I Terminated My Very Much Alive Family's Identities

After the college entrance exams, my parents left me at home and took their adopted daughter on a trip to the beach. A typhoon hit, and the three of them never came back.

When the news reached me, I did not cry or throw a tantrum. I had their deaths registered right away and pulled out the life insurance I had bought in advance. I received one hundred million in compensation.

My fiance scolded me for caring only about money. What he did not know was that I had been reborn.

In my past life, after I learned about their deaths, the huge debts they had left behind fell on me. I gave up the chance to go to college and started working to pay everything back. I fought to protect our ancestral home from debt collectors.

My fiance stayed with me and cheered me on when I came home late at night from delivery runs. But he never gave me a single cent to help.

At thirty-five, I finally cleared every debt. On my birthday, I bought myself a ten-dollar cake to celebrate. Just as I was about to blow out the candle, the door opened.

My parents and their adopted daughter, who should have died in the typhoon, walked in dressed in designer clothes. They smiled at me smugly.

“Well done! We can finally believe that you aren’t greedy for money. You’ve passed the test. From today, you are qualified to be the daughter of the Jameson family.”

“Jane, this brilliant idea was all thanks to you.”

My adopted sister smiled. She leaned close and blew out my candle.

The only light left in my twenty years of lifetime went out with it. My body gave in to exhaustion. My heart failed. I collapsed and died on the spot.

When I opened my eyes again, they were about to head to the beach in the middle of the typhoon.

I bought a massive accident insurance policy for them on the spot.

This time, all I wanted was for them to disappear from this world forever.

“Serena, if you’d been harsher with them, you could’ve stopped them. Why didn’t you cut your wrists or starve yourself to force them to stay?

“You’re selfish! You never cared about your family’s safety. Now, this mess is yours to clean up, and you deserve it!”

Hearing Matthew Quinn, my fiance, yelling at me, I opened my eyes in the darkness.

The day had finally come. My parents and their adopted daughter had faked their deaths, which would ultimately force me to give up my education, and take on their debts.

My lips curled into a smile before I could stop it. When Matthew saw me smiling instead of crying, he froze.

“Have you lost your mind? Your parents just died! How can you smile?”

I ignored him. I reached under my pillow, pulled out the accident insurance policy I had bought for the three of them yesterday, and held it to my chest. Tears streamed down my face as I laughed.

In my past life, Matthew had lashed out at me with the very same words.

He said that as their daughter, I should have seen the danger and risked my life to stop my parents from taking Jane Jameson, their adopted daughter, to the beach.

He told me I was cruel. He said I knew Jane’s grades were worse than mine, yet I still pushed myself to win first place in the college entrance exams. If I had scored lower, Jane would not have thrown a tantrum. My parents would not have insisted on leaving me behind to make her happy.

In his eyes, everything was my fault.

I was only eighteen at the time. I had lived in a bubble. His words had filled me with guilt. I gave up my education and shouldered ten million in debt.

I sold food at dawn, delivered meals during the day, and drove late-night ride-hailing shifts. The sun burned my skin, malnutrition turned my hair brittle, and my hands were filled with calluses from endless labor.

Many nights, I broke down in tears, but I never dared to stop. I feared ruining the Jameson family’s honor. I feared dying and seeing my parents’ disappointed eyes.

I never imagined that all of this madness had been nothing more than a test from my parents and Jane.

I was done with this game of competing with Jane for their favor. If they wanted to fake their deaths, then this time, I would send them to hell for real.