Rebirth Into My Second Chance

I couldn't hold it in anymore and yelled after his retreating figure, "Claude, you jerk!"

Gabrielle schemed to drug his drink and lure me into his bed, thinking she owed me and fearing to tell Claude about her cancer diagnosis, confiding in me instead. She worried that with her gone, no one would look after me. But to my shock, Gabrielle tampered with Claude's drink and my soup that night.

When I woke up, I found myself in Claude's bed, and before I could even process what happened, he had thrown me out along with the blankets.

I never thought of guilt-tripping him. He always had the upper hand. Even our marriage certificate was acquired through Gabrielle's manipulations. I got entangled with the Hart family until my last breath. It was their family who drove me to this end. After Claude left, my spirit felt compelled to follow him. As we left the courthouse, Claude's childhood friends greeted Kate with white sages, a traditional gesture to ward off evil spirits.

A few swipes with the sages sent my lightweight spirit flying far, crashing into a nearby stone bench. Thankfully, being a spirit meant no pain.

"I knew it. With Claude around, Kate would be fine," one of them said.

Another suggested, "To celebrate Kate's safety, let's hit the bar and party till dawn."

Claude offered a doting smile, opened the car door, and carefully guided Kate to the passenger seat, protecting her head as she got in.

Once in the car, Kate voiced her concern, "Mrs. Hart had a point. It's been days since we've heard from Claire. I'm worried something might have happened to her. I'd feel guilty for life if we went hiking together and something happened to her."

I scoffed, "Yeah, we went hiking together, but somehow, I'm the one who's dead. Just my bad luck."

loosening his tie to reveal his tanned skin. "If she hadn't been obsessed with visiting her parents' grave and dragged you into that hike, leaving you alone in the woods, you wouldn't have encountered those psychopaths. She abandoned you, and now, acting all high and mighty,

Besides, her

to defend her. After going through something so traumatic, let's just relax and take

laughing, which soon turned into tears. I could almost see Kate

hike, but somehow, it got twisted as if I were

dark, moss-covered room, the air

ringing snapped me back to

Claude Hart? We're police from Crestview Metropolis. We're investigating a murder. What's your relation to Claire Floyd?" Claude pulled over sharply. "She's

was causing trouble, a cold glint

clothes and shoes near the site of the triple murder

creased

of her act. There's

a severed finger in a

"You might want to come over. We also found a severed finger. The smaller burned body from today's case was missing a finger. We're doing a DNA comparison. You should come." Claude froze. That missing finger had eluded a massive search effort because the smaller body had been further disfigured

answered, "I'll be

I