Kind Zoo-Director Fiancé Freed Storm Lions; Reborn, I Complied

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In my last life, my fianc, the zoo director, my best friend, and I were trapped at the safari park by a storm.

The water kept rising, and my best friend insisted we let every caged animal out.

I fought her on it. The park had lions, tigers, even a king cobra.

Once they were loose, how many people would die because of it.

When the storm ended, my best friend looked at the drowned beasts and cried until she could barely breathe.

My fianc turned on me, his voice sharp.

"This is your fault for not releasing them. Do their lives mean nothing to you? How can you have no compassion at all?"

The livestream chat drowned me in curses, called me an animal, dug up my personal information, and mobbed me online without mercy. Some of it spilled into real life.

My father's company was boycotted across the whole internet and pushed to the edge of bankruptcy.

"Raising a daughter this cold-blooded, the father can't be anything decent either."

I tried desperately to explain that I had done it for everyone's safety.

But my fianc didn't care. He tied me up and buried me together with the drowned animals.

"Go beg their forgiveness in hell."

He announced to the world that I had killed myself out of shame, and the whole internet celebrated.

When my father heard I was dead, the shock drove him to jump from a building.

My fianc and my best friend seized the chance to grab my family's fortune, and lived free and easy.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the first day of the storm.

My best friend gripped my hand, her face all worry.

"Josie, go open all the cages. We can't let the poor animal babies drown."

I smiled and nodded, then turned and drove off through the night.

But if the two of them had so much compassion, then when the lions got hungry and started treating them as food, they could cry and beg me to save them.

......

Felicia Fox had barely finished telling me to go open the cages. Before I could even answer,

Arnold Henson's scolding hit me first.

"You won't even open a cage. Josephine Pruitt, how can you be so cold-blooded? Can't you learn to be kind like Felicia?"

I glanced at the unnatural flush on Arnold's face and sneered inside.

Arnold had always loved using Felicia to keep me down.

Felicia couldn't afford designer labels, so he called me wasteful and extravagant, forced me into cheap stall clothes.

Then he'd quietly slip my limited-edition dresses to her.

Felicia had no real skills and couldn't get into a good company, so he said going home to inherit the family business made me a good-for-nothing, and pushed me to build something from scratch on my own.

Meanwhile he and Felicia ran up my black card and opened this zoo in the name of protecting animals.

Drawing fat salaries, eating and drinking well.

Living this life over, I saw it all clearly.

These two were leeches fastened to me, sucking my money, and now they wanted my life too.

Seeing me stay silent, Arnold wanted to keep guilt-tripping me.

I cut him off.

"Fine. I'll go open the cages right now."

Arnold and Felicia exchanged a glance, the delight in their eyes impossible to hide.

I couldn't be bothered to look at them again. One more second near them made me sick.

I walked to the lion's cage. The water had already risen past the lion's paws.

The lion was starved down to skin and bone, its green eyes full of savagery as it paced restlessly back and forth in the water.

I opened the electronic lock, but I didn't dare pull the door open.

The lion had gone mad with hunger. The moment I opened that door, it could tear me to pieces right there.

Then something felt off. No one knew Arnold better than I did, and he had never been the kind of man who cared about animals.

To cut costs he fed these animals only once a day, spoiled scrap meat, and dressed it up as "hunger keeps them wild."

I couldn't stand it, so I often paid out of my own pocket to buy fresh meat as extra for them.

Why was he in such a rush to have me let the animals out today?

Then it hit me. Back when the zoo was being built, I'd worried something might happen to him, so I'd secretly installed a camera in his director's office.

I never told him, afraid he'd say I was a coward.

I pulled out my phone and opened the feed.

Arnold and Felicia were already wrapped tightly around each other, unable to wait.

Arnold was panting as he cursed me.

"That bitch Josephine, right at the crucial moment she shows up at the zoo out of nowhere, almost ruined everything for me."

Felicia leaned coyly against him.

"Good thing I'm clever. I found the excuse about releasing the animals to get her out of the way, or you'd have been in agony."

I was so furious I nearly threw the phone.

This pair of dogs rushing me to open the cages had nothing to do with compassion.

They just wanted me out of the way so they could hurry up with their filthy business.

I didn't hesitate anymore. I walked quickly to the other cages and opened every electronic lock.

Then I drove out of the zoo and sealed the main gate shut behind me.

At the gas station, I looked at the twenty-some missed calls from Arnold and Felicia on my phone, and a cold smile tugged at my lips.

I uploaded the video of them urging me to open the cages to the cloud.

The water was rising higher. Those animals would break through the cage doors soon enough. The two of them could wait to become their snacks.

But then I felt around in my handbag, and my heart went cold.

Why was the jade bracelet my mother left me gone.

I opened the security footage with shaking hands. There it was: Arnold sliding the jade bracelet onto Felicia's wrist.

"I can't believe Josephine's been hiding a piece this nice. A slut like her doesn't deserve jade this good."

"Oh, I couldn't," Felicia simpered.

But she slipped it neatly onto her wrist all the same, thrilled, with no intention of ever taking it off.

My teeth ground together.

