room again and remembered exactly where I was. Three years had passed, but now I was back at the beginning. I still didn't know why I had been given another chance, but I knew I couldn't waste it. I had three years to change everything that had happened before. This time, I would pay attention to the things I had once ignored and look for the truth before it was too late. As I tried to remember those three years, one particular memory came back to me. It had seemed completely normal back then, something I hadn't thought twice about. But now that I knew how everything had ended, I couldn't stop wondering if I had missed something important. The memory was from a few months before my grandfather died in my first life. I remembered coming home one evening and finding Chloe in the study with Raymond. At the time, I hadn't thought much of it because Chloe had always been close to him. But now, I remembered the way they stopped talking the moment I walked into the room and how quickly Chloe had hidden the papers she was holding. Back then, I had simply smiled and walked away. Now, I couldn't stop wondering what had been on those papers. I couldn't remember everything about that evening, no matter how hard I tried. Some parts of my memory were still unclear, like pieces of a puzzle I couldn't put together. I didn't know what the papers were about, and I couldn't remember what they had been discussing. But I could still remember the strange feeling I had when Chloe hid them. At the time, I had ignored it. Now, I wondered if that small moment had meant more than I realized. I couldn't ask Chloe about those papers directly. If I suddenly started questioning her about something that had already happened, she would know something was wrong. Instead, I decided to keep it to myself. I would wait for the right opportunity and find out what those papers were about without letting Chloe know I was looking. Before I could think about it any further, the sound of the bedroom door opening pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up and saw Chloe standing at the doorway. She had a warm smile on her face, the same familiar smile I remembered from my first life. "Evelyn, you're awake," she said as she walked into the room. For a moment, I simply stared at her. Seeing her alive and standing in front of me after remembering how everything between us had ended made my chest tighten. Chloe didn't seem to notice my reaction. She walked closer with the same easy smile, as if nothing had ever happened between us. Chloe came closer and sat beside me on the bed. "You scared me," she said softly. "You suddenly became quiet, and I wasn't sure if you were feeling sick." I looked at her carefully. Her voice sounded genuinely concerned, and there was nothing strange about her expression. In my first life, I would have been comforted by that concern without thinking twice. Now, I found myself studying every little thing she did, wondering how someone who looked so caring could one day become part of the reason I lost everything. "Are you feeling better now?" Chloe asked. "You were quiet when I came in." "I'm fine," I replied, trying to keep my voice steady. "I was just thinking." "About what?" she asked. I paused for a moment. In my first life, I would have told her everything without hesitation. Chloe had always been someone I trusted, someone I believed I could talk to about anything. But things were different now. I couldn't afford to tell her what was going through my mind. "I was just thinking about the baby," I said, forcing myself to relax. "I guess everything is starting to feel real now." Chloe smiled and placed her hand gently over mine. She reassured me that everything would be fine and that I didn't have to worry so much. Her words sounded exactly like the kind of thing she used to say to me in my first life. I listened quietly, but this time, I didn't let myself feel comforted by them. I watched her instead. There was nothing unusual about her expression, nothing in her voice that gave me a reason to accuse her of anything. And that was what made it harder. I had no proof that the Chloe standing in front of me was the same woman I remembered. Chloe glanced toward the door before looking back at me. She mentioned that Jared had been worried when I suddenly became quiet and thought I should get some rest. I nodded and thanked her, pretending that her words didn't affect me. Hearing Jared's name brought back memories I didn't want to think about. In my first life, I had never questioned the closeness between him and Chloe. I had trusted both of them completely. Now, even something as simple as hearing his name beside hers made me wonder how much I had failed to notice. After a few more minutes, Chloe finally left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I waited until I heard the door close before letting my expression change. My mind returned to the papers I had seen in Raymond's study. I still didn't know what they were about, but now I couldn't ignore the feeling that they might have been important. If I wanted to understand what had really happened to me, I needed to start with the things I had overlooked the first time. And the first place I would look was my grandfather's study. I was about to get out of bed when another piece of the memory suddenly came back to me. I remembered Raymond standing behind his desk with those papers in his hand while Chloe stood across from him. I couldn't remember everything they had said, but I remembered Raymond looking toward the door before lowering his voice. Then I remembered something else. There had been someone else in the room. I couldn't see his face, but I remembered the sound of his voice. "Evelyn must never know." My breathing stopped. I didn't know what they had been talking about, and I didn't know who the man was. But there was something about his voice that made the memory feel different from everything else I had remembered since waking up. I had heard that voice before. Not just in Raymond's study. I had heard it beside my hospital bed on the night I died. And suddenly, I wasn't sure that Jared and Chloe were the only people who had wanted me dead.

