Chapter 2

"Rowena, could you put the phone down for just five minutes? It's our fifth anniversary."

I gasped sharply, my entire body trembling violently as the wine glass in my hand struck the table with a loud clatter.

"What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Alaric asked immediately, his voice laced with concern.

I was gasping for air, both hands instinctively flying up to clamp around my own throat.

I rushed to a nearby wall mirror to check my neck. No wound. No blood.

I looked up, scanning my surroundings in sheer terror.

Everything was exactly the same as it had been moments ago.

Was it all just a nightmare?

I snatched my phone off the table.

The time read: 10:30 PM.

And then, I received the exact same post.

I had reset! Thrown back in time thirty minutes before my murder!

How could this be possible?

But the phantom pain of my throat being sliced open was unmistakably sharp, and that intense, rancid metallic stench still lingered at the edge of my nostrils.

It wasn't a dream. I had actually died.

"Rowena?" Alaric's eyes grew clouded with worry. "What on earth is wrong?"

"I... I just feel a little dizzy," I said, forcing myself to calm down.

If time had reset, that meant I had another chance.

Last time, I hid in the bathroom and was still slaughtered by the killer.

This time, there was no way in hell I was going to stay inside this house.

"I need some fresh air." I stood up and, ignoring Alaric's attempts to stop me, headed straight for the villa's front doors.

The time read: 10:32 PM.

As I speed-walked, I dialed Thorne.

"Thorne, listen to me. Initiate the highest-level defense protocol immediately!"

"Cut the villa's external network and transfer access of all security cameras directly to my private terminal! Then gather your men, gear up, and get up this mountain to extract me!"

"Boss? What's going on?"

"Execute the order!" I roared.

By the time I hung up, I had already reached the villa's entrance.

I keyed in the top-tier override passcode, and the heavy bulletproof glass doors slowly slid open.

Outside, the mountain wind howled through an abyssal, pitch-black night.

As long as I left this house, as long as I got into my car and regrouped with my security team, whoever was hiding in the shadows wouldn't be able to touch me.

I broke into a brisk walk toward the Maybach parked in the driveway.

"Rowena! Where are you going?" Alaric had chased me out to the entryway. His pace was slow, the bulky brace on his back making his movements look somewhat clumsy. "It's freezing out there!"

"Don't come any closer!" I snapped back at him. I yanked the car door open, slipped inside, and immediately locked all the doors.

Sitting in the driver's seat, I gasped heavily for air.

The bulletproof glass completely severed all outside noise. The cabin was so deafeningly quiet that I could only hear the frantic hammering of my own heart.

I unlocked my phone. That Reddit link was still there.

I tapped on it. The post had been refreshed.

Tonight at 11:00 PM, Aetheria Tech CEO Rowena will have her throat slit.

The attached photo had changed.

It was no longer the dining room or the bathroom. It was a photo of the Maybach’s driver’s seat, taken from the back seat.

In the picture, I was staring into the rearview mirror with absolute terror.

My heart violently seized.

Slowly, draining every ounce of courage, I raised my eyes and looked into the rearview mirror.

The back seat was completely empty.

"Phew..." I let out a long, shuddering exhale.

It seemed this twisted prediction wasn't entirely foolproof after all.

The time read: 10:50 PM.

Ten more minutes, and Thorne's team would be here.

Just then, the car's AC circulation system suddenly let out a bizarre, unsettling hiss.

An overwhelmingly strong, sickeningly familiar scent of rot and metallic copper flooded the entire cabin in an instant.

My muscles locked up.

I violently whipped my head around.

A dark figure launched itself from the cramped footwell of the passenger seat like a coiled spring!

Bang! I snatched my self-defense pistol from the door compartment and pulled the trigger without a second of hesitation.

But the confines of the cabin were too tight, and the monster moved impossibly fast.

The bullet shattered the car window, but that blood-stained military hunting knife had already been plunged brutally into my carotid artery.

Once again, at 11:00 PM, I was murdered.