Arnold knew perfectly well that bracelet was the only thing my mother ever left me, and he'd handed it to Felicia behind my back.

I gripped the wheel, spun the car around, and raced back to the zoo.

I pushed open the office door, and the second Arnold saw me his face darkened. He rounded on me.

"Josephine, where the hell did you go? How long does it take to open a few cages?"

"And why weren't you answering your phone?"

Felicia's eyes slid over me, insinuating, her voice sour and sly.

"In a downpour like this. You didn't sneak off to cheat on him with some other man, did you?"

I looked at the fresh red marks smudged plain as day across both their throats, and felt sick and half like laughing. These two, doing something this filthy, and still they had the nerve to cry thief first.

I dropped the burlap sack on the floor, letting the words carry their weight.

"The animals looked half starved, so I went and bought some meat."

I'd grabbed it at a supermarket on the way, just to back up the story.

Arnold's eyes flickered, and he turned his face away.

"They're just animals. So what if they go hungry a few days? Why do you even care."

I laughed coldly. A minute ago he was forcing me to release them, and now they were just animals not worth caring about. He could actually say both things out loud?

The rain came down harder. I had no time to waste on them. I stepped forward and grabbed Felicia's wrist.

"Give the bracelet back."

I'd barely used any force, but Felicia let out a shrill, agonized scream, tears springing to her eyes.

"Josie, you're hurting me!"

Arnold charged over and shoved me hard.

I lost my balance, and my lower back slammed into the sharp corner of the desk. The pain broke a cold sweat over me.

He put himself between me and Felicia and started cursing at me.

"Josephine, have you lost your mind? It's one bracelet. Do you have to be this vicious?"

"You've got so much jewelry. What's the harm in letting her wear it once?"

"It's the only thing my mother left me."

I forced the pain down and pleaded, my voice low.

"Please. Both of you. Just give it back."

Arnold had never seen me lower myself like this. He froze for a second.

Then his brow creased.

"Tch. I almost forgot. Wearing a dead person's things is bad luck."

"Felicia, take it off and give it back to her."

Felicia peeled the bracelet off, reluctant, and held it out to me.

The instant I reached for it, something cruel flashed through her eyes, and she let her fingers go slack.

A sharp crack.

The bracelet hit the floor and broke into pieces.

It felt like a knife driven straight into my heart and twisted.

My eyes went red with fury. My hand came up and swung at Felicia.

Arnold seized my wrist, then whipped his hand back and slapped me across the face.

The crack of it rang through the office. My cheek swelled at once, and blood beaded at the corner of my mouth.

"You just hurt Felicia, and you've got the nerve to raise a hand to her?"

His eyes were dark and vicious. He gave the order.

"Kneel. Apologize to Felicia!"

I refused.

He clamped a hand on my shoulder and forced me down.

He drove me onto the broken shards of jade. Blood welled up instantly and spread red across the floor.

Felicia clutched at Arnold, all false sweetness.

"Arnold, let it go. Josie's a rich man's daughter, she's got a temper. It's only right that I get pushed around."

That only made him ache for her more. He roared at me.

"Get out. Stop being an eyesore. I need to comfort Felicia."

Felicia leaned against Arnold, all coy and bashful, and shot me a smug glance.

Hatred surged up from the bottom of me, and just then a faint, dry hissing reached my ears, coming closer and closer.

The king cobra.

I bit down against the searing pain in my knees and tried to get up and leave.

But Felicia stopped me, her eyes full of suspicion.

"Josephine. I only just put that bracelet on. How did you already know?"

My heart dropped. I'd rushed in to demand the bracelet without lining up an excuse first, and now here she was, straight to my face.

There was nothing to do but lie. I let a sob into my voice and made myself look wronged.

"You've always liked stealing my things. Designer bags, jewelry. Name one you haven't taken."

"I just never made a fuss about it. But that bracelet is the only thing my mother left me. I won't let that go."

Felicia's face went scarlet in an instant. She buried it against Arnold's chest.

"Arnold, she's slandering me."

Arnold pulled her close at once and rounded on me.

"Josephine, that's enough!"

"You waste money like it's nothing. Felicia's close with you. What's wrong with her holding onto something for you?"

The whole thing was absurd. Stealing was suddenly holding onto it for me?

I had no interest in trading more words with them. I just wanted out of that room.

I turned to go, and Arnold suddenly called after me.

"Wait."

His eyes went to the security camera in the corner of the office. His brows drew tight.

"Why is there a camera in here?"

My heart jumped to my throat. All I could do was keep playing pitiful.

"I was worried about you. Afraid something might happen to you at the zoo, so I put a camera in without telling you."

"It was so long ago I forgot all about it."

Arnold looked half-convinced. But Felicia snatched my phone away and started scrolling, fingers flying.

She found the camera's viewing history fast, and her face changed.

"Arnold, she's lying!"

"She just watched the footage. She already knows about us!"

The blood drained from my face. My mouth opened and closed several times, and no excuse came.

Arnold's eyes turned vicious in a heartbeat. He grabbed the phone and slammed it hard against the floor.

The phone shattered at once.

"Josephine, don't even think about leaving!"

