Reborn For Vengeance, Not For Love

wn body lay on a stainless-steel table, a pale and lifeless thing. I watched as my mother

e wailed, her voice echoing in the ch

posed suicide, was just a footnote in the tragic story of Ashley's accidental fall down the st

tole my inheritance, my future, even my identity, all for Ashley. She had fabricated a criminal record for my deceased father, a d

Ashley as her biological daughter and me as an afterthought. I was legally disinherited, erased from my own family. T

y' s face as she lay there, very much alive, playing the part of the tragic victim. My death was her ultimate victory. A w

issolved into a blinding white light, and a powerfu

r always used. My eyes snapped open. I wasn't in a morgue. I was in my childhood bedroom, the sun stre

for the government job. The day it a

ive. I w

r me. This wasn't just a second cha

cooing over Ashley. "Ashley, darling, come see what

ust as it happened before. Sarah handed Ashley a beautiful, expensive l

nk you! I lov

rm affection to cool indifference. She held out a cheap,

e for you too, so you

ap gift, feeling the familiar ache of being second-best. But now, I saw it f

, then back at my mot

I said, my voic

faltered. "Wh

I repeated, not b

ace a mask of concern. "Chloe, don't be ungrateful

ed-dollar bag and me a five-dollar piece of plastic

loe Chen, you apologize to your sister right now! Ashley h

I said, the words hangin

to you today? You are a horrible, jealous child. You can't stand to see anyone el

and threw it into the trash can by the kitche

ou're going to be so ungrateful, you can get nothing. Go

Ashley, who was now sniffling theatrically. "Don't you wor

ing. My father, Officer Michael Chen, had kept important documents in a small, fireproof safe hidden in his home office. My mother th

his old desk. In my past life, I discovered it far too late, long after

ight to the office, my heart pounding with a mixture of grief and adrenaline. I pried

pen. Inside, nestled among some emergency cash and old photos,

my parents as Michael Chen and Sarah Chen. My name, Chloe Chen, was prin

ificate from a hospital in a different state. The mother' s name was Sarah. T

My mother hadn't just betrayed me,