Chapter 4: Secrets, Sabotage, and Survival

Soon, it was time to start high school. I said goodbye to my mom and returned to the Whitaker house.

She hugged me tight at the train station, promising to call every night. I wiped away her tears and promised I’d be careful. The Whitaker mansion loomed in the distance, cold and imposing.

It still wasn’t the right time to reveal everything.

I kept my head down, avoided questions, pretended to be the same shy girl I’d always been. Secrets were my armor.

Thanks to my subtle interference over the years, the Whitaker family’s influence wasn’t as vast as in my last life, but they were still formidable.

I’d sabotaged a few deals, steered them away from certain investments, all without them noticing. It was enough to keep them from growing too powerful, but not enough to draw suspicion.

In Maple Heights, they could crush me and my mom as easily as squashing an ant.

I never forgot that. One wrong move, and everything I’d built could disappear overnight. I walked on eggshells, always looking over my shoulder.

I needed money, power, and time to grow.

Every dollar, every connection, every hour spent studying was another brick in the wall between me and disaster.

After school started, Mason and I weren’t placed in the same class.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the schedules. Separate classes meant fewer chances for him to corner me, fewer eyes on my every move.

In five years, he’d gone from the cautious children’s home boy to the tall, handsome, and cheerful Whitakers’ golden boy.

He wore designer clothes now, his hair always perfectly styled. He smiled easily, made friends with everyone, charmed teachers and classmates alike. But I never forgot what lurked beneath the surface.

But his grades still lagged behind mine.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t quite catch up. I kept my own grades just high enough to stay in the honors class, but not so high as to draw attention.