Chapter 48: I Was Reborn into Someone Else’s Body

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: I Was Reborn into Someone Else’s Body

In the darkness, I could still vaguely hear voices.

I heard Madeline’s cries, and the anxious calls of Zeke Shaw and the doctor.

"Cecilia, Cecilia, hold on..."

"Cecilia!"

"Cece!"

"She held on for too long. We found her too late... If only, if only we had been a day earlier, just one day... she could have survived." The doctor’s eyes were red as he spoke, his voice hoarse. "She was pregnant..."

As a bystander, it seemed even they couldn’t imagine what I had gone through these past few days.

"How desperate she must have been." Zane looked away too. "If only we’d found her sooner... Two lives lost in one fell swoop! That bastard!"

"She was tortured like this, her knuckles all shattered just to make her look more pliable. Her blood was pumped full of drugs, making her skin paler than a Barbie doll. That lunatic... he displayed her in a cabinet like a work of art." A female officer also started crying, looking away, unable to bear the sight.

Julian Fletcher collapsed to the floor, his breathing heavy. He looked like he’d gone mad, his eyes bloodshot. "She’s not dead... She’s not dead! She’s lying to me, she’s lying! She won’t die! Didn’t she want to marry me...? I’ll marry her! Come back, don’t die!"

"If you and Erin Whittaker hadn’t obstructed the investigation, Cece wouldn’t have died! She wouldn’t have died!" Madeline Quinn screamed, beating on Julian Fletcher as if she wanted to kill him.

The female officer moved to intervene, but Zeke Shaw stopped her.

Zeke blamed Julian, too.

Clearly, Cecilia could have been saved.

"Even just one day earlier..." Madeline Quinn cried weakly, sinking to her knees on the floor.

’If only it had been one day sooner.’

"You and Erin Whittaker are the ones who killed her! Why don’t you die, Julian Fletcher? Just go die!"

"She’s not dead... She can’t be dead!" Julian suddenly went berserk, as if refusing to believe the person in the glass display case was me, and scrambled to run outside.

’How ridiculous. Didn’t he always want me dead? So I died. What’s he going crazy for?’

"Captain Lowell! We found a lead... Cecilia Caldwell’s parents were the philanthropists who funded this orphanage. The day they died in that car accident, they were on their way here for a celebration! And... on the very same day, there was a huge fire at the orphanage that killed quite a few people." A police officer ran into the basement, holding a photo from the orphanage. It showed my parents, and me.

"The orphanage..."

A sudden headache pierced through me. Scenes from the car crash flashed in my mind. The figure who had desperately tried to save me at the scene... why was the face I remembered as Julian Fletcher’s slowly becoming clear?

’Asher...’ Why did I suddenly think of that murderer? Wasn’t it Julian Fletcher who saved me?

’Did I really lose a lot of my memories in that car crash?’

"This is no coincidence. The deaths of Cecilia’s parents, and Cecilia’s own death... they might not have been accidents!" Zeke Shaw lost control and slammed his fist against the wall. "That bastard. I’ll catch him... I won’t let Cecilia die in vain!"

My consciousness grew dimmer and dimmer, and slowly, I couldn’t hear anything at all...

’So my parents’ deaths weren’t an accident! They were murdered! And it’s definitely connected to the person who killed me!’

The moment death came for me, the surging waves of hatred and my thirst for the truth nearly tore me apart.

Death gave me time to understand, but no chance for a do-over.

My life had only just begun!

I couldn’t accept it! Why did I have to suffer so much? Why did I have to lose my parents at eighteen and live at the mercy of others?

Why did I have to live a timid, submissive life, only to still be unable to escape my fate—tortured and murdered, abandoned by my childhood sweetheart, and framed by a vicious woman!

I won’t accept it! If I had another chance, I would never, ever live so meekly again.

"Dad, Mom." After the darkness came a blinding white light. I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious, didn’t know the time, didn’t know anything. "I can’t accept this! I want to live, I want revenge, I want to know the truth!"

"Cece, time to get up, you little sleepyhead."

"Mom and Dad will always protect you."

...

Cecilia Caldwell was dead, but her killer had not been brought to justice.

Asher was once again bailed out by the Lancaster family. He had a medical diagnosis for a mental illness and a solid alibi. The police had no choice but to let him go again.

"Listen here, you little mutt. If you don’t hurry up and produce an heir for the Lancaster family, you’ll never leave this place for the rest of your life!"

In a daze, I heard a vicious voice that pulled my consciousness back to reality.

"Sir, we’ve forced the drug down his throat. The woman is also in the room. This time, it will definitely be a success."

’I started to panic. Where was this place? Why were my eyelids so heavy?’

"Cece..." A hoarse voice whispered by my ear, accompanied by ragged breaths and a trembling, unconcealable... desire.

Suddenly, a hot, forceful kiss pressed down on me. My shock and terror reached their peak.

’Where is this? Where am I?’

A low groan seemed to escape my throat. I struggled desperately, trying to fight back, trying to open my eyes, but I couldn’t.

"Cece..."

He kept calling my name, but it felt incredibly strange.

His touch was urgent, yet I could feel him using all his strength to suppress his own desire.

’It was as if... he cherished my body and didn’t want to hurt me.’

"I’m sorry... Cece, I can’t control... my body."

He seemed to be in great pain. He was choking back sobs and apologizing, as if he wasn’t in his right mind.

Eventually, I gave up resisting and lost consciousness again.

"Ngh..."

I don’t know how much time had passed, but the aching pain in my body pulled me back to reality once more.

I slowly opened my eyes, my vision blurred by the piercing light.

Sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, making the white sheer curtains dance in the breeze.

I rubbed my aching head and paused for a long moment, then my eyes shot wide open.

’Wait... didn’t I die?’

Pushing myself up, I stared blankly at the man lying next to me.

"Ah!" The unfamiliar surroundings and the strange man made me cry out instinctively. My hands found no purchase, and I almost fell off the bed.

Suddenly, a pale yet powerful hand shot out, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back onto the bed.

My breathing was ragged as I stared blankly at the hand. Mottled scars ran from the back of his hand all the way up his forearm. The taut lines of his firm muscles were well-defined as he exerted force.

The man was lying on his stomach, and the scars on his back were even more horrifying, but the handsome muscle definition seemed to beautify all the grotesqueness.

His hair was soft and a little long, dark and disheveled.

I couldn’t see his face clearly. I could only force myself to calm down.

The blanket was loosely draped below his waist, revealing the clear, handsome dimples of his lower back and the curve of his hips...

Looking at the scene before me, even a fool would know what happened last night.

And on the white sheets, there was a splash of scarlet.

Staring at that scarlet stain in shock, I scrambled off the bed in a panic.

The pain in my body and between my legs made me freeze in a stupor. ’Impossible... I already slept with Julian Fletcher a long time ago. This blood on the bed...’

’No, wait. Didn’t I die?’

Standing in this unfamiliar room, I warily glanced around. When I saw the woman in the full-length mirror behind me, I screamed again.

’Who is that?’

I raised a hand to touch my face, staring at the naked... body in the mirror.

The stark naked woman looked so unfamiliar. Flawless, fair skin, a curvaceous figure so stunningly beautiful that... for a moment, I thought I was looking at Venus.

But... who was she?

And how did I wake up in her body?

"Noisy..." The man on the bed was waking up. He frowned in displeasure and pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Ah!" I still hadn’t processed the fact that I’d been reborn in someone else’s body when the man’s face... sent me into a new spiral of terror.

How could it be him?!