Chapter 1
The company let us out early, so I headed home, only to walk in on my mother-in-law, Monica Carter, washing her socks in my bathroom sink.
The persistent, burning itch on my face these past few days suddenly made sense. Her filthy socks were soaked right there in my sink.
I swallowed down the rising nausea. "Monica, that's my sink. How could you use it for your socks?"
Not a single flicker of guilt crossed her face.
She barked, "Everything in this house belongs to my son. I'll use whatever I want."
That was when I snapped.
We shouted at each other, and my husband Ben Carter immediately took her side.
"So she used your sink. We're family. Must you really be this petty?"
His blind loyalty only emboldened her.
She grabbed my face towel and wiped her hands on it.
That was why a fungal infection broke out across my face, leaving it red, swollen, and a complete mess.
I'd had enough. So I slapped her.
My father-in-law, Larry Carter, roared that I'd committed an unforgivable outrage, yelling at Ben to beat me within an inch of my life.
My sister-in-law, Jenny Carter, chimed in, saying if he wouldn't do it, she would.
Then Ben's palm struck hard. I was sent flying from the living room all the way to the balcony. I lost my footing and fell.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back in time, right before Monica touched my sink.
This time around, I was determined to make her whole family experience every bit of the misery I endured before.
*****
"Linda Quinn, wake up. Get out of bed, or Jenny's going to be late for school!" Monica shouted.
The loud knocking on the door jolted me awake.
The pain from falling was still hanging around.
It took me a long time to come back to my senses.
Ben was snoring like a chainsaw, completely out cold.
I reached down and pinched my thigh. The pain was all too real.
That was when it hit me that I had come back to life.
In my previous life, the moment I moved into their house, Monica was out to get me from day one.
She'd juice up fruit that was mostly rotten and made me drink it, had me running to the bathroom until I was completely wiped out.
Once I managed to pull myself together, I asked her to get fruit from somewhere else next time.
But then she turned around and acted all pitiful in front of the relatives.
She said, "Hey, do you know any fancy fruit stores around here? I bought two imported mangoes for Linda, made her some juice, and she complained they weren't fresh and gave her diarrhea. Guess she thinks it's not good enough for her."
Ben's relative immediately went off on me in the family group chat.
She called me ungrateful and told Ben to teach me how to show some respect to my elders.
One after another, the relatives jumped in to gang up on me.
They demanded I apologize to Monica and even write a formal apology and a promise letter.
No matter how much I tried to explain, they wouldn't listen. They were determined to paint me as Monica's wicked daughter-in-law.
This time, I was going to give them exactly what they wanted and become the villain they always accused me of being.
When I didn't react, the knocking on the door got even more frantic.
The doorknob creaked and rattled, making a deafening noise.
Then Monica's booming voice blasted through the door. "Linda, are you still in bed? Do you know what time it is? Jenny's going to be late for school!"
I frowned, grabbed my phone from the nightstand, and saw it was only 6:30.
Jenny was a senior in high school. Her classes started at 8 AM, and she was supposed to be at school by 7:50.
In my previous life, I used to drive past Jenny's school on my way to work.
Once Monica found out, she insisted I give Jenny a ride to school every single day.
The route was on my way, but the schedule didn't work for me.
I didn't start work until 9 AM, and the drive from home to the office was only twenty minutes.
If I didn't have to drop Jenny off, I could sleep in for a whole extra hour.
Even if I left at 8:30, I'd still make it to work on time.
Since Ben made more money than me, I forced myself to drive Jenny to school every day, just so he could keep earning his paycheck without any trouble.
But no matter what I did, they never saw me as one of them.
I'd driven Jenny to school rain or shine, punctual every single day, yet she acted as if all those favors meant nothing, all because I'd worked late the night once and could barely drag myself out of bed that morning.
This time around, whoever wanted to take her to school could do it. I was done playing chauffeur.
I rolled over and went right back to sleep, acting like I didn't hear a thing.
Outside, Monica had been banging on the door for ten minutes straight. Her hand was red from all the pounding, and the door still wouldn't budge. She was absolutely fuming now.
She yelled at the top of her lungs, "Linda, get out here right now. Jenny's going to be late for school. Every second counts in senior year. If you screw up Jenny's studies, I'll make you pay for it."
Then, gritting her teeth, she started kicking the door furiously.
The door rattled with a loud buzzing, making the whole room shake.
Ben had been out drinking heavily with a client last night.
He was suddenly jolted awake, his head throbbing, and his brows twisted up in pain.
He reached over and shoved me, clearly irritated. "Can't you hear Mom yelling? Why aren't you getting up to see what all the fuss is about?"
The moment his hand touched my shoulder, I shoved him off.
I snapped back, clearly annoyed, "It's not even seven yet. I don't start work until nine. Why is your mom making such a scene this early?"
Ben was taken aback by my outburst, then looked at me, totally confused. "What's with you today? Did you take some crazy pills or something? Haven't you been giving Jenny a ride to school all this time?"
I let out a cold laugh, my tone icy. "My office moved to the south side of the city. Starting today, it's not on my way anymore. Let Jenny take the bus to school. She's grown. She can handle it herself."
Ben's face fell, and he immediately started protesting. "No way! If she takes the bus, she'll have to get up twenty minutes earlier. Jenny's a senior. Sleep is everything for her right now."
I let out a cold snort, totally unimpressed. "Then why are you still lying here? Get up and take her to school yourself. Why are you wasting your breath on me?"