Reincarnation Failed, I Became A Cat To Save The True Heiress Chapter 01

Reincarnation Failed, I Became A Cat To Save The True Heiress Chapter 01

I spent three hundred years punching the clock in the afterlife before I’d earned enough good karma to get another shot at living.

Except the big boss of the Underworld got blackout drunk and tossed me into the wrong body. So instead of a human life, I woke up as a fat orange cat in one of North Crest’s old-money families.

Guilted into fixing it, he added a hundred-year lifespan and one extra perk: I could understand baby talk.

I figured, fine. I was here. Might as well commit. So I settled in and grew up alongside the family’s darling daughter.

Over a decade later, she was my lifelong meal ticket, and I was the one family member she couldn’t live without.

The day she went into labor, I was camped outside the delivery room, gnawing on imported freeze-dried treats like the spoiled little king I was.

Then a tiny, wobbly voice crackled to life inside my head.

[No, no, no… don’t take me away! Daddy’s sending someone to switch me with his other daughter!]

[I don’t wanna go to an orphanage! I don’t wanna leave my mom!]

A second voice cut in, sharper, colder, dripping venom even for a newborn.

[Once I’m the main heir, I’ll push that woman and her annoying cat far out of my way forever.]

I froze mid-chew. Every hair on my body stood on end.

[Oh, absolutely not. You think because I’m fat, I won’t throw paws?]

[You’re coming for the girl I raised? Baby, you picked the wrong cat.]

I launched off my hind legs and shot toward the delivery room like a twenty-pound cannonball.

…

I blew through the private delivery suite door like it was cardboard.

I stuck the landing, a low growl rolling up from my chest, and scanned every corner of the room.

Serena Sterling, the woman I’d guarded for over a decade, was propped against the hospital bed.

White as a sheet, barely breathing.

Julian Hayes, her husband who’d married into her wealth, stood by the bed cradling a newborn girl, his whole face soft with adoration.

“Baby, you were incredible.”

“Look at her. She’s got your eyes.”

His eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice was thick with emotion.

Off to the side stood Chloe Vance, Serena’s longtime best friend.

She was dabbing the sweat from Serena’s forehead, her brow pinched with worry.

“She’s here, Serena. You did it.”

“God, she looks just like you. This girl is going to break hearts.”

Serena’s gaze found the baby, and something new softened behind her eyes, the kind of tenderness only a first-time mother knows.

Her hand reached out, trembling, to touch the baby’s cheek.

That second voice sliced through again.

[Get your hands off me! Don’t touch me, you stupid woman!]

[When I grow up, I’ll cut you off completely and hand all your assets over to my real mother.]

Every strand of fur on my body bristled straight up. My tail went puffed up like a bottlebrush.

The little monster was playing angel in Julian’s arms, but inside, she was rotten to the core.

[Somebody help me…]

[It’s so dark… and cold… something sharp is poking my back… it hurts…]

My head snapped toward the sound.

Faint. Coming from the far corner of the room.

A stainless steel medical waste cart sat against the wall.

Shoved into its bottom shelf was a bulging black trash bag.

The voice was coming from inside it.

That was her. The real baby, the one I’d spent nine months purring against Serena’s belly for.

My front claws raked the tile with a sound like