Chapter 1
At our final class meeting after graduation, my cousin Janet Dulles stepped to the front of the room.
"To celebrate our graduation from St. Jude High School, my dad rented an entire private resort on Saint Maren Island for us! Flights, accommodations, five-star meals—everything is on me!"
Janet stood there in a designer couture dress, smiling sweetly.
I stared at her, stunned by that familiar, phony announcement. The room erupted in cheers, and every face around me shone with greed and naked flattery.
I checked the date on my phone, then dug my nails hard into my palm. The sharp pain told me this wasn't a dream.
I, Cheryl Dulles, had traveled back.
And I had returned to the very day Janet invited our class on that trip.
Once the shock passed, I slowly raised my head.
Janet was still smiling with innocent delight. She had no idea I remembered everything.
Janet was my cousin. Her family survived on handouts from my father's company, and her father was nothing more than an ordinary finance manager at one of its subsidiaries.
But Janet was obsessed with status. At school, she constantly stole photos of my family's estate, private yacht, and luxurious lifestyle from my social media and reposted them as her own.
Through sheer audacity, she had passed herself off as the true heiress to a wealthy dynasty.
In my previous life, I had been easygoing and reluctant to create a rift in the family. So, I dismissed it as a young girl's harmless vanity and allowed it to continue.
That was why everyone at school believed Janet was the heiress to Dulles Group, while I was merely a poor relation living in her shadow.
"Cheryl, you're the only one who hasn't answered." Janet glided down from the front of the room and gently tugged at my shirt.
I stared at her. I could still feel the blades slicing into me in that dark cellar in my previous life. The demons' laughter and the dull c***k of whips against my flesh still rang in my ears.
I drew a deep breath and fought the urge to tear her apart.
I pulled my shirt from her fingers. "I'm not going. I have other plans for the break."
Tears welled in Janet's eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She covered her mouth as though she was bullied.
"Cheryl, are you still mad at me? I'm sorry. I should've asked you first. I just wanted our classmates to have one perfect memory before we all went our separate ways..."
The moment Janet cried, my boyfriend, Samuel Reed, jumped out of his seat and pointed at me. "Cheryl! Do you have to be so vicious? Janet is trying to do something nice. She begged her father for ages before he approved the budget. Can't you make an effort to be part of the group?"
I regarded him coolly. "It's my freedom to stay home. Am I stopping any of you from going?"
With tears clouding her eyes, Janet clutched Samuel's arm. "Forget it, Samuel. The trip won't mean anything if our whole class can't go together. If even one person is missing, then... then I won't go either."
Samuel pulled her into his arms and glared at me. "What do you want, Cheryl? Do you have to upset everyone? Apologize to Janet. She's generous enough to forgive you if you admit you were wrong!"
A cold laugh escaped me. This was exactly how it had happened in my previous life.
