The townsfolk, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, started asking what the hell was happening.
I raised my voice, yelling that I’d been kidnapped and brought here 10 years ago. The crowd fell into stunned silence.
Jethro and Melinda scrambled to cover their asses.
“He’s lying!” Melinda sobbed. “If he was really trafficked, why didn’t he say anything all these years?”
“Don’t let him fool you! He’s just throwing a tantrum because he doesn’t want to marry Gracie! We had no idea he’d be so mad like this!”
She just shed some tears, and the townfolks bought it.
They turned on me, pissed that I was making a scene. “If you didn’t want to get married, why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“And now you’re throwing accusations at Jethro’s family? What an ungrateful bastard!”
I hadn’t said anything before because I couldn’t risk my brother getting suspicious.
Everything had to play out the same way it did in my last life.
Only then would my brother stay clueless. Only then could we switch bodies back.
And sure enough, a police siren blared from the town entrance.
‘I knew it! Mom and Dad had brought the cops to find me!’
At that moment, I turned the knife toward Tavian and Faron, who were stumbling back from the backyard, clutching their stomachs.
“They’ve got trafficked women locked up in their houses! Go check if you don’t believe me!”
The townfolks erupted in chaos.
Someone muttered that nine years ago, Tavian had suddenly shown up with a baby, claiming he found it while herding sheep.
Someone else said they’d heard Faron beating a woman in the middle of the night. When asked, he’d just laughed it off as the TV.
The more they thought about it, the more my words started making sense.
One after another, they rushed toward their houses.
Realizing they were about to be exposed, Tavian and Faron lost it. They didn’t give a damn about Gracie anymore—they came straight for me, fists flying.
I never actually planned to hurt her, so I let them knock the knife from my hands.
They kicked me to the ground. Tavian grabbed a shovel nearby and brought it down on me with full force.
“No!”
Gracie screamed, but Jethro and Melinda held her back.
I felt something warm trickle down my forehead, and my ears rang.
‘These bastards are really gonna kill me!’
I curled up, shielding my head as Tavian and Faron stomped and punched me.
Then, a sharp, commanding voice rang out from the doorway.