I fought with everything I had, but I was no match for him.

He bound my hands and feet tight with rope, dragged me to the storage room, and hurled me inside.

There was no point in the act anymore. I screamed at them.

"Arnold, Felicia, you two dogs deserve to die."

Felicia dropped the act too and let out a cold laugh.

"Arnold, since she already knows we're sleeping together, why not just dump her?"

Arnold blurted it out.

"No!"

Felicia froze.

She stared at him, disbelieving.

"What, do you actually love her? Was I just for fun?"

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.

Laughing until the tears came.

"You idiot. This has nothing to do with love."

"Arnold's a kept man. Why would he ever bear to let me go?"

"Everything he has, I paid for. Without me, he's nothing."

Felicia went white.

"No, that's not possible. Arnold, didn't you say you were the one supporting Josephine?"

"How could she be the one giving you money?"

Arnold hadn't expected me to expose him to her face. His face cycled through green and white.

He scrambled to twist it around.

"Felicia, you're the only one I love."

"But I had no choice. Josephine's been funding me since high school. She forced me to date her, said if I refused she'd make me pay it all back."

"I was backed into a corner."

I laughed, furious.

He'd chased me for a whole year before I ever said yes.

After we got together, he was terrified people would call him a kept man. I was the one supporting him, and still he made me play along.

Told everyone he earned the money and kept me.

And now, somehow, I was the one who'd forced him.

Felicia was quiet for a few seconds. Then she spoke, all sweetness, in a voice cold enough to chill the blood.

"Arnold, I believe you."

"But an idiot like Josephine doesn't deserve all that money."

"Let's lock her in the storage room and let her starve. No one left to tell the tale."

"And then the whole Pruitt fortune is ours."

It was like being dropped into ice.

These two animals were deranged enough to go that far.

After they left, the lions' roaring grew more and more frantic.

I knew what it meant. The water was rising, and those cornered beasts were about to ram the cage doors open and pour into the office.

When that happened, they'd throw me out first, feed me to them.

I gave a bitter laugh and closed my eyes.

At least I'd left myself a backup.

Just before, I'd uploaded the footage of them together, of them forcing me to open the cage, to the cloud.

With that evidence, even if I died, those two would never get away.

And my father would be safe. He wouldn't be driven to jump off a building, the way he was in my last life.

Right then, there was a deafening crash.

A large hole broke open in the storage room wall.

I looked toward it, and my eyes went wide with shock.

The moment I saw who it was, the tears broke loose all at once.

It was my father. But I didn't understand.

"Dad, how did you get here?"

He hurried to my side and pulled out a small knife to cut the rope.

"Silly girl, did you forget? Your cloud storage runs on my account."

"The second you uploaded that video, I got the alert."

"I saw what was on it and drove straight here to get you out."

Only then did I remember. Back when I was starting out and couldn't afford a cloud storage membership, I'd just used my father's.

I never imagined it would save my life at the one moment that mattered.

He steadied me and eased us carefully through the broken hole in the wall, dropping his voice low.

"Don't make a sound. I didn't tip off Arnold or Felicia. We slip out quietly."

I nodded and stayed close behind him.

The water was already up to our calves, and in the grass along the path, several king cobras had slithered out.

Tongues flicking, hissing, the sight of them made my scalp crawl.

We reached the parking lot. My father started the car and got us out fast.

I looked back once at the black shape of the zoo and pressed the remote lock for the main gate on my phone.

Arnold. Felicia. Weren't the two of you the ones so full of love, so devoted to animals?

Then stay right here and find out what a living hell feels like.

Back in the office, Arnold and Felicia were still wrapped up in each other, dreaming aloud about all their happy days to come.

"Arnold, once Josephine's dead, we get married and take everything the Pruitts have."

Felicia nestled against him, her voice sugary.

He held her, smug.

"Mm. That idiot Josephine, I strung her along right into an engagement."

"Once she's gone, I'll play the devoted son to her father for a couple of years, then find a way to finish him off too."

"And the whole Pruitt fortune falls to me, nice and clean."

The two of them, faces fully unmasked now, egged each other on, the talk getting warmer and warmer.

Caught up in it, they even played to the security camera on purpose, whispering and pawing at each other.

With no idea at all that every word, every move, was already being recorded and sent to the cloud.

The rain came down all night, and the water rose like something gone mad.

Early the next morning, Felicia got out of bed at her leisure.

She wandered to the window, sucked in a sharp breath, and screamed.

"Arnold, this is bad, the water's almost up to the office!"

He rushed over, looked out, and his face went to pieces too.

Of the whole zoo, the highest ground was the director's office.

Everywhere else had long since drowned under the rain.

Felicia was still dabbing at fake tears.

"My animal babies, please, please be okay"

But Arnold didn't praise her tender heart the way he had before. His face had gone bone white.

"Wait. Josephine said yesterday she opened every cage!"

The two of them looked at each other, eyes filled with terror.

They bolted like mad for the storage room and yanked the lock open.

The door had barely swung wide when several dark shapes came at them on a wave of rank, bloody air.

Arnold and Felicia were scared out of their minds, and a shriek tore through the sky.