Right after I dropped my car off at the car dealership for maintenance, I got a call from the police. They said I was a suspect in a hit-and-run case that had killed someone in the process. They claimed that I was in the middle of having sex when it happened.

By the time I rushed over, I was completely stunned by what I saw in front of me.

My car was parked on the side of the road. Its front end smashed in and the windshield shattered.

Just a few dozen feet ahead, three bodies were sprawled across a large pool of blood. Among them was a two-year-old child. They were in a horrible state.

The moment the crowd saw me, they turned into an angry mob.

“It was her! She came speeding down the road and rammed right into that family. She didn’t even hit the brakes!”

“Yeah, after a long while, she and some guy finally stumbled out of the driver’s seat with their clothes all messed up. Her lipstick was smeared all over her face.”

“She didn’t even call the police or an ambulance! Instead, she just laughed and said the kid’s head was too hard that it cracked her windshield!”

The police checked the surveillance footage at the dealership. They found that I was not recorded in there. So, there was no record of me dropping off the car. However, in the city’s traffic cameras, they saw every indiscriminating thing I had done.

When my husband showed up and heard what I was being accused of, he slapped me across the face and yelled, “How could you do something so disgusting and heartless like that?"

There was nothing I could say to defend myself. I became a disgrace, a criminal, the kind of woman everyone wanted to spit on.

This incident affected my parents. The victim's family even took justice upon their hand and killed them in a car accident.

Meanwhile, in prison, I was beaten to death by my furious cellmates.

Even in my final moments, I did not understand the reason this incident happened. I was definitely sure that I had dropped the car off at the dealership.

Why didn’t the security footage show that? Why did my car end up at the scene of the crash? Why did the traffic cams say I was crashing my car into that family when I never took that road at all?

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the morning I was supposed to take the car in for maintenance.

——

“Honey, there’s an emergency at the office. I’ve got to deal with a project. Can you take the car to the dealership for the tune-up later?” my husband asked.

Arnold Jefferson had just picked up a call and was immediately heading out the door.

The déjà vu hit me like a tidal wave. I realized that I had been reborn.

In my last life, I had agreed to take the car by myself. However, not long after I got home, I received a call from the dealership.

"Miss Cunnings, you missed your scheduled appointment and didn't come here. Should we cancel it and reschedule?”

I was puzzled. I was so sure I personally handed the keys at the dealership just moments ago.

The service rep on the other end sounded just as confused and asked, "Miss Cunning, you never came by today. How could you have given me your keys?”

Before I could even begin to make sense of what was happening, the police called to tell me I had killed someone.

The dealership's surveillance camera had no record of my arrival or departure, but the city traffic cameras showed a crystal-clear account of my supposed crime. It recorded my reckless speeding, how arrogant I was, the crashing and fleeing after taking lives.

In the end, I was framed as a cold-blooded killer and I died a brutal death with no justice.

I kept my head down as I processed everything silently. Arnold noticed my action, so he walked over and squatted in front of me.

“Are you mad at me? You look upset," he asked. He talked in a soft nice voice, like he was talking to a child.

As I saw the same warm appearance on his face that I had seen for ten years, I felt an overwhelming sense of despair.

After I married him, I handed the company over to Arnold and settled into a life of ease and comfort.

Whether it was work or our home life, he always took care of everything. I never had to worry about a thing.

So why today, of all days, did he ask me to take the car in? Why did such a bizarre, catastrophic thing happen the one time I did? Was it just a coincidence … or something more?

I swallowed my doubts and finally spoke, “I’m not mad. I just don’t feel well. Maybe I’ll reschedule the appointment for the car maintenance?”

Without missing a beat, Arnold pressed a hand to my forehead with a concerned look on his face. He asked, “You don’t look so good. Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

I declined his offer. I told him, it was probably because I had shopped and was under the sun for so long yesterday. So, nothing like a little rest could heal me.

Arnold gently ruffled my hair, then scooped me into his arms and laid me back on the bed. He said, "Alright. However, if you still feel bad later, call me and I’ll take you to the hospital. Don’t worry about bothering me.”

He added, "Just cancel the car maintenance online later."

The whole time, I kept a close eye on his expression as I looked for any telltaling signs. However, his concern was the same like before.

His action only made me more confused.

After Arnold left, I headed down to the underground garage. The moment I saw the car parked safely in its spot; I finally exhaled a sigh of relief.

The car was given to me last month. Arnold gifted it to me as a present for our tenth wedding anniversary.

In my past life, after I drove the car out, our whole family was destroyed. However, this time, I would not let that happen If someone was trying to frame me, as long as I did not touch the car, I would be safe … right?

With this thought, I clenched the car key and went back upstairs. After I grabbed a quick bite, I lay on the bed while trying to piece together all the chaos from my previous life.

Before I could gather my thoughts, my phone suddenly rang.

When I looked at the caller ID and saw the number one-one-two, my heart sank.

I forced myself to stay calm and pressed the answer button.

“Are you Carol Cunnings? Your car was involved in a fatal crash that killed three people. You're also suspected of fleeing the scene. Please turn yourself in and cooperate with the investigation.”

The officer’s voice was cold, clipped on the phone and it made the hairs on my neck stand on end.

“W-what? Impossible!" I stammered. “Officer, there must be some mistake. My car’s parked safely in the garage. I haven’t driven anywhere today.”

