Chapter 1

When my stepdaughter, Yvonne Sinclair, reported me to the police for bad-touching her, my mother rushed to the police station.

But outside the station, someone pushed her to the ground, and she broke her hip.

In my past life, Yvonne had to repeat her senior year of high school. She complained that her school dorm was too noisy and begged me to let her move back home.

My wife, Wendy Harper, backed her up. “How could you bear to let your daughter stay in a room with seven other girls?”

I gave Yvonne my study and bought her a new desk and a new lamp.

Two months later, she reported me to the police. She claimed that I had entered her room in the middle of the night.

When the police asked her for details, she burst into tears. “I don’t want to talk about it again…”

In court, Wendy testified, “I saw him come out of my daughter’s room in the middle of the night.”

The police could not find any physical evidence or DNA, but I was still sentenced to three years in prison.

My mother came to visit me with a cane. She limped the whole way.

On her way to the prison, an overloaded dump truck hit her. She never made it to the hospital.

When I saw her one last time at the funeral home, I still had handcuffs on.

Yvonne came to visit me with her punk-looking boyfriend. She smiled at me through the glass.

“Dad, I really didn’t want things to turn out this way. But you kept trying to stop me from being with Jason. It was really annoying.”

I spent three years in prison. By the time I was released and went home, Yvonne had taken over the house.

She had screamed, “Help! That monster is back to get me!”

Once again, everyone treated me like an outcast.

In the end, I found myself on the roof of a high-rise.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to three years before everything happened.

Yvonne stood outside my house with her schoolbag on her back. Wendy stood behind her with Yvonne’s suitcase.

“Henry, Yvonne’s school dorm is too noisy. Let her stay at home for a few months.”

I sat on the couch and put down the remote.

“No. I won’t allow it.”

Chapter 1

Wendy Harper’s smile froze.

In six years of marriage, I had never once argued with her.

She had never expected me to shut her down with a single sentence.

Yvonne Sinclair stood in the entryway. Her backpack strap had slipped down to her elbow. Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

“Mom, I told you he didn’t want me here. You didn’t believe me.”

Wendy set the suitcase against the wall and walked over to the coffee table.

“Henry, what do you mean by that?

“Yvonne is your daughter too. She’s about to take the SATs. Why can’t she come home for a few months?”

I looked at her.

Wendy was forty-five. She took good care of herself and looked about thirty-seven or thirty-eight.

In my past life, I had been fooled by her gentle and caring appearance.

But in court, she had said, “I saw him come out of my daughter’s room in the middle of the night.”

When the judge asked her exactly what time it happened, she could not say.

When the judge asked how many times she had seen it, she had said, “Many times.”

When the judge asked why she had not said anything sooner, she said she had been too afraid to speak up.

Every word was another push toward prison. One sentence after another, she sent me to prison.

“Was I not clear enough?”

I stood up. “This is my house! I don’t agree to Yvonne moving back in!”

Wendy’s expression changed.

“I’m your wife! I’m going to live with my daughter!”

I raised my voice. “In that case, you can leave too!”

Yvonne suddenly pulled her hand away from Wendy and walked over to me.

She looked up at me. Tears filled her eyes.

“Dad, are you arguing with Mom because of me?”

She bit her lip.

“Dad, I won’t come back. I’ll stay at the dorm.

“I don’t mind sharing a room with seven other girls. Please don’t make things difficult for Mom.”

She turned around and reached for her suitcase. Wendy grabbed her arm.

“No! How could you possibly study in that dorm?

“It’s noisy until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.. How are you supposed to study?”

“Mom, I’ll be fine. I can wear earplugs. I don’t want you and Dad to argue because of me.”

Yvonne cried as she spoke. She barely made a sound, but somehow, her silent tears were even more heartbreaking than loud sobs.

Wendy held onto her and looked at me. Her voice softened.

“Henry, I know this is your house. But we’re a family.

“Yvonne is your daughter. She’s called you Dad for six years.

“She’s repeating her senior year, so she’s already under a lot of pressure. There are seven other girls in her dorm room.

“She can barely sleep at night. How could you bear to let her go through all that?”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke.

There was a noise outside the door. It was Ryan Zane from the apartment across the hall.

“Henry, what’s going on? Why are you guys arguing?”

Before I could say anything, Wendy spoke first.

“Ryan, it’s nothing. Yvonne wants to come home, but Henry won’t let her.”

Ryan frowned.

“He won’t let her? Why not? Isn’t this your home too?”

Wendy wiped away her tears and forced a smile that looked even worse than crying.

“Ryan, tell me if I’m wrong! He says this house was his property before we got married, so I have no say in it.

“He thinks my daughter is a burden.”

Ryan’s expression changed.

