Chapter Seven
763 Words
Maya’s POV
I blinked my eyes open, breath hitching in my throat.
“Are you intentionally ignoring me?” My father’s voice sliced through the haze. Cold. Authoritative. Familiar in the worst kind of way.
I blinked, vision adjusting to the dim room, and stared at him like he’d grown a second head.
How the hell did I get here?
My knees ached. I looked down and realized I was kneeling on the plush rug of the family living room, no less. Every face turned toward me like a jury, stone-cold and hungry for blood. Elena was curled in her mother’s arms on the settee, sobbing like she’d lost everything.
“She seduced himband forced him to sleep with her!” she shrieked, rage contorting her features. “She knew I loved him. We were supposed to get married this weekend!”
A throw pillow sailed through the air and bounced off my shoulder. A weak shot compared to the blow her words delivered.
Wait… wait a damn minute. I know this scene. I’ve lived this scene.
“How dare you do that to your sister?” her mother spat at me, like I was the dirt under her manicured nails. “Is this how deep your hatred runs?”
And then the gavel came down. My father, ever the judge, stood with spine-straight conviction.
“This is my verdict: you will marry Aiden Kensington. You will bury this shame under his name.”
Elena’s sobs howled like wind through a broken window. I turned, dazed, and caught sight of the calendar on the coffee table.
May 21st, 2022.
My heart stopped.
That date... it was two years ago.
My fingers trembled as they grabbed my phone. Same date. Same time. No glitch in sight.
Was this a dream? A hallucination? A memory that felt too real? The phantom sting on my wrist caught my attention. A small black cross. A tattoo that shouldn’t be there.
I rubbed at it like a madwoman. Nothing. Permanent. Like this nightmare.
“I can’t do this…I’m going back to Paris!” Elena screamed and bolted, her mother trailing after her like a loyal shadow.
I stood, staggering like a ghost in a body that wasn’t mine. The whole room spun with déjà vu. My instincts kicked in just in time to dodge a broom that came whistling through the air like a cursed arrow.
It clattered to the floor.
I lifted my gaze slowly. Elena stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at me, not with surprise, but amusement. A smirk danced at the corners of her lips.
Just like last time.
Last time, it hit me. Last time, I bled. And she laughed.
Am I… back in time?
That only happens in movies. In books. Not in real life. Not to girls like me.
But the memories… They were still vivid. Still raw. Still clawing at my insides like wolves in a cage.
I crept up the stairs, slow and deliberate. No one noticed. I paused outside Elena’s room. Back then, I had walked past without a second thought.
Not this time.
I pressed my ear to the door.
Laughter.
“She fell for it,” Elena said through a giggle soaked in cruelty.
“I know, right? She’s so gullible,” her mother replied, voice gleeful and venomous. “In no time, everything will be ours.”
My blood ran cold. Not just because of the words, they’d done worse than this. I staggered back from the door, suddenly aware of how my hands were trembling. Suddenly aware of how my chest rose and fell like I was still being dragged underwater. I could still feel it, the betrayal. The nights I cried myself sick. The baby, the blood, the gaslighting, the cold stares, the silence.
No, this wasn’t just a memory. It was a resurrection.
I pressed my hand to my chest, grounding myself.
If this was a second chance?
I’d weaponize it.
Let them laugh. Let them bask in their borrowed joy. Because from this moment on, I’m not playing the quiet, obedient pawn. I’m the storm they tried to silence.
They don’t deserve peace. Not after what they did to me. I’ll make them feel it. The same agony, the same betrayal. No, worse. Double.
And the Kensingtons? Oh, they won’t be spared either. Their blood's just as soaked in my suffering.
I lived by their rules in my last life. In this one?
They live by mine.
And mercy?
Yeah, I left that behind in the last timeline.
- Writer
