Chapter 8: The Trap Closes

I didn't sleep that night.

The threatening messages kept replaying in my mind.

Someone knew I had survived when I was supposed to die.

That meant my rebirth wasn't a coincidence.

Someone had benefited from my death in my previous life, and that person was terrified that I might uncover the truth this time.

I quietly saved screenshots of every message and forwarded them to my father.

Then I turned off my phone and stared at the ceiling until dawn.

The following morning, my father arrived at the hospital with two private investigators.

"Mia, I want you to listen carefully," he said. "From now on, don't go anywhere alone."

I nodded.

"Did you find anything else?"

One of the investigators placed a tablet on the table.

"We traced several payments made to Michelle Peterson over the past year."

My eyes narrowed.

"Where did the money come from?"

"Three shell companies. All three are connected to businesses your brother recently destroyed."

My stomach tightened.

So the rivals weren't acting randomly.

Someone had been feeding them information.

"What kind of information?" I asked.

"Your family's security schedules. Business routes. Employee movements. Even your mother's medical appointments."

My fingers went cold.

"Who had access to all of that?"

The investigator looked at my father.

"Very few people."

My father understood immediately.

"James."

The name hung heavily in the room.

I couldn't bring myself to believe that my brother had deliberately endangered our family.

He had always been arrogant and selfish, but had he really gone this far?

The investigator continued.

"There's something else."

He opened another file.

"The night of the attack, the intruders didn't break into the estate randomly. Someone disabled the eastern security cameras for exactly twenty-three minutes."

My father stood up abruptly.

"Who did it?"

"We're still tracing the access code, but the code was entered from a device registered to your son."

Silence filled the room.

I closed my eyes.

In my previous life, I had thought the attack was simply bad luck.

I had never questioned why the intruders knew exactly where my mother and I were.

I had never wondered why they came on the exact night James had taken all our guards away.

I had never suspected that someone might have planned the entire thing.

My father looked at me.

"Mia, I need you to remember everything James did before the attack."

I thought carefully.

"He insisted on taking every bodyguard with him."

"Why?"

"Michelle wanted to watch the meteor shower in private."

The investigator exchanged a glance with my father.

"Did she know the security team would leave?"

"Yes."

"Are you certain?"

"I heard her asking James to bring everyone. She said she didn't feel safe without them."

My father slowly sat down.

"Then we may finally have a motive."

I looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"If Michelle wanted the house unprotected, she needed a reason to make James remove the guards without making him suspicious."

My heart pounded.

"And the meteor shower was that reason."

"Exactly."

Before we could continue, the hospital door opened.

James walked in.

He looked tired, but his expression was strangely calm.

"Dad. Mia."

My father didn't answer.

James glanced at the investigators and frowned.

"What's going on?"

I watched him carefully.

In my previous life, I had never noticed how easily he could hide his emotions.

Now, every tiny movement seemed suspicious.

"Mom told me you were investigating the attack," James said.

My father leaned back.

"We're investigating everything."

James's jaw tightened.

"You don't think I had anything to do with this, do you?"

"Should I?" my father asked coldly.

James stared at him.

"Dad, I'm your son."

"And Marianne is your mother."

James's face went pale.

"I never wanted her hurt."

I suddenly spoke.

"Then why did you ignore her call?"

He looked at me.

"Because I thought you were lying."

"You heard Mom screaming."

"Michelle told me you were trying to sabotage her."

"And you believed her over your own mother?"

James didn't answer.

I stood slowly, despite the pain in my injured leg.

"James, did Michelle know that the security team would leave the estate that night?"

His eyes flickered.

It lasted less than a second.

But I saw it.

"Of course she knew. She was with me."

"Did she ask you to take everyone?"

"No."

The answer came too quickly.

My father noticed it too.

"James, hand over your phone."

James froze.

"Why?"

"Because we're investigating a criminal attack on this family."

He took a step backward.

"You don't trust me."

"Not anymore," my father said.

James's expression changed.

For the first time, the charming mask disappeared.

"Fine."

He placed his phone on the table.

The investigator immediately began examining it.

James suddenly looked at me.

"Mia, what did you tell Dad?"

"The truth."

His eyes darkened.

"You always were good at pretending to be innocent."

I smiled faintly.

"And you always were good at pretending to be my brother."

The room became completely silent.

A few minutes later, the investigator's expression changed.

"Mr. Cooper, we found something."

My father turned toward him.

"What?"

The investigator held up the phone.

"There are deleted messages between James and Michelle from the night before the attack."

James lunged forward.

Two security guards immediately restrained him.

"Don't touch that!" he shouted.

My heart dropped.

The investigator opened the recovered conversation.

The first message was from Michelle.

"Once the guards leave, everything will happen exactly as planned."

The next message was from James.

"No one can get hurt."

Michelle had replied.

"They won't. Trust me."

Then came the final message.

"And Mia?"

Michelle's response was chillingly simple.

"She'll be blamed for everything."

I stared at the screen.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

The person I had once pitied had never been helpless.

She had been planning everything.

James looked at me through the guards' arms.

"Mia, listen to me. It isn't what you think."

I looked into my brother's eyes.

In my previous life, those same eyes had watched me die without a trace of remorse.

This time, I finally understood why.

"You're right," I said quietly.

"It isn't what I thought."

James's expression softened with sudden hope.

Then I continued.

"It's worse."

His face collapsed.

My father ordered the guards to take him away.

As James was dragged toward the door, his phone rang.

The caller ID displayed one name.

Michelle Peterson.

Everyone in the room saw it.

James stared at the screen in horror.

Then the call ended.

A new message appeared.

"James, they know. Get rid of Mia before she tells them everything."

I read it twice.

Then I looked at my father.

The truth was finally out.

But I knew this wasn't the end.

Michelle was still free.

And now she knew we were coming for her.