When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the exact moment the kidnapper's call had come in.
——
"We have your husband. If you want him alive—"
That phone call confirmed it. I had truly been reborn. Hatred surged through me so violently I nearly told them to kill him.
Then a wave of cold sweat drenched my body.
In my last life, Thaddeus James had staged his own kidnapping to force me into holding a fake funeral, making the outside world believe I was really dead.
Then he came home and tortured me to death.
It was premeditated.
The whole thing was designed to eliminate me and install Geraldine Simmons as his wife.
If I told the kidnappers to kill him, Thaddeus almost certainly had a backup plan to deal with me. He had more than enough power and cunning for that.
"Mrs. James, did you hear what I said?"
The kidnapper's voice yanked me back. I played along, feeding him the same responses I'd given in my previous life.
After I hung up, my heart was still hammering.
I'd agreed to hold the funeral. That bought me time to run.
Running took money. If I wanted to escape Thaddeus's grasp, I needed resources.