When I found out my parents were giving me a villa as part of my dowry, my newlywed sister-in-law, Regina Hawkins, completely lost it.
She drank an entire bottle of pesticide in a fit of rage.
It was a total mess, but the weirdest part?
My brother Shane didn’t blame me. In fact, he handed me a rare-colored toy dog as my engagement gift.
The night before the engagement, I put on the heirloom bracelet my fiancé, Oliver Anderson, had given me.
And that’s when everything went sideways.
Somehow, I swapped bodies with the toy dog.
At first, I tried to prove who I really was, but instead of getting help, they tied me up and sent me to a dog meat restaurant.
Their plan was to cook me.
I died.
And then, to make things worse, I saw myself gnawing on dog bones, smirking like she’d won some twisted game.
She looked up and said, "Family wealth, men—everything you had? It’s mine now. What right do you have to compete with me?"
And Shane? He was ecstatic.
"Great, Regina’s finally back! As long as you’re back, even if we can only be siblings, I’ll take it," he said.
Meanwhile, Oliver looked at me with this overly sweet, almost pitying expression and said, "I don’t care about the body. It’s your soul I love."
That’s when it hit me.
Regina wasn’t just my brother’s wife, and she wasn’t just Oliver’s fiancée. She was their greatest love. After drinking the pesticide, her soul had attached itself to the toy dog. They had planned the whole thing, swapping bodies with the dog, so that they could bring her back.
I died knowing the truth, completely betrayed.
But then, when I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day my brother gave me a toy dog.
This time, though?
I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. That dog was getting sent to be bred, and there was no way I was going to fall for their trick.
...
"Clarisse, you're about to get engaged," Shane said casually, holding a gift box out to me. "Here’s an engagement gift from your brother. Let’s see if you like it."
I blinked as he pulled out a little dog dressed in a lace dress.
And then Oliver, always the show-off, marched in behind Shane carrying a fancy doghouse and set it down in my bedroom like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Clarisse, I know you’ve always wanted a rare-colored dog, so Shane went all out to get you Cici. You’ve got to take good care of it, okay?"
I was still staring at the dog, Cici, in confusion when Shane, thinking I was just overwhelmed with happiness, moved to place Cici in my arms. That was when my reflexes kicked in. I shot up from the chair, nearly knocking it over, and instinctively shoved the dog away.
I almost fell flat on my face.
But Shane didn’t even blink. Instead, he stepped in to protect the dog, his body shielding it like it was some kind of sacred object.
On the other hand, Oliver let out a sigh of relief and snapped at me, "Clarisse, what’s wrong with you? You almost knocked over Cici!"
'The nerve of him.' I was grinding my teeth, flashes of my past life flooding my mind.
Back then, when my parents had decided to give me a villa as part of my dowry, my sister-in-law went ballistic. Regina drank that pesticide in a fit of rage and ended up in a coma. Instead of blaming me, Shane didn’t even bat an eye. He handed me the rare-colored toy dog I’d wanted for so long. I loved it so much I even slept with it at night.
But then things got weird.
The dog, which had been sweet and docile, suddenly snapped and bit me.
Hard.
I had to rush to the clinic for a rabies shot, and when I returned, the whole room was a disaster. Poop and pee everywhere, my clothes chewed up, and worst of all? My wedding photos with Oliver—ruined.
When I opened the door, there it was: the dog, lying on the bed like it had won, showing off a row of sharp teeth, smirking like it was in control.
I froze. Cold sweat dripped down my back.
Then I screamed.
Shane rushed in, but when I tried to explain what I’d seen, he didn’t believe me.
Even Oliver stood there, speechless, shaking his head. "Cici is so well-behaved. There’s no way it could destroy the house. You must be mistaken or just trying to make it look bad."
I tried to argue, but Shane cut me off, saying, "If you don’t like it, I’ll send Cici away after the engagement."
That night, just before the engagement, Oliver helped me put on his family’s heirloom bracelet.
And then, casually, he placed my old bracelet on the dog’s paw.
That’s when everything went black.
When I woke up, I was in the body of a dog, bound and tied up in a dog meat restaurant, about to be cooked.
