Rebirth Into My Second Chance

A flicker of surprise crossed my heart. How did Max know I had a thing for Claude?

"It was a past fancy," I admitted openly, without any attempt to avoid the subject.

"You're over him now?" Max lifted his gaze, his eyes probing mine with skepticism and amusement.

"Yeah, over him," I replied firmly, almost wanting to confess my dark wish to see Claude's world crashing down. But I could only bury some grudges deep and never share them with anyone.

Max pressed, "Then why do you keep calling his name in your sleep, begging him to save you, and now, you're sneaking around watching him with another woman?"

It hit me then that Max had been there both times I had passed out, and in my dreams, it was always the Scar Man hurting me, dialing Claude for help, but Claude never came.

"You wouldn't understand." I grabbed the trash bag and turned to leave, eager to drop the subject.

Just then, Ronald knocked and entered, pausing at the odd tension in the room. His gaze flickered between me and Claude.

"Ms. Floyd, I found some tools at the Serenity Bluff cabin and almost caught the culprits, but then there was this massive pile-up. Damn, several of our guys nearly didn't make it," he cursed, kicking a chair nearby.

Weariness was all over Ronald's face. I realized he had been caught in an accident while chasing Daniel the night before. No wonder Max had been performing surgery.

But why was Kate involved in this accident? Did she go to meet Daniel the previous night, or was the accident staged?

So many questions twisted inside me, forming a knot I couldn't unravel. "Mr. Collins, why was Kate in the accident?"

"According to Kate, she was out looking for you but got tailed. Thinking of recent reports about a killer stalking single women, she drove non-stop, leading to the crash Ronald explained, rubbing his chin in thought. "Our car was just coming from the opposite direction when a truck tried to overtake and sent the car ahead of us crashing through the barrier. We were lucky to escape."

My fists clenched. It must be someone behind Kate orchestrating last night's accident. She wasn't out looking for me but was likely

meeting Daniel to plot my

kidnapping, just like before.

But this time, I had sent Ronald and his team ahead, possibly spoiling their plans, prompting them to cause the accident and warn Kate off.

I wasn't sure of my theory, but

intuition screamed that Kate wasn't

out for me last night. And with All

Souls' Day approaching, the chill in my bones deepened.

Ronald added, "Later at Serenity Bluff, we only found tools, no suspects. DNA didn't match anything in our databases."

I scoffed. Kate's backers must wield significant power. In my past life, Daniel and his crew's DNA was in the databases.

"Mr. Collins, I have an idea to draw them out." I was about to lay out my plan when Max, who had been silent, interrupted, "It's too dangerous. No."

I hadn't even detailed my plan, yet Max was already dismissing it.

I insisted, "It'll be fine. If the bad guys are targeting single women, I'm willing to take the risk for the sake of others."

In my past life, I was too wrapped up in myself to see that many women suffered like I did. Their lives ended in ruins.