No Mercy for the Past

I was reborn, back to the day my daughter and my husband's old flame were kidnapped.

Over the phone, the kidnappers demanded I choose one.

In the background, my daughter Anne and another girl sobbed.

My husband Jed Bennett snatched the phone, his eyes bloodshot, and roared at me, "Katrina has claustrophobia! Save her first!"

In my past life, he chose Katrina Watson, and it cost my daughter's life.

I laughed, tears streaming down my face.

"Mommy... I'm scared..." came Anne's faint cry through the receiver.

Jed bellowed again, "Amelia! Choose! Save Katrina!"

I looked at him, nodded slowly, and took the phone.

Then, calmly, I said into it, "Do it."

Dead silence followed on the other end.

The kidnapper, who had been sneering moments before, seemed stunned by my words.

Jed froze too.

The fury and rage on his face turned to absurd, disbelieving shock.

He stared at me like I was insane, his lips trembling. "Amelia... what did you say?"

I ignored him.

My hand, hidden behind my back, dug nails deep into my palm, drawing blood.

My heart pounded in my chest, each beat painful.

Pain was good.

In my past life, my tears and pleas only earned Jed's disgust and my daughter's cold body.

Crying was for the weak. This time, I needed clarity.

Only pain kept me sharp and composed.

In my past life, Jed chose to save Katrina.

I had knelt at his feet, begging him to save our daughter Anne first.

He kicked me away, calling me cruel and selfish, saying I didn't understand.

He said, "Katrina has claustrophobia! She could die! Anne's tough, she can wait!"

He said, "Katrina is my life!"

For his life, he sacrificed mine-my daughter, Anne.

I listened as Anne's cries over the phone went from terrified to faint, then silent.

Katrina was rescued unharmed, collapsing into Jed's arms, sobbing, "I was so scared."

No one remembered my Anne.

Even as I held my daughter's cold body, Jed blamed me.

He said if I had agreed to save Katrina sooner, the kidnappers wouldn't have been provoked, and Anne wouldn't have died.

How absurd.

A father who pushed his own daughter into the fire.

In this new life, I opened my eyes and waited for this call.

This wasn't a choice. It was a judgment.

A judgment on Jed and my own past foolishness.

"You're out of your damn mind?" the kidnapper finally snapped, cursing over the phone. "Do you know what you're saying? Your daughter's in there!"

"I know," I replied, my voice steady.

Jed snapped out of his shock, his face drained of color, lunging for the phone. "Amelia, you monster! Are you trying to kill Katrina?"

I was ready, sidestepping as he stumbled and crashed into the wall.

"Jed, you're the one who made me choose," I said. "You chose Katrina and abandoned Anne. Now, I'm giving you what you wanted."

His face twisted, muscles twitching as he pointed at me, speechless.

The kidnapper shouted through the phone, "Fine! Let's see how tough you are! We'll start with your daughter's blood!"

In the background, Katrina's screams pierced the air, sharp and painful.

But my Anne only whimpered, softly calling, "Mommy."

My heart felt crushed, the pain nearly stealing my breath.

Still, I couldn't falter.

The last life taught me that panic and begging only hastened Anne's death.

I forced myself to stay calm.

Speaking clearly into the phone, I said, "You want money, not lives. One hundred million for my daughter's life. But if she loses a single hair, you get nothing. Don't mention Katrina. Her life means nothing to me. My husband's money? It's all with me. So you deal with me. If anything happens to my daughter, I'll make sure you all pay with her."

I hung up.

Jed lunged at me like a rabid beast, eyes red. "Amelia! Why did you hang up? Katrina's still with them! You monster!"

I stared at his contorted face, my heart ice-cold.

"From now on, Jed," I declared calmly. "Your precious love will pay for my daughter."

Jed lost it completely.

He grabbed the ashtray from the table and hurled it at me. "You can die! You'll pay for Katrina!"

I was ready and stepped back, letting the ashtray smash onto the floor by my feet.

It shattered into countless pieces.

Just like our seven years of marriage.

"Call the police! Why didn't you call the police!" he roared at me.

"I did," I replied coldly.

The moment he grabbed the phone and started yelling, I used the landline to dial 911.

The police were probably already on their way.

Jed froze, then grew even angrier. "Then why did you provoke the kidnappers! Why say 'do it'! What if they hurt Katrina!"

From start to finish, his only concern was Katrina.

My heart had gone numb, devoid of feeling.

"What do you think we should do?" I shot back, my gaze mocking. "Like last time, beg them on my knees?"

"Last time?" Jed faltered, his eyes flickering. "What nonsense are you spouting! I... I was just too worried!"

"Worried?" I laughed, but the smile didn't reach my eyes. "You let your own daughter die for someone else. That's what you call worried?"

"Katrina's not someone else!" he snapped back, his voice sharp. "She was kidnapped because of me!"

Always the same.

Always that self-righteous attitude.

In my past life, after Katrina was rescued, everyone called her an innocent victim.

They said she was targeted by Jed's business rivals just for being close to him, caught up in their schemes.

Only I knew it was all a performance she directed herself.

The doorbell rang, cutting through our standoff.

Jed rushed to open it, as if grasping at a lifeline.

Several uniformed officers stood at the door, their expressions stern. "We received a report of a kidnapping at this address?"

"It's me! My wife and daughter were kidnapped!" Jed blurted, grabbing the lead officer. "No, it's my daughter and... a friend of mine."

