After I Was Reborn, I Tore Out the Entire Town’s Renovations

In my first life, I provided free designs and materials at cost, only for my hometown to brand me a greedy fraud.

They destroyed my studio and left me with nothing—all because another woman promised to renovate their homes for twenty thousand dollars instead of eighty thousand.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day they surrounded my studio and demanded refunds.

This time, I didn’t explain.

I returned every cent, then personally removed their flooring, lights, appliances, and furniture.

As for how long the new homes they bought for twenty thousand dollars would remain livable—

That was no longer my problem.

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The shouting outside woke me. I sat up and stared at the room.

My studio. My desk. The drawings I'd thought I would never see again.

Someone pounded on the front door.

I knew that sound. I'd heard it on the morning everything started to fall apart.

Had I really come back?

I opened the door. Vanessa Cole stood on the step with a phone mounted on a gimbal. Behind her, my clients crowded the sidewalk.

Vanessa had just returned from college in the city. In my first life, she'd turned this town against me and led the online harassment that followed. Now she whispered to Mrs. Parker, who stood at her shoulder, and thrust the camera toward my face.

"This is her. Take a good look, everyone."

I gripped the doorframe. The studio behind me was still intact.

"We're closed today," I said. "Please leave."

Vanessa laughed. "You call this a renovation studio? With what you charge, I'd call it a scam."

The people behind her nodded. I'd measured their rooms, drawn their plans, and helped them choose finishes. Now they watched me as if they'd caught me stealing.

"You didn't call me a scammer when I measured your homes for free," I said. "Or when I drew up your plans and revised the layouts without charging you."

I'd been born here. After finishing my studies, I'd come back to open the studio and do something useful for the people I'd grown up around.

In my first life, they'd smashed that studio after believing Vanessa.

Mrs. Parker pushed forward. "How were we supposed to know what you were doing? If Vanessa hadn't told us, we'd still be paying whatever you asked. She's a college graduate. Why would she lie?"

Then she looked me up and down.

"After your father died, you left with your mother. Who knows what you learned out there?"

My grip tightened. I wanted to tell her to keep my father out of it, but Vanessa tilted the phone closer, waiting.

I remembered what she'd done with my anger the first time.

I faced the camera.

"The materials I use are certified for indoor use and meet emissions standards. I select them myself. You can see the itemized costs, along with the measurements, drawings, and design work I've provided for free."

"Oh, please." Vanessa waved that away. "I spent three years in the city. I know what a renovation costs. My classmate had her entire place done for twenty thousand dollars. Nearly eleven hundred square feet, with all the furniture included."

She pointed at me.

"You're charging eighty thousand. How do you justify that?"

Twenty thousand wouldn't cover the materials and labor for what she was promising. I'd tried to explain that before. Every figure I'd offered had become another excuse for them to shout.

"Do you know how long it takes us to save eighty thousand?" a man called. "That's enough to pay for my son's wedding!"

"You're pocketing sixty thousand on each home!"

"Give it back. All the money you cheated us out of."

I could already hear my old answers: the hours I'd worked, the quality of the materials, the money I'd saved them. I'd stood in this doorway and argued until my throat hurt. They hadn't listened then, either.

Vanessa held the camera steady, waiting for me to lose my temper.

I let go of the doorframe.

"All right," I said. "I'll give every one of you a full refund."