Despite going to sleep with no nightmares, Lina woke up to her worst dream. She was shaken awake by a loud BANG!

  Lina was startled. She shot out of bed at the sound of the gunshots. Her eyes widened when her Uncle stormed towards her like a mad man with murder in his mind. She screamed in fear. ??

  "What are you doing?!" Lina shouted, chucking her heavy pillows at him. They landed on the ground with a soft thud. Her heart was racing one thousand miles per hour.

  Suddenly, her Uncle grabbed her by the shoulders and violently shook her. She was pretty sure her brain cells got jumbled in the process. Her hair went everywhere and she was a rag doll in his rough puppeteer fingers.

  Without warning, Lina swung her hand to stop him.

  PAK!

  With a terrifying realization, Lina had smacked him. Hard. His head flew to the side, a red mark burning into the smooth skin. She stopped breathing at that exact moment.

  The skin-to-skin contact sent images flying before her eyes. Black doors being pushed open, voices screaming, and someone storming out of the office…?

  Lina blinked back to reality when she heard him scream.

  "You dare lift a hand to your Uncle?!" William shouted.

  Lina's actions already infuriated him. Now, he was getting ready to perform an onslaught on her.

  Lina shakily moved back a bit.

  "I didn't mean to Uncle," Lina confessed whilst keeping her voice as steady as possible.

  Lina needed to have the upper hand. She needed to show him that he was a trespasser.

  "It was self-defense," Lina argued. She knew her value. She knew her worth. And she refused to be disrespected in her own home.

  "You trespassed into a girl's room with doors that banged like a gunshot, then you grabbed me and shook my body until my eyes were nearly displaced. I only wanted you to stop your assault," Lina tried to explain.

  "Trespassed? You forget whose name is attached to this house. This is the Yang Second Mansion and I am the Chairman. I have every right to discipline a niece who crossed the line!" William demanded, slamming a hand on her bed.

  Lina trembled at the violence, lowering her gaze to the ground. She thought of her sadistic Second Uncle, who turned the most peaceful days into a warpath. Grandfather loved her, so Second Uncle hated her.

  "You are not the Matriarch, William."

  Every pair of eyes snapped to the doorway.

  Lina's father was wide awake and he was furious. His eyes could start a forest fire, despite possessing a heart of weak water.

  "To come into my own home and threaten my precious daughter, you've lost your damn mind," Linden growled, stepping into the room and glancing at the discarded pillow. His eyes flashed when he saw his shaking daughter.

  "Your precious daughter is not as sweet as you believe," William stated, his fingers curling into a fist. He was trying to quell his anger now that he had laid eyes on his youngest brother, the baby of the family.

  "She has seduced two of the most powerful heirs in Ritan and expects to get away with it! What are your punishments for her?" William demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Lina.

  "I did not seduce anyone," Lina calmly said. "I am not responsible for the image they created of me inside of their head!"

  William's head snapped back towards her. "Do you know what the tabloids are saying of you right now?"

  Lina opened her mouth to tell him she didn't care, but he beat her to it.

  "They're saying Lina Yang, the pearl of the Yang Family has spread her legs for two of the most eligible bachelors of Ritan! With each second you remain in bed, our stocks are plummeting."

  Lina's heart stopped right then and there. This was what she had feared the most. She had spent all her life pleasing every single member of the Yang family. Right before her eyes, she saw their fondness towards her fleeting away. All of her hard work was crumbling to nothingness.

  Was she already losing her Uncle's trust in her? Was she already pissing off her father? What about her grandfather? What did he think of her now?

  "Our stocks have never reached that low in all our years of operation. Many are selling their shares instead of holding them!" William shouted at her. "And all because of a single woman!"

  Suddenly, Lina was having flashbacks. Flashbacks to her first life, when everything was seemingly her fault. The fall of Teran. The start of war. The ruination of her love.

  Everything was her fault. And she had no way of stopping it. Nothing could end it—except, a sacrifice.

  "Your inability to control the decline of Yang Enterprise's shares should have nothing to do with my precious daughter, William. You've crossed a line," Linden snarled as he stepped into the room.

  Suddenly, he heard frantic footsteps from behind him. He turned in time to see his wife quickly running towards them. Upon realizing the situation, Evelyn's eyes grew wide.

  "Apologize right this instant!" Evelyn rushed out, her words directed towards Lina.

  "I did nothing wrong," Lina whispered, hurt that no one was believing her. Why didn't they ever believe her, the victim? Why did they only care about the life of a young man she had supposedly ruined?

  "I have never once tried to seduce any of them. I don't even like Everett!" Lina shouted, her pent-up emotions finally coming out all at once.

  "It's not my fault Everett caught feelings when I've rejected him during every date. It's not my fault that Kaden is shameless enough to seduce me in public!" Lina screamed, shoving her Uncle off of her bed and standing up.

  Lina was braless and felt defenseless, but she had to plead her case. She needed to. Her livelihood depended on it. In her first life, she never pleaded her case.

  "Why am I being blamed when I am the victim? Leclare Law Firm stocks are at an all-time high because the public pitied them, and DeHaven Conglomerate is flourishing as we speak, even though they both got themselves into this mess!" Lina stated.

  Lina shot an accusing glare toward her mother, who should've been on her side, not the side of a man who once rejected her.

  "I will not apologize for my actions. I did nothing wrong." Lina straightened up, raising her chin in the middle of a storm that could tear her to shreds.

  "I will not bow my head in shame and defeat for actions taken by an heir who fell in love with me and blamed it on me," Lina snarled. "And I will certainly not beg for forgiveness for the seduction of a young master that's obsessed with me."

  Lina shoved her Uncle back, her eyes flashing with warnings. "Mark my words, Uncle. I am Lina Yang and I will yield to no one."