Rebirth Into My Second Chance

I jerked to my feet, grabbing the arm of the bodyguard next to me. "Save them!"

But the bodyguards just looked at each other, confused. "Mr. Price only ordered us to protect you, saying we can't leave your side no matter what happens."

Desperate yet afraid of revealing my identity - what would happen to Hannah then? All I could do was hope that the help Claude promised, Ronald, would arrive soon.

But even without revealing myself, Hannah already knew I was there.

Holding a microphone, she shouted in my direction, "They're about to be burned alive, and you're still not showing up?"

My lips pressed together in a thin line; she had known all along that I would come.

Facing the enemy who had killed me in my past life was inevitable sooner or later.

"So, it's really my little Claire." Upon seeing me, Hannah surprisingly stood up from her wheelchair and walked towards me, making a show of it by twirling around. "Walking on a mountain road in high heels isn't easy, hence the wheelchair." I managed a tight smile, already bracing myself for her current demeanor.

"Not greeting your Headmistress Mom? Claire, all these years, is this how Richard taught you? Or is it that the Hart family manners are lacking?"

"Hannah, you have no right to call yourself my Headmistress Mom."

My firm tone seemed to shock her. "Claire, I cared for you the most, gave you the most opportunities. Is this how you repay me?"

I scoffed. In my last life, I died so miserably; she never gave me any chance then.

"What will it take for you to let them go?" I didn't want to waste any more time talking to her. I needed to force Hannah's hand, waiting for Ronald and the others to get here.

"I might consider exchanging their lives for yours," Hannah said, caressing a bracelet on her wrist. "This bracelet was one of a pair, shared between your mother and me." That's when I noticed the bracelet on her wrist matched the one my mom had left me.

"You're not worthy to match my mother's bracelet." I deliberately provoked her to keep her talking while Kate, behind her, quietly untied the two girls.

She gave me a look that meant to keep buying time.

"Your mother and I were twin sisters,

with fret

each given one of these bracelets by our father at birth. You don't get to decide whether I'm worthy or not She looked at me proudly, unwittingly providing me with the latest news about my mother.

My mother and she were twin sisters.

"Hannah, my parents' death, was it not the Hilton family's doing?!" I quickly connected the dots. All these years, I was told my parents died trying to save Claude, and that they were medical device designers for the Hilton family, as Max had informed me.

What exactly were their identities?

"You really want to know? Well, I'm not telling you, Claire," she laughed triumphantly.

"Hannah, my mother's name was Lenore, not carrying the same surname as you." I already knew my mother's name and didn't want to alter the image I held in my heart.

"My parents divorced. I took my

father's surname, and she took her mother's," Hannah explained, slowly walking up to me and whispering, know you're stalling me, waiting for reinforcements. But I've already intercepted your help. Ronal@and the others are about to be engulfed in flames themselves. No one can save you now!"

"Hannah, what have you done!" I panicked.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

"Nothing much. You should call me Aunt."

I snorted. "You don't deserve it."

"It doesn't matter, Claire. If you light the fire that kills those two today, I'll spare your and Max's little bastard," she said.

Hannah lifted a strand of my hair, her appearance gentle but her intentions murderous.

"You'll be the one to light this fire."