The Cat That Replaced Me

My husband who never liked pets suddenly adopted a stray cat.

He said he could hear the cat's thoughts, and that it had come to repay a debt of gratitude by helping him become a billionaire.

He named the cat Bella.

Bella says that before I become a billionaire, I need to sleep with her every night so I can absorb her fortune energy.

He pushed me out of the master bedroom and locked the door.

The next day, I developed a 104F fever from the drafty storage room and begged him to take me to the hospital.

But he locked me inside the storage room instead:

"Bella says you just need to drink some hot water and you'll be fine. This is a critical periodwe can't go out, or it'll break my fortune flow."

"Once I become a billionaire, you'll have more money than you could ever spend!"

But the storage room caught fire by accident. I was burned to death, my body charred beyond recognition.

After I died, I suspected my husband was having an affair and had just used the cat as an excuse

deliberately killing me so he could be with his lover.

But as my soul floated in the air, I watched my husband clutching my burned corpse, sobbing uncontrollably:

"I just wanted to give you a better life. How did I end up killing you instead? Without you, what's the point of having all this money?"

Then he opened the window, held the cat tight, and jumped.

When I woke up again, I had returned to the day my husband adopted the cat.

I stared at that cat, determined to find out why he obeyed it so completely.

"Honey, if we just adopt this cat, we'll get rich!"

"I can hear this cat's thoughts. She says she's here to repay a debt of gratitude and will help me become a billionaire."

Lucas walked through the door carrying a filthy black stray cat, his eyes glinting with something manic.

In my previous life, Lucas had been so allergic to cat fur that he broke out in hives.

I'd taken care of him for an entire month, and after that, he'd been terrified of animals.

But with this black cat, he acted like he was under a spell, throwing all caution to the wind.

Later, to be alone with the cat, he'd banished me to the storage roomwhere I'd died of a high fever.

I looked at that cat, my grip tightening around the mop handle.

I knew I had been reborn.

"Emma, why aren't you saying anything?"

Lucas frowned when I didn't respond:

"Whether you agree or not, I've decided to keep her!"

I snapped back to reality, pushed down my thoughts, and forced a gentle smile:

"Of course not. If she's here to repay a debt, then she's an honored guest in our home. She can stay!"

Lucas seemed momentarily stunned.

The black cat in his arms was staring at me intently with those eerie green eyes.

Maybe I was imagining it, but I could swear I saw something in those eyesa cruel, human kind of mockery.

Lucas relaxed and stroked the cat's head gently:

"From now on, she's our precious baby. Let's call her Bella!"

Lucas carried the cat into the bathroom to give her a bath himself.

This man who made me wash his dirty socks was now crouching by the bathtub,

testing the water temperature over and over, washing the cat with tender care.

In my previous life, I'd suspected Lucas was having an affair and that the cat was just his excuse to kill me.

But after I died, my soul watched Lucas jump off the building with the cat in his arms.

If he just wanted to run off with a mistress, I was already deadwhy would he kill himself too?

There had to be a secret I didn't know.

While Lucas was out buying cat food, I posted a reward notice in our building's residents' group chat, hoping to find the cat's owner and get some clues.

Unfortunately, my message went nowhere. Either no one had seen the cat, or they assumed it was spam.

Only one message caught my attention.

Someone told me to get rid of the cat immediatelyor else there'd be minor troubles at best, and a deadly disaster at worst.

I was about to reply when Lucas came home with armfuls of shopping bags. He saw what was on my phone, and his expression darkened.

"You can't even stand me having a cat? How much does keeping a cat even cost? One bottle of your skincare products could feed her for months!"

"Emma, I never thought you'd say one thing and do another!"

I quickly explained:

"This cat appeared so suddenly. I just wanted to make sure she didn't belong to someone else. If we get attached and then the owner shows up wanting her back, that would be awkward."

Hearing my explanation, Lucas's expression softened, though he still muttered:

"Bella only has one ownerme!"

Then he started unpacking all sorts of fancy gift boxes filled with high-end custom pet clothes for Bella.

He held up a little pink dress against her body, his eyes full of adoration:

"Bella would look so cute in this!"

I glanced at the price tag. The little dress cost $9,999.

Just yesterday, he'd yelled at me for an hour about being wasteful because I bought a $9.99 T-shirt.

I swallowed my bitterness and pretended to be concerned:

"You bought Bella so many clothes. That must have cost a fortune?"

Lucas waved dismissively:

"So what if I spend money on Bella? She'll give me back way more!"

Bella was curled up in Lucas's arms, those green eyes looking at me with a challenge. She even stuck out her tongue and licked his fingers.

Lucas looked intoxicated by it, and that overwhelming sense of wrongness hit me again.

To prove his point, he pulled out a stack of scratch tickets.