“Henry, that’s not right. Why are you making a distinction between what’s yours and what’s hers?

“You’re a family. You shouldn’t say things like that.

“Your daughter’s SAT is important. You can’t let this affect her future.”

I looked at Ryan.

He always acted like he was eager to help others. But in my past life, as soon as the scandal with Yvonne broke out, he was the first person to splash red paint all over my front door.

I looked at him coldly. “Why are you sticking your nose into my family’s business?”

Ryan was about to say something else, but I shut the door in his face.

Wendy stood in the middle of the living room and stared straight at me.

“Henry, if you’re going to treat me like this, then there’s no point in staying married.”

She was threatening me.

She had said the same thing in my past life. Whenever we disagreed, she would say, “We can’t go on like this.”

Back then, I always thought she had it hard. She was a woman who was raising a child.

So, whenever we argued, I always backed down first.

I was not going to repeat that.

“Fine!

“Tomorrow, we’ll go to the city hall and get a divorce.”

Chapter 2

Yvonne and Wendy dragged their suitcases out of the apartment.

I stood in the middle of the living room and stared at the closed door.

My hands were shaking.

I was not afraid. But everything I had kept buried for two lifetimes was finally starting to surface.

In my past life, I had given in at that juncture.

The moment Yvonne called me Dad, I agreed.

I cleared out my study for her, bought her a new desk and a new lamp, and treated her like my own daughter.

In the end, all that care got me a pair of handcuffs, three years in prison, and my mother’s life.

I walked onto the balcony and lit a cigarette.

Downstairs, Wendy and Yvonne stood at the entrance of the apartment complex and waited for a cab.

Yvonne was on the phone. Her voice drifted faintly up to me.

“…Grandma, please talk to Dad. He’s acting like he’s lost his mind. He says he wants to divorce Mom…”

She was calling my mother.

Wendy had been married before, but this was my first marriage.

Wendy and I never had children after we got married, so my mother treated Yvonne like her own granddaughter.

But in my past life, after my mother was killed by the dump truck, Yvonne took the compensation money and refused to even buy her an urn.

“She’s dead already. Why waste money on her?”

She had even dumped my mother’s ashes into a roadside flower bed.

…

I took out my phone and called my mother.

The line was busy.

Yvonne was still talking to her.

I hung up and sent my mother a message.

[Mom, no matter what Wendy and Yvonne tell you, don’t agree to anything!]

Then, I called another number.

The phone rang twice before someone answered.

“Hello, Henry?”

It was Harrison Zimmerman, the foreman at my construction site.

He had worked with me for more than ten years. He was an honest man, and he knew how to keep his mouth shut.

“Harrison, I need you to do two things for me.”

“Sure. What do you need?”

“First, go to an electronics market and buy me four pinhole cameras. I need high-definition cameras with audio recording. Bring them to my place tonight and install them.

“Put one in the living room, one in the hallway, one in the entryway, and one outside the master bedroom.”

Harrison was silent for a moment.

“Henry, why do you need security cameras in your house? Does Wendy know?”

“She doesn’t need to know. Just hide them well. I don’t want anyone to notice them.”

There was a brief silence on the other end.

“Henry, what are you trying to do?”

I put out my cigarette and watched Wendy and Yvonne get into a cab and drive away.

“I’m just protecting myself from thieves.”

I knew Yvonne would not let this go.

In my past life, I had been completely defenseless against her.

Things were about to change.

I went into my study, turned on my computer, and created a new folder.

I named it “Evidence”.

In my previous life, I had never expected to protect myself from my own family.

I had to quickly rectify that.

From that day, every word spoken in the house would be recorded. Everyone who came into this house would be caught on camera.

I was going to drag every ugly secret from my past life out of the shadows and into the light, one by one.

My phone rang. It was my mother.

“Henry, Wendy said you don’t want Yvonne to come home and that you want a divorce. What’s going on?”

I had not heard my mother’s voice in more than three years.

She sounded worried and furious.

“Do you have any idea how hard Yvonne is working to repeat her senior year?!

“Wendy has been with you for six years. You can’t just decide to get a divorce like this. Are you even thinking straight?!”

I fought back my tears and let her finish.

When she finally stopped to catch her breath, I said, “Mom, please don’t get worked up. I’ll explain everything in person!”

My mother lived in an old apartment complex on the east side of town. It was a six-story building with no elevator.

When I got upstairs, the door was unlocked. I pushed it open, and I immediately heard my mother’s voice.

“Yvonne, stop crying. I’ll stand up for you. If your dad dares to divorce your mom, I’ll be the first to object!”

Yvonne sat on the couch. She had both hands neatly folded on her knees.

The moment she saw me walk in, she stood up. Her voice was so soft that I could barely hear it.

“Dad.”