When the police heard my words, he thought that I wanted to evade responsibility and his tone became even colder when he said again, “The vehicle is registered in your name. As the owner, you're responsible for cooperating. Whether or not you were the one behind the wheel, the officers at the scene will determine that.”

I ended the call and bolted downstairs to the garage. The sight that greeted me made my legs go weak because the car was gone and the place where it should have been was completely empty.

It was clear I had both car keys in my hand. How could the car just vanish?

As I took a deep breath, I pulled out my phone and dialed Ellen Bordeaux, the receptionist at my company.

Then I opened my mouth to ask, “Hey, do you know what time Arnold got to the office today? Has he left at all?”

“Mr. Jefferson got in around ten this morning,” she said. “He’s been in a meeting with the design team ever since. He hasn’t even taken a lunch break. He definitely hasn’t left at all.”

Arnold had left our house around half past nine in the morning and arrived at work by ten o'clock. The police said the crash happened just thirty minutes ago.

Since Ellen was my cousin and we were close, she would not lie to me.

So, if he was not the perpetrator, who could it be?

I did not say anything for a while. Finally, Ellen persuaded me with a lowered voice, “Don’t worry, Carol. I’ve got your back. No little vixen is getting near your man.”

"Calm down. I mean it. According to my observation, your husband is very loyal. He always talks about you. Everyone here’s jealous of what you two have …."

However, these were not the words I wanted to hear,

“I was just curious, that’s all,” I replied and hung up.

Although frustration welled up inside me, I knew I had to stay calm. If I panicked now and became disoriented, I would walk right into whatever trap someone had set for me.

I replayed the officer’s words in my head. He only said my car was involved but he never said he had confirmed I was the driver.

This time around, I hadn’t even left the house. Maybe—just maybe—things could still be different.

I quickly called a taxi and headed straight for the crash site.

However, when I arrived, I saw it was exactly just like it was happened in my previous life.

As soon as I arrived at the scene, the same horror that happened in unfolded in front of my eyes.

People in the crowd spotted me almost immediately.

She shouted, “That’s her! Officer, it’s her! She was driving like a maniac. She didn’t even try to slow down before she rammed straight into that family of three!”

“Yeah, and we banged on the window for ages! She finally came out of the driver’s seat with some guy. Both of them were half-naked. No one knows what they were doing in there.”

“Even after she got out of the car, she didn’t call for help from the police or ambulance or even check on the victims. Instead, she grabbed her phone and asked a livestream lawyer how many years she’d get if someone died. When the lawyer said seven years …. max, she laughed.”

“The worst part was that poor kid's head was completely severed from his body! However, this unhinged woman actually said, ‘Damn, that kid had a hard skull and cracked my windshield!’ "

Their words hit me like bullets. However, this time, I forced myself to stay calm.

In my previous life, this exact moment broke me. I lost my grip on reality, panicked and everything spiraled from there.

When a police noticed my appearance, they approached me and asked, "Are you the of the vehicle?”

After he got my affirmation, he said in a clipped serious voice, “Then please explain what happened. We need your full cooperation.”

I looked him in the eye and in serious tone answered, “I don’t know what happened because I wasn’t the one driving.”

That one sentence was all it took to arouse the crowd's outrage.

"Don't lie! Don't say it's not you. I saw the whole thing. It was you who got out of the car, don't think I don't recognize you just because you changed your clothes.”

“We have so many pairs of eyes watching, you still want to batter words. You are still remorseless about this.”

“Just because she’s rich and drives a fancy car, this kind of person thinks she’s above the law. I reckon she intentionally killed that family to vent her anger. She should be arrested and got the death penalty!”

Amid the chaos, Arnold arrived. His steps were hurried. He was visibly shaken by the accusations but he was still trying to defend me.

“You’ve got the wrong person,” he insisted. “My wife’s always been timid and she can’t even watch someone kill a chicken, let alone hurt a person on purpose!”

However, his defense only fueled their anger.

“You think we can’t recognize her? It wasn’t just her face, it was her voice too!”

Then a sharp-tongued auntie from the crowd turned to him with a sneer and asked, "Are you her husband? Then take a look at this video I recorded before you keep defending her.”

She held up her phone and played the recording after she said this.

Onscreen, after people banged harshly on the car windows, I slowly stepped out of the driver’s seat while arranging my clothes back into place and saying impatiently, "What are you doing? Do you realize how expensive my car is? Do you even have the money to compensate me if it gets damaged?"

Then I added, “So what if a few people died? It’s not a big deal. My family got a lot of money and my high price insurance can cover it.”

“That lowlifes shouldn’t have been in my way. Who told them to block the road? I think they got what they deserved.”

"They even ruined my car glass. I'm so unlucky."

After throwing a tantrum, I quickly wrapped my arms to the man who got out of the car with me and said, “Babe, we weren’t even enjoying ourselves just now, what do you think if we find some other place and pick up where we left off?"

The man in the video pinched my ass with a wicked grin on his face as he said, "Yo, little slut! Why are you playing hard to get? Is this your idea of fun?"

I laughed. “That was nothing. Didn’t you say you had something bigger I could play with?”

The video ended with me hopped into a taxi with a man amid the gasps of horror from the people around me.

Arnold's face turned crimson red with rage and he went crazy. His hand stuck hard at my face."Carol! Are you even a human?" he yelled. “How could you do something so shameless and twisted like that?"