"This is Bella's power!"

I flipped through them. Ten scratch ticketsand they'd won 0-02,000!

Seeing my stunned expression, Lucas said smugly:

"Take good care of her, and once she helps me become a billionaire, this will be nothing!"

"Bella..." I repeated the name unconsciously.

Then it hit me like lightning. While Lucas and the cat were playing happily together,

I made an excuse about looking for something and slipped into the storage room. With trembling hands, I opened Lucas's treasured college yearbook that he'd kept all these years.

Sure enough, I found the name.

It belonged to Lucas's dead first love, Sophia Morgan. In her personal info section, her nickname was clearly written: Bella.

I forced down the storm of emotions inside me and walked out holding the yearbook, deliberately putting on a jealous act:

"Honey, are you still not over her? You even named your 'grateful cat' after her?"

Lucas's hand froze mid-stroke on the cat's fur, and his face immediately darkened:

"Emma, will you ever let this go? What you fell in love with was exactly thishow I sold everything I had to pay for her treatment. That's the kind of man I am!"

"Sophia's dead. What's the point of being jealous of a dead woman?"

Five years ago, Sophia had terminal cancer, but Lucas never left her side. He went deep into debt trying to save her.

I happened to be Sophia's nurse at the time. I witnessed their undying love and thought he was a rare man of true devotion.

After Sophia passed away, I started pursuing him.

I stuck with him through the hard times, helped him pay off his debts, and married him even when he had nothing.

But now I realizedall of Lucas's devotion had only ever been for Sophia.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a friend request. It was from that person who'd warned me about the disaster.

Your family will face catastrophe within three days! Get rid of that cat immediately!

I accepted the request, then asked building management to look into the cat.

They were efficient. By evening, they sent me their findings.

But the results were disappointing. It was just an ordinary stray cat.

Plenty of the elderly residents who fed strays had seen it around. It probably wandered over from another neighborhood looking for food, and Lucas happened to spot it and bring it home.

After thinking it over, I concluded: if there was nothing wrong with the cat, then the problem had to be with the person.

After dinner, I heard clattering noises from the master bedroom.

Then Lucas threw my belongings out the door.

"What... what's going on?" I pretended to be shocked.

Lucas pointed matter-of-factly toward the storage room:

"Bella says that before I become a billionaire, I need to sleep with her every night so she can transfer her fortune energy to me."

I was about to argue when he handed me a lottery ticket.

It had won $40,000!

"See? This is Bella's power!"

"Just make do in the storage room for now. If you're around, she gets distracted during the energy transfer, and the fortune won't reach meyou might even attract bad luck!"

"Once we're rich, honey, I'll buy you anything you want!"

I was stunned inside, but outwardly I put on the look of a wronged wife:

"But there's not even a bed in the storage room..."

Lucas cut me off impatiently:

"So what if you sleep on the floor? No pain, no gain."

"Rememberdon't come anywhere near the master bedroom without my permission."

The black cat perched on his shoulder, silently baring her teeth at me, her eyes gleaming with a victor's triumph.

"Okay, honey. You focus on receiving the fortune energy. I'll be waiting for you to give me the good life."

Right in front of me, Lucas slammed the master bedroom door shut with a bang.

Then came the sound of the lock clicking into place.

I turned and walked into the storage room, pulled out my phone, and opened the surveillance app.

While he was out buying things for the cat, I'd secretly installed a hidden camera in the bedroom.

On the screen, Lucas was holding the cat close, gently stroking her now and then.

Man and cat, heads together, gradually drifting off to sleep.

The scene looked completely normal, but an invisible terror wrapped itself tightly around me.

In my previous life, I was burned alive in this drafty storage room. I couldn't take that risk again.

Quietly, I packed a few clothes and slipped out the door, checking into a nearby hotel.

For several days in a row, Lucas insisted I sleep in the storage room, claiming that if I slept in the wrong position, it would affect his fortune.

So I did the same thing every nightI'd go sleep at the hotel, then sneak back to the storage room in the morning.

When Lucas noticed I looked refreshed every day, he asked curiously:

"Is sleeping in the storage room really that comfortable?"

My heart skipped a beat, and I quickly denied it.

That night, Lucas suddenly showed up to check on the storage room. I was prepared and pretended to be groggy from sleep.

"Honey, can I please move back to the bedroom? I keep feeling like something's pressing down on me in here and I can't breathe."

Lucas's suspicious expression suddenly relaxed, and he smiled reassuringly:

"Just hang in there a couple more days, honey. Once Bella helps me become a billionaire, you can sleep wherever you want!"

Then he carried the black cat back to the master bedroom.

I wasn't lying. In my previous life, every night I slept in the storage room, I felt like something was crushing my chest, making it hard to breathe. I'd always thought something was wrong with my body.

