She Came Back to Burn Them All

01

The rain came down in sheets, and my father's coworker, soaked to the skin, planted herself in front of his car, crying, begging for a ride home since it was on the way.

In my last life, I saw her shivering and couldn't stand it, so I talked my father into letting her in.

I never guessed that the next day a hit piece titled Male Supervisor Drags Me Into His Car on a Rainy Night would blow up across every platform.

The photos showed her clothes in disarray, drenched through, sobbing as she accused my father of trying to force himself on her.

Buried under the online mob, my father was branded a monster by everyone until he was driven to leap into the sea.

And I was shoved down a stairwell by her rabid fans and trampled to death.

She climbed to the top as the queen of livestream sales over my father's body and mine, then looked into the camera and answered her doubters:

"What kind of girl would use her own innocence as a stunt?"

"If he weren't a filthy man, why would he pull me into his car that night?"

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on this night, rain slamming against the window.

She clung to the car door, crying so hard her whole body shook.

"I'm so cold, and I can't get a car. Please, let your uncle drive me home."

I rolled down my window and looked at her, the ghost of a smile on my face.

"Can't get a car? You could grab one of the shared bikes."

"…"

Rainwater ran down her hair.

Wanda Harding could never have imagined that in a downpour like this, I'd tell her to go pedal a rental bike.

"Sara Henson, I really can't walk any farther."

"I just started interning at the company. I don't know anyone or anything here, and my phone's about to die."

"Can't your uncle just give me a lift partway? Please?"

I stared at her and let out a cold laugh.

"No. My father's not going your way."

My father, Dirk Henson, sat in the driver's seat, his face already darkening.

"Sara, the girl's soaked through. What's the harm in a ride?"

Wanda bit her lower lip and shrank back, the picture of hurt.

"I didn't mean anything by it."

"Sara, have I done something to make you misunderstand me?"

A few employees who'd been working late drifted over, and Elijah Lambert, a male supervisor slated to be cut next month, jumped in at once.

"Miss Henson, isn't this Wanda, the new intern at our company?"

"Come on, the poor girl's frozen half to death. You're driving a car that big. Would it kill you to give her a lift?"

"Miss Henson, it's one thing to look down your nose at us every day, but this is cold, even for you."

A couple of voices piped up in agreement from the crowd.

"Rich people's kids are all this selfish."

"Not a shred of human decency."

Listening to them, my stomach turned.

In my last life, it was these same people.

They'd crowded around the car saying all the right things, urging us to be good people.

The next day, those same people were crowded into Wanda's livestream, cursing my father.

Saying money meant he could do whatever he wanted.

Saying I, his daughter, was covering for an animal.

Saying there wasn't one clean soul in the whole Henson family.

My father, hearing the accusations around him, couldn't bear the loss of face and was already reaching for the unlock button on the console.

I clamped my hand down on his arm.

"Dad, if you dare open that door, we're done as father and daughter, today."

Dirk froze, then his temper flared.

"Isn't that a bit much?"

Wanda seized the moment and burst into fresh tears.

"Sara, I only want to go home. What did I do wrong?"

"Rich people can push others around, but not like this, can they?"

Elijah took a step closer and rapped on the window glass.

"Miss Henson, Wanda here is a decent, hardworking girl. You're humiliating her."

I lowered the window and looked at Elijah, cold.

"You feel so sorry for her. Why don't you drive her?"

Elijah stopped short.

I pointed at a parking space not far off.

"If you've got such a big heart, get in your own car and take her home yourself."

"Standing here being generous with someone else's kindness. Who are you trying to impress?"

Elijah was henpecked at home; his face went red and he stammered, unable to get a word out.

I couldn't be bothered with him and turned back to Wanda.

"You say you're cold."

"Then why is your coat draped over your arm instead of on your back?"

Wanda's expression stiffened, and she didn't know what to do with her hands.

I kept peeling her open.

"You say you can't get a car."

"Turn left out of the company, three hundred meters, there's a subway station. Turn right, fifty meters, there's a twenty-four-hour convenience store."

"But you had to stand out here in the wind and flag down my father's car."

"You say you didn't mean anything by it. So the black lace under that white blouse, is that for a night of clubbing, or for shooting an adult film?"

Dead silence, all at once.

Every eye swung to Wanda's chest.

The white blouse, soaked through with rain, clung to her, the lingerie beneath it plain to see.

Wanda instinctively pressed the coat from her arm against her chest.

"Sara, how can you humiliate me in front of everyone!"

"What I wear is my own business!"

"So a girl dresses a little sexy and that makes it fine for you to sling this kind of filth at her?"

"Uncle!"

"Uncle, you tell her what's fair!"

The way she cried out to him left Dirk squirming, his face like iron.

"Sara, you've gone way too far today!"

"She's just an intern fresh out of school!"

"You push this to such an extreme, and how are the employees under me supposed to look at me as their chairman after this?"

I put my phone away and leaned back against the seat.

"Dad, your face or your daughter. You choose."

Dirk was so angry he laughed.

But in the end he didn't touch the unlock button. He hit the gas and pulled the car out.

The car surged into the curtain of rain.

I glanced back in the rearview mirror.

Wanda stood where we'd left her, all the pity wiped off her face.

She glared at the rear of our car, her eyes full of venom.

In my last life, it was this pitiful little face of hers that sent my father and me straight into a living hell.