Chapter 4

Brenda’s acting, I had to admit, was flawless. As she shrieked, threatening to fight me, I quickly dodged her.

I brutally kicked her in the chest, still shaken.

“Mom, you blew up Dad. Why are you blaming it on me?”

She immediately clutched her chest, wailing dramatically. All the neighbors angrily surrounded me.

“You’re truly a wicked daughter-in-law! Playing the victim first. You must have killed him and are framing your mother-in-law!”

My sudden attack caught Arthur off guard; he hadn’t reacted yet.

Brenda, emboldened by the crowd, cried even louder: “You all saw it! She even accused me of blowing up the old man! Such a vicious heart!”

I sneered. “Dare you say it wasn’t for the millions in my bank accounts, to pin a murder on me, and then scheme to take everything I owned?”

The phrase “plotting to take everything I owned” hit everyone like a lightning bolt.

Brenda’s eyes darted nervously before her gaze hardened. “Alice, you’re insane! Why would I blow up the old man for your petty cash!”

“For my money, for my shares, for mountains of wealth and a life of luxury! Mark and I only went to the movies today. Isn’t framing me all about the money?”

My unprecedented aggression made Brenda Peterson’s face fall. She wanted to say more, but someone grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back.

“Enough!”

It was Mark, who had rushed over.

He shot a look at Brenda, then slapped me, hard. “Are you having another one of your episodes? When did I ever go to the movies with you?”

I’d expected Mark wouldn’t side with me, but I hadn’t expected him to hit me in public.

That slap shattered the last fragments of our six-year relationship.

In my previous life, he’d also denied going to the movies with me in front of everyone, convinced I was the murderer.

Back then, I’d been lost, unable to understand why. Today, seeing their family’s coordinated attack, I finally understood.

“Mark, if you keep giving false testimony for Brenda Peterson, I won’t spare you either.” My voice was firm. “I’m telling you again, today, Mark Peterson, we went to the movies together. I am not a killer.”

To my disappointment, Mark instinctively denied it. “No, I didn’t! What’s the point of lying? My son and I saw you walk into the kitchen ourselves.”

He was set in his ways, determined to pin the blame on me.

I wanted to speak, but the bedroom door opened. My son, Leo, ran out, his phone playing audio on speaker.

“Bad mommy, you killed Grandpa! Bad people have to pay!”

His young face held an overwhelming hatred.

“Grandma, don’t be scared! Leo will protect you! The police will arrest bad mommy!” My own son spat at me. “Ptooey, ptooey! I don’t have a mom like you! Just go die!”

My heart turned ice cold.

This was the flesh and blood I had carried for ten months, almost bleeding out to bring into the world.

I never imagined that the very child I bore would turn into a knife, aimed right at my heart.

This home held no warmth for me.

“Leo, I’m your mother. Why are you helping them?”

My heart ached with bitterness as I stared at my son.

But he just picked up a piece of broken glass from the floor and threw it at me. “Get lost! I don’t have a murderer for a mom!”

I tilted my head, dodging the glass, but a cut appeared on my face.

Leo then cranked up the volume on his phone, playing the surveillance footage louder. “Bad woman! This is the video of you deliberately detonating the kitchen! You’ve been lying all along!”

Arthur heard it and instinctively rushed to snatch the phone.

Leo, along with Mark and his mother, Brenda, adamantly pointed at me as the murderer.

The neighbors cursed me even louder.

I surveyed the scene with a desolate gaze, feeling utterly abandoned and hopeless. “Why? Why are you doing this to me?”

Mark and Leo exchanged a knowing look and then rolled their eyes at me in unison.

“Just hurry up and die! Don’t harm Grandma anymore! You’re an evil daughter-in-law and a bad mommy!”

My heart was torn to shreds by my own son.

Just then, Arthur, who had finished watching the video, picked up a scattered fruit knife and rushed over, grabbing me by the throat.

The crushing despair of my dying moments from my previous life enveloped me.

I knew too well the agony of being stabbed.

In my blurring vision, I saw Brenda Peterson’s triumphant smile and the hidden satisfaction in Mark and Leo’s faces.

Utter despair consumed me.

Was I doomed to the same fate, even with a second chance?

Just then, a squad of well-trained footsteps sounded, parting the crowd, and a furious voice bellowed.

“Stop! Who gave you the right to kill him?!”

Chapter