Now it seemed like this storage room might be hiding something sinister.

While Lucas was out, I searched the entire storage room.

In a corner, I discovered several creepy-looking talismans! I was starting to get an idea of what was going on.

The next day, I knocked on the master bedroom door with a deathly pale face and purple lips:

"Honey... please open the door..."

"I have a fever. I feel terrible. Please take me to the hospital!"

Through the glass, Lucas noticed my complexion and first looked delighted, then shouted angrily:

"Hospital? Bella already told methis is just your body expelling negative energy. It's a normal reaction."

"But I'm running a 104-degree fever..."

Lucas cut me off impatiently:

"This is a critical period. We can't go out, or we'll leak fortune energy and ruin my path to becoming a billionaire."

"Honey, for the sake of our future good life, just tough it out a little longer."

Desperate, I pounded on the door:

"Please just open the door and look at me. I really can't take it anymore..."

Silence from inside for two seconds:

"Emma, just hang in there. I'm doing this for your own good. Once I become a billionaire, you'll have more happiness than you can handle!"

I pulled out the pregnancy test I'd preparedthe one showing two linesand said with tears in my voice:

"But I'm pregnant!"

The door flew open. Lucas stood in the doorway, and when he saw my deathly pale face, a flash of panic crossed his eyes:

"Honey, I'm worried the fever will hurt the baby. Will you please take me to the hospital?"

"Pregnant women shouldn't be around cats. It's bad for the baby. Maybe... we should rehome Bella for now?"

"No!"

He practically roared it, his face turning ashen.

My heart sank as I stared at him:

"It's just a cat. Is she really more important than our child?"

"Are you hiding something from me?"

Lucas was clearly rattled. His eyes darted away, and it took him several seconds to force out a response:

"Don't overthink this. Trust meyou'll feel better soon."

He reached out to help me up, but suddenly came a soft "meow~"

Lucas snatched his hand back, his expression instantly darkening:

"This is all your fault. What are you screaming about? You woke up Bella! If she doesn't rest properly, how is she supposed to bring me fortune?"

The door slammed shut. From inside came the sound of him cooing at Bella.

I slid down to the floor, my back against the door, my entire body cold.

The last shred of hope I had for this man crumbled completely.

I pulled out my phone, found that person's contact, and had just finished sending a message when Lucas suddenly burst out.

He stormed into the storage room and pointed at the cross around my neck:

"Take off that cross and give it to Bella."

"Bella says the cross will help her gather wealth better, and help me achieve my dream of getting rich faster."

I instinctively clutched my chest and stepped back warily:

"No. This is the only thing I have left from my mother. I can't give it to a cat."

"Honey, it's just a piece of silver. Is it more important than our family's fortune? Once I'm rich, I'll buy you ten of thema hundred!"

Lucas lost his patience. He lunged forward, grabbed a fistful of my hair to force my head back, and roughly yanked at the red cord with his other hand.

The cord snapped. A burning sting flared across my neck, but it was nothing compared to the coldness in my heart.

He didn't even glance at me. He turned and gently hung the cross around the black cat's neck:

"Bella, it looks so pretty on you. This is yours now!"

The black cat rubbed affectionately against his hand, straightening up and glancing at me as if showing off.

"Crack!" A sharp shattering sound. The cross lay in pieces on the floor.

The black cat was smugly licking her pawshe had clearly knocked it off on purpose.

"Bella, you little troublemaker!"

Lucas didn't scold her at all. Instead, he picked her up adoringly and kissed her:

"Breaking it is good'shattered' sounds like 'safe' in Chinese. Out with the old, in with the new. Bella's just helping me dispel bad luck!"

I stumbled forward and picked up the fragments one by one with trembling hands.

The sharp edges cut my fingers. The pain was excruciating.

This was the last memento from my mother, and now it was destroyed too.

"Meow~"

The black cat let out a satisfied, drawn-out cry, as if mocking my futile efforts.

"Enough. Stop standing there looking so miserableit's depressing."

Lucas frowned and waved his hand dismissively.

"Clean that up. All those sharp pieces everywherewhat if they hurt Bella's paws?"

Then he turned and walked away, carrying the cat.

I cradled the broken cross, tears streaming down my face.

Just then, my phone buzzed.

I struggled to pull it out. Just one short line of text, but it made me instantly alert, my blood running cold:

"Your home has been set up with a 'Soul Exchange Formation'! Run while you still can!"

The overwhelming terror crushed my grief.

I tiptoed toward the front door.

One step.

Two steps...

I gripped the door handle and pressed down gently.

Click! The door opened.

Joy surged through me. I was about to rush out.

A large hand suddenly reached from behind me, slamming the door shut with force:

"Honey, you've been reborn too, haven't you?"