Chapter 4

I looked at Daisy, and the moment our eyes locked, I just knew she'd traveled through time too.

She wore an expression of pure confidence—so different from her past life, when she desperately wanted to be with Jordyn but was always torn and uncertain.

"If even you folks can't change her mind, there's no way I'd succeed. I've been working these last few days, and I'm beat. I'm heading back to my room to rest," I said.

Not caring about how the adults reacted, I tossed out those words and walked straight to my room.

A few minutes later, Daisy barged into my room without knocking. She caught my icy glare and just smirked, looking totally self-satisfied.

"In this life, I'm definitely going to end up with Jordyn. And trust me—I'll be living large as a wealthy wife. Nothing you do can get in my way," Daisy said, sounding completely sure of herself.

I shot Daisy a look, trying to figure out why she was so full of herself, but honestly, I just didn't get it.

She'd lucked into this whole deal—so why was she still obsessed with just one guy?

"Good for you. Congratulations, I guess," I said, my tone utterly indifferent.

"Don't try to meddle in my affairs. I know you've traveled through time too," Daisy warned, her voice low and pointed.

I glared at Daisy, and all the pent-up fury from her running me down in our previous life came bursting out in an instant.

I took two quick steps, then slapped her—hard—twice across the face.

"You know that, and you still dare come here and provoke me?" I snapped.

Daisy was left speechless by my slap. She'd always been the one I was taking care of, so I doubt she ever thought I'd have the nerve to stand up to her like that.

"Mariana, you..." Daisy stammered.

"What about me?" I fired back, still ice-cold.

All the old grudges and fresh hatred boiled over—two slaps weren't enough. I yanked Daisy's shirt and shoved her hard to the ground.

I straddled her and started slapping her from both sides, not holding back for a second.

"You killed me over some guy, acting so tough, huh? If you hadn't gotten a second chance, maybe I could've moved on. But now you're back, not even focusing on Jordyn—and you still dare flaunt in front of me? You really think I won't take you down with me? If I die, you're coming too. Let's see how you act like a rich wife when you're dead," I spat.

The way I totally lost it scared Daisy so bad, she started screaming her head off.

I clamped my hand over her mouth, shooting her a look that could kill.

"Daisy, you still dreaming of becoming some fancy rich wife? I've been dead before—so tell me, if I end you right now, you really think you'll get another chance to crawl back here?" I hissed.

Daisy tried to scream, but with my hand slapped tight over her mouth, she couldn't even make a peep.

I heard my parents banging on the door from all the chaos inside, so I wrapped my fingers around Daisy's throat.

"I'll only say this once. Go to the community college if you want, get with Jordyn if you want—just stay out of my way. I've got nothing left to lose, so if you push me, I'll make sure we both lose everything. If you don't believe me, just try me and see what happens," I growled.

With that, I smacked her hard a couple more times. "Consider this payback for what you did to me last time—just the interest for running me down in our past life."

I finally climbed off Daisy, then marched over and threw the door open.

My parents and Nasir and Nancy were crowding the doorway, eyes bugging out when they saw Daisy laid out on the floor.

"Mariana, what did you do?" my mom shouted.

"Dad, Mom, Uncle Nasir, Aunt Nancy—I've hit her, cussed her out, you name it. She's hell-bent on going to a community college, so I'm done. From now on, keep me out of her drama," I said, all cold and shut down.

"You..." Brenna blurted out, momentarily at a loss for words.

As soon as she spotted the bruises on Daisy's face and saw it was my handiwork, her face twisted in shock and anger.

"How could you lay a hand on her? Where did you get the guts?" my mom yelled, totally losing it.

"Wasn't it you guys who told me to talk to her? I tried, but she wouldn't budge, so I went for the hands-on approach. Not that it helped—she just won't listen anyway. There's nothing else I can do," I said, not bothering to sound sorry.

Mom had seen me get tough like this before, so she wasn't all that shocked.

But my dad, Nasir, and Nancy had never seen me lose it like this before.

The three of them just stood there staring at me with their eyes wide open, like they'd just seen a ghost. It took Nasir a second to snap back to reality.

"You little brat! How dare you lay a hand on Daisy? I'm gonna wring your neck!" Nasir yelled, his face flushed with anger.

Before Nasir could swing at me, I quickly slipped behind my dad.

Nasir's fist ended up hitting my dad right in the face. I tsked, not even surprised.

"Uncle Nasir, you all told me to take care of Daisy, but now that I did, you're blaming me. Fine, I give up on your whole family. From now on, don't come to me about Daisy. I won't deal with it, and I don't want to," I said, my voice cold and uninterested.

Before Nasir could even react, I walked out the door.

The door wasn't even shut when Nancy started screaming her head off behind me.

I didn't look back. For all I cared, Daisy and Jordyn could be stuck with each other for life—just leave the rest of us alone.

After leaving home, I just found somewhere to get dinner—no big deal.