The memory of the voice I heard wouldn't leave my mind. I kept trying to force myself to remember where I had heard that voice before. It wasn't just familiar; there was something about what he had said that made me worried. If the voice had truly come from my grandfather's study, then there was more to my past than I knew. And for the first time, I began to wonder if Jared and Chloe had been the only ones responsible for my death. I got out of bed and went to my grandfather's study. If there was anything I had overlooked before my grandfather's death in my first life, I needed to find it now. I couldn't afford to ignore it, because there might be something in that room that could give me the answers I needed. When I got to the study, I immediately noticed that something felt different. Instead of searching everywhere, I went straight to the place where I knew my grandfather kept his important documents. I searched through the drawer and froze when I found something that shouldn't have been there-a small envelope, a key, and a document with Chloe's name on it. I picked up the document and opened it. I read the words line by line until something caught my attention. Chloe's name was written beside a date I remembered. My eyes moved to the rest of the page, and I felt as if I had been stabbed when I saw that the document was connected to a meeting my grandfather had never mentioned to me. I read it again to make sure I hadn't mistaken the name, but it was still there. Chloe had been hiding something from me for a very long time. I picked up the small key and noticed a tiny number engraved on it. At first, I didn't recognize it, but I knew I had to find out what it meant. If there was a key, there had to be a lock somewhere, so I started searching the room. Then I heard footsteps approaching the study. Someone was coming. I quickly hid and waited, but after a few moments, nobody entered. Confused, I slowly looked out and saw the back of Chloe as she walked away. I had no idea what she had come to do, but I didn't have time to find out. I turned back to my search and soon noticed a small cabinet beneath the bookshelf. I stared at it for a moment, wondering if the key in my hand would open it. I walked over to the cabinet and knelt in front of it. My hand tightened around the key as I looked at the lock. For a moment, I hesitated. If my grandfather had hidden something inside, there had to be a reason he didn't want it to be found easily. I glanced toward the door to make sure I was alone, then slowly pushed the key into the lock. The key turned with a soft click. I slowly opened the cabinet and stared at what was inside. Several files were neatly arranged on the shelf, but one brown envelope caught my attention immediately. My name was written across the front in my grandfather's handwriting. I reached for it, my heart beating faster as I wondered why he had hidden something like this. I gently opened the envelope and pulled out the paper inside. The moment I saw my grandfather's handwriting, I knew there was something more to the document. I started reading the first few lines and saw a warning about someone close to me. He didn't mention a name, but he made it clear that I should be careful about who I trusted. At the bottom of the page, I noticed something that caught my attention. It was dated several months before his death in my first life. I stared at the date for a moment before realizing why it looked familiar. It was the same day I had walked into my grandfather's study and found Chloe there. I remembered how quickly she had stopped talking when she saw me and how she had hidden the papers she was holding. Back then, I hadn't thought much of it. Now, with my grandfather's warning in my hands, that memory suddenly felt different. I was about to read the note again when I heard a faint voice outside the study. I quickly folded the paper and slipped it back into the envelope. I moved closer to the door and listened carefully. It was Chloe. She wasn't alone this time. A man's voice answered her, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I stayed where I was, barely breathing, as I tried to hear more. I strained to hear their conversation, but most of their words were too low for me to understand. Then Chloe's voice became clearer. "She shouldn't have found it," she said. I froze. I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but the fear in her voice told me that it was important. Before I could hear anything else, their footsteps began moving away from the study. I quickly thought about what to do. Part of me wanted to stay behind, but I decided to follow them so I could find out who the man was. I quietly opened the door and saw Chloe's back as she walked beside him, but I still couldn't see his face. They moved down the hallway, and I followed them slowly, afraid that they might turn around and catch me. Instead of getting too close, I kept a safe distance and watched where they were going. Soon, I realized they were heading toward a part of the house that was rarely visited. Then the man suddenly stopped. I quickly stepped behind the nearest wall and hid before either of them could notice that someone was following them. They opened the door and both stepped inside before locking it behind them. I quickly moved closer to the door so I could eavesdrop on their conversation. A few seconds later, I heard the man ask Chloe if she was sure my grandfather hadn't told me anything about the document. Chloe was quiet for a moment before telling him that she had always been careful around me and didn't think I knew what the document meant. The man then asked what would happen if I discovered the truth. My heart skipped a beat. They were talking about the same document I had found in my grandfather's study. I wanted to hear more, but before I could, the door handle suddenly moved. I quickly stepped away from the door and hid around the corner, terrified that they were about to come out. The door opened, and the man stepped out first. I stayed hidden and finally got a quick look at his face, but I didn't recognize him. Chloe followed him a moment later. They walked away together, and I waited until they were far enough away before returning to the study. As I stepped back inside, I realized something important. The document I had found might not be the only thing my grandfather had hidden. I returned to the cabinet and looked through the files again, this time paying closer attention to the labels and dates. Most of them were ordinary business records, but one thin file had no label at all. I pulled it out and opened it carefully. Inside, I found a photograph of my grandfather standing with two men I didn't recognize. My eyes immediately settled on one of them. He was the same man I had just seen with Chloe. I studied the photograph carefully and noticed something in the background beside my grandfather. I recognized the location almost immediately. My eyes widened as I realized where the photograph had been taken. It was somewhere I knew well, which meant the meeting had happened much closer to me than I had ever imagined. I remembered that the place was a private meeting room in one of my family's company buildings. My grandfather rarely used that room unless something important was being discussed. That made me even more worried. Why had Chloe met the man who was connected to my grandfather there, and why had I never known about it? I decided to find out who the unknown man was before trying to understand how he was connected to Chloe or asking anyone questions. I put the photograph and documents back where I had found them, keeping only the details I could remember. My next step was to quietly investigate the company building. Just as I was about to leave the study, I heard Jared calling me from somewhere in the house. I quickly checked that everything was back in place before stepping out. When I met him, he noticed that I seemed distracted and asked if something was wrong. I forced myself to act normal because I didn't want him-or anyone else-to know what I had discovered. Jared asked if I had been in the study because he noticed I had come from that direction. I casually told him I was looking for something that belonged to my grandfather. He accepted my explanation without questioning me further. His normal reaction made me even more cautious because the man I remembered from my first life was still hiding behind the kind person standing in front of me. After Jared walked away, I reminded myself that his kindness couldn't make me forget what had happened in my first life. I had already seen what he was capable of, and I refused to let his gentle behavior make me lower my guard. I decided to go to the company building and find out why my grandfather had met that man there. But as I looked down at the photograph still fresh in my mind, one thought suddenly stopped me. If my grandfather had been investigating those men before he died in my first life, then what had he discovered that someone was willing to keep hidden? And more importantly, had they already realized that I was looking for the truth?