Chapter 2
Just as I was drowning in despair, Sean called me.
He said in a cold voice, "Nora, I can't make it tonight.
"I've got a meeting at work."
With that, he hung up without a second thought.
But just before the call ended, I caught a faint trace of a woman's voice in the background.
Sean wasn't alone; there was a woman with him.
I was certain it wasn't his secretary, nor that assistant who's always around him.
So there was only one possibility.
With that thought, I called Mary White. She wasn't just our family's nanny; she was my eyes and ears.
I said, "Mary, can you dig up some dirt on Sean's love life for me?
"We're about to get married, and I just want to know if he's really done with all those other women," I added.
I didn't dare tell her the real reason; after all, it wouldn't change anything.
Mary got back to me fast, sending me the evidence in photos.
She said, "Turns out his first love was Vivian Hart. They split up earlier this year.
"But guess what, Vivian's working at the Woods Group now."
Just those two sentences sent chills down my spine.
Suddenly, a terrifying thought took over my mind.
Our marriage was arranged at the start of the year.
It was all decided by my dad and Sean's father; they worked it out between themselves and didn't even bother to tell us directly.
Could it really be Vivian who's out to kill me?
According to the information Mary sent me, Vivian was 5'9", and the attacker was about that tall, too.
If it had been a guy, he could've just grabbed me from behind and choked me out, no problem.
So why did the attacker bother spraying something in my face to knock me out the first time?
The only reason she'd do that was because she wasn't confident enough to take me out directly.
The answer was practically staring me in the face, and I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
Honestly, Vivian had way more reason to want me dead than Sean ever did.
From her perspective, I was the one who came between her and Sean, forcing them to break up.
And since Sean knew everything about me, Vivian could easily get my address from him.
All the signs pointed to Vivian being the one who tried to kill me.
With that in mind, I called Sean right away and said, "Vivian's with you, wasn't she?"
Sean went silent on the other end. After a long pause, a soft, delicate voice finally came through.
Vivian said, "It's me, but nothing was going on between us.
"Sean and I had already broken up."
The call suddenly cut off, and I instantly got a weird feeling.
The next second, I heard the unmistakable sound of the front door opening in the living room.
I held my breath and peeked out.
A familiar shadow slipped in through the door, and before I knew it, I was knocked out cold on the floor.
The attacker came at me quickly and brutally, swinging a stick and bashing my head with it, blow after blow.
It didn't take long before my breath faded away.
After killing me, the attacker flaunted the safe key triumphantly, then strode out without a care in the world.
The moment I opened my eyes again, I found myself ten hours before the killer murdered me for the first time.
I'd come back to life yet again, so I'd gotten the killer wrong, again.
It wasn't Sean or Vivian. Clearly, my whole line of thinking had been off.
Just then, I spotted another note sitting on my nightstand.
It read: [You've got three chances left. If you still can't figure out who the killer is, game over for good.]
I tried to calm my breathing, my mind going blank as I stared at those words.
Who else? Who else?!
Just as I was zoning out, a message from my bestie, Lucy Smith, popped up on my phone.
She texted: [Nora, when are you finally gonna let me see your dowry? I'm dying of curiosity!]