He dragged the officers inside, pointing at me accusingly. "It's her! Officers! She told the kidnappers to kill them! She's trying to get the hostages killed!"

The lead officer frowned, his sharp gaze settling on me, sizing me up.

I didn't flinch, just met his eyes calmly. "Officer, my name is Amelia Fowler. The kidnapped are my seven-year-old daughter, Anne Bennett, and Mr. Bennett's close friend, Miss Katrina Watson." I deliberately emphasized my daughter's last name.

Jed's face turned pale, then flushed.

The officer clearly picked up on the complicated dynamic. He sent a younger officer to calm Jed down and approached me. "Ms. Fowler, can you tell us exactly what happened? Did you really tell the kidnappers to kill them?"

"Yes," I nodded. "Because it was the only way to take back control."

My mind was terrifyingly calm.

I was betting the kidnappers wouldn't actually follow through, especially when their target clearly had money and was willing to pay.

I hung up to stop Jed from making more foolish mistakes.

And to buy the police time.

I was about to explain my reasoning when Jed's phone started ringing frantically.

It was an unknown number.

Jed glanced at it and reached to answer.

I grabbed his hand. "Don't."

"You're insane! It's got to be the kidnappers! Katrina's still with them!" He shook me off.

"They're calling you because I rattled them, and they think you're the weak link," I said, locking eyes with him. "If you answer, everything I just did will be for nothing."

Jed hesitated.

His face was ashen, and he muttered to himself, too shaken to touch the phone.

The ringing echoed in the silent living room like a death knell.

Just then, the lead officer, Captain Lee, got a call on his radio.

"Captain Lee! There's been an explosion at an abandoned factory in Westside! The fire's massive! We found an injured woman outside who says her name is Katrina Watson. She claims she escaped the kidnappers!"

A boom went off in Jed's head.

His face lit up with wild joy, and he rushed to Lee.

"Katrina! It's Katrina! She's out! She's alive!" He was incoherent, grabbing the officer's arm. "What about my daughter? Did she escape too?"

Lee looked at me, his expression heavy and complicated.

The radio crackled with more noise. "...We found a charred body at the scene... appears to be a child..."

In that moment, all sound vanished from the world.

I couldn't feel my heartbeat or the blood in my veins.

The wild joy on Jed's face froze.

He turned to me, inch by inch, his eyes filled with fear, confusion, and a belated trace of guilt.

In my past life, that announcement shattered me completely.

I lunged at Jed, screaming like a madwoman, only to be slapped to the ground and pass out.

But this time, I stood still, nails digging into my palm, using the pain to stay clear-headed.

Lee looked at me, his eyes full of sympathy and hesitation.

He wanted to offer comfort but didn't know how to begin.

"Impossible," I said, my voice hoarse but steady. "That's not my daughter."

Everyone froze.

Jed, grasping at straws, muttered to himself, "Yes... yes! It's not Anne... Anne can't be dead..."

Lee frowned. "Ms. Fowler, we understand your feelings, but..."

"This morning, I gave my daughter a smartwatch," I cut him off, meeting his gaze, forcing my voice to stay even. "That watch has real-time tracking and is well-hidden. I'll check it now."

I pulled out my phone, my fingers pale from gripping it so tightly, but I opened the app as fast as I could.

A red dot blinked clearly on the screen.

Not at the abandoned factory in Westside.

It was on the road to the Eastside docks, moving fast.

I handed the phone to Lee.

"They're on the move!" He stared at the blinking dot, his face turning deadly serious.

He grabbed his radio, his voice calm but firm. "Units one and two, attention! The target is heading toward the Eastside docks! Set up a perimeter and intercept immediately! Repeat, intercept now!"

He turned back to me, his sympathy replaced by scrutiny and surprise. "Ms. Fowler, how did you... think to use a tracker?"

"Because my daughter is everything to me," I said, staring at Jed's dazed face, each word deliberate. "I won't let anything happen to her."

Jed flinched, as if my words stabbed him.

He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't form a single word.

Just then, a young officer rushed in and whispered something to Lee.

The captain's face grew even grimmer.

He glanced at Jed, then at me, choosing his words carefully.

"Ms. Fowler, Mr. Bennett," he said. "Our team has reached Miss Katrina Watson. She claims the kidnappers had an internal dispute. She says she set off an explosive they left behind during the chaos and escaped. She also said... your daughter was at the center of the explosion."

Jed's legs buckled, nearly collapsing to the floor.

I laughed, a cold, bitter sound. "She's lying," I said.

Lee's eyes narrowed.

"First, kidnappers after money wouldn't be foolish enough to carry an explosive that could go off at any moment. Second, if there was an explosion and my daughter was at its center, they'd be fleeing by now, not hauling a 'burden' like my daughter across the city at high speed.

"Third, and most importantly," I said, my gaze sharp as a blade. "Katrina gets rescued, and my daughter dies? That's too convenient. Convenient enough to seem like someone's trying to cover their tracks and create an alibi."

Lee's expression shifted from serious to stunned.

He'd likely never seen a victim's family member, after hearing their child's death, stay so calm and analyze the situation so clearly.

I didn't give him time to process his shock.

I grabbed my bag and pulled out another phone.

"I need to borrow your authority for a moment," I said.

I dialed a number.

It rang once and connected.

A steady, authoritative voice answered. "Amelia."

"Dad," I said, closing my eyes to push down every shred of vulnerability. "I need your help."