The moment Aria Bennett reached for the door handle inside the tiger enclosure, I knew I was about to watch the woman who murdered me make the same deadly mistake all over again.
Chapter 1
“Watch closely, everybody,” she told the camera, flashing the dazzling smile that had earned her three hundred thousand followers. “Today, I’m going to prove that even a tiger knows when someone has a kind heart.”
I sat across from her in the company minivan, my fingers trembling against the cold metal of my seat belt. Outside the windshield, a large wooden sign warned visitors to keep all doors and windows locked. Beyond it stretched the grassy hills of Cedar Ridge Wildlife Safari, a private animal park outside Knoxville, Tennessee.
Somehow, impossibly, I was alive again.
Only moments earlier, I had been lying in the dirt with a tiger’s jaws closing around me. I remembered the unbearable pain, the smell of wet grass, and Aria’s terrified voice insisting she hadn’t pushed me. Then darkness had swallowed everything.
Now the same afternoon was beginning again.
“Emma, what’s wrong with you?” Aria asked, turning her phone toward me. “You look like somebody just walked over your grave.”
Several coworkers laughed. I nearly laughed myself, though there was nothing funny about it.
“You should put that phone away,” I said quietly. “We’re entering the predator section.”
Aria rolled her eyes. “There she goes again. Everybody, meet Emma Parker, our office safety inspector. Apparently, we’re not allowed to have fun unless she approves it.”
Ryan Miller, our sales coordinator, chuckled from the back seat. “Come on, Emma. Aria knows animals better than anybody I’ve ever met. Have you seen her videos?”
Of course I had.
Aria worked in social media marketing at our advertising agency. At twenty-six, she had built a following around videos of herself supposedly communicating with animals. Stray cats approached her. Dogs obeyed her commands. Farm animals ate from her hands.
Her followers called her the Animal Whisperer.
What they never considered was how carefully those videos were arranged, edited, and presented. A friendly dog responding to a treat became evidence of a supernatural connection. A hungry llama approaching a fence became proof that animals recognized her pure intentions.
And Aria believed every word of her own publicity.
Our department manager, Ethan Hart, turned from the passenger seat. “All right, everybody, settle down. Aria, get your footage, but keep it safe. Emma, try to enjoy yourself for once.”
Those were almost exactly the words he had spoken before I died.
I looked at Daniel Reed, who was driving. “Are the doors locked?”
“Pretty sure,” he answered.
“Please check.”
Ethan sighed. “Emma, Daniel knows how to drive.”
“Then checking won’t hurt anything.”
Daniel pressed the master lock. Three sharp clicks sounded through the van.
Three doors that hadn’t been secured.
My stomach twisted.
Aria smiled sweetly into her camera. “See what I deal with at work? She’s terrified of everything.”
I said nothing. Instead, I discreetly started recording on my phone.
I photographed the posted safety instructions, then opened the park’s emergency contact page. I entered our vehicle description and explained that a passenger had brought animal treats and appeared likely to attempt an unauthorized encounter.
A response arrived almost immediately.
A patrol ranger had been alerted. We were instructed to remain inside the vehicle and keep every door locked.
I saved the message.
Outside, two magnificent tigers rested beneath a stand of trees. One stretched lazily in the afternoon sunlight. The other raised its head as our van approached.
Aria leaned toward the window.
“Oh, look at that beautiful baby.”
“It’s a tiger,” I said.
“I know what it is, Emma.”
“Then remember what it can do.”
She turned toward me, her expression hardening. “You really can’t stand seeing somebody else succeed, can you?”
I stared at her.
In my previous life, I had tried desperately to stop her from leaving the van. I’d argued, pleaded, and warned her until everyone accused me of ruining the company outing.
When Aria finally jumped out, I had watched her wave a feather toy at a tiger and scatter freeze-dried treats across the grass.
The tiger had charged.
Aria had run screaming around the van, ignoring the open door on her own side. She’d come straight to me, pounding on my window, begging me to pull her inside.
I had opened my door.
I had reached for her.
And the moment her fingers closed around my wrist, she had dragged me toward the ground.
I remembered looking into her eyes and understanding that she wasn’t trying to climb into the van. She was trying to put someone else between herself and the tiger.
Then she shoved me backward and slammed the door.
In the final seconds of my life, I heard her screaming that I’d fallen out by accident.
This time, I tightened my seat belt.
Aria reached into her pink canvas tote and pulled out a small package of treats.
“Those aren’t for the tigers, are they?” I asked.
She quickly tucked them behind her purse.
“They’re for the stray cats near the visitor center. Why do you have to question everything?”
I angled my phone toward her.
“Because the rules specifically prohibit feeding the animals.”
Ethan frowned. “Emma, enough. Nobody’s feeding anything.”
Aria laughed at her camera. “You heard the boss. We’re all responsible adults here.”
Ahead, a white park vehicle slowed near the main viewing area. Daniel eased off the accelerator.
A tiger lay beneath an oak tree about twenty yards from the road.
Aria’s eyes widened.
“Oh, my goodness. This is perfect.”
She lifted her phone, frowned at the glare on the window, and shifted toward the sliding door.
I watched her hand move.
“Aria,” I said, “don’t touch that lock.”
She turned sharply. “Excuse me?”
“Keep the door closed.”
Her smile disappeared.
For one long moment, we stared at each other.
Then she leaned toward her livestream and whispered, loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Some people are so jealous they’d rather see you fail than let you shine.”
A second later, her thumb lifted the lock.
The sliding door opened.
And Aria Bennett stepped out into the tiger enclosure.