My mother sat beside Yvonne. She had one arm around Yvonne’s shoulders and pointed at me with the other.

“You brat, get over here!”

I looked at my mother, and my eyes filled with tears.

In my past life, I never even got to see her one last time.

She was seventy years old, and her hair was completely white.

The wrinkles on her face were much deeper than I remembered.

In my previous life, someone had pushed her outside the police station. She broke her hip and needed three metal pins to hold it together.

She limped for the rest of her life.

Later, a dump truck hit her on a provincial highway. Her body was launched across the road.

At the funeral home, I was still in cuffs. I wanted to reach out and touch her face, but the officers would not let me.

“Mom.”

My throat felt like it was closing up when I spoke.

“Mom, your blood pressure is high. Please don’t get so worked up.”

“Don’t change the subject! I’m asking you, why do you want to divorce Wendy?

“Are you cheating on her? Did she do something to betray you?”

Chapter 3

Wendy looked up. Her lips moved, but she did not say a word.

Yvonne spoke first.

“Grandma, please don’t blame Dad. This is all my fault.

“I shouldn’t have asked to move back home. I only thought the dorm was too noisy. I didn’t think about how much pressure Dad has been under at work lately.”

She looked at me. Her eyes were slightly teary.

“Dad, I’m sorry. Please don’t divorce Mom. If you think I’m a burden, I’ll come home less often.

“After high school, I’ll find a part-time job. I won’t spend any more of the family’s money.

“But Mom has been married to you for six years. She really cares about you. Please don’t argue because of me, okay?”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke.

My mother’s eyes turned teary too.

“See? Do you hear how sensible this girl is? Why do you still want to kick her out?!

“If anyone’s leaving, it’s you! I’ve made up my mind. Yvonne is staying here!”

In my past life, this was exactly how she had won my mother over.

She praised Yvonne to everyone she met. “My granddaughter isn’t related to me by blood, but she’s closer to me than a real granddaughter.”

Later, Yvonne reported me to the police for touching her.

My mother had limped over to Yvonne and begged her to let me go.

Yvonne agreed to it in front of her.

But when we went to court, she produced an “AI recording” that used my mother’s voice.

The recording made it sound like my mother was threatening Yvonne.

She supposedly said that if Yvonne refused to change her statement, she would frame her for something and extort money from her. She even threatened to make sure Yvonne could never show her face again.

My mother never understood, even until the day she died, when she had supposedly said those things.

The thought made me clench my fists.

“Mom, there’s something I need to tell you—”

“Henry.”

My mother suddenly cut me off.

“I know you have your own way of doing things. You’ve always known your limits, ever since you were a kid. But Henry, I’m getting old.”

She took my hand.

Her hand was covered in age spots, and her knuckles were slightly deformed from arthritis.

“I’m seventy this year. I don’t know how many more years I have left.

“All I want in this life is to see you live well.

“Wendy has been with you for six years. Yvonne may not be your real daughter, but she’s called you Dad for six years.

“Please, do this for me. Let them come home.”

Her voice grew softer with every word. By the end, I could barely hear her.

I looked at her.

She was seventy years old, and her hair was completely white.

The wrinkles on her face were much deeper than I remembered.

I lowered my eyes.

“I understand.”

Yvonne’s eyes lit up. Wendy immediately looked up too.

“Dad! You’re not getting a divorce?! I… Can I come home?”

I gave a quiet hum of agreement.

Even if they came back to live here, I had ways to deal with them.

“Dad, thank you. I promise I won’t cause you any trouble.”

Yvonne paused. “Once I get into college, I’ll find a job after graduation and take good care of you.”

…

For the first month after Yvonne moved back in, she behaved perfectly.

She got up at 5.30 a.m. to make breakfast. She came home at exactly 9.30 p.m.. As soon as she put her backpack on her desk, she started working on her practice problems.

Wendy flaunted her daughter to everyone she met.

My mother came over twice. Yvonne called her “Grandma” every time, and she acted more affectionately with her than anyone else.

My mother took my hand and said, “See? Yvonne is actually a good girl.”

I smiled but said nothing. Instead, I booked my mother a two-month luxury tour of Skyhaven.

By the time she came back, everything would be over.

At the start of the second month, the security cameras finally caught something useful.

At 11.30 p.m., Jason Carter, Yvonne’s punk-looking boyfriend, climbed through the window into her room.

He did not leave until 2 a.m..

Harrison asked me if I wanted to release the footage right away.

I said no.

I was waiting for something bigger.

That day, I was working with my crew at a construction site on the east side of town when two police cars pulled up at the entrance.

Three officers got out and walked straight toward me.

“Henry Quinn, you have been suspected of touching your underage stepdaughter. You need to come with us to the police station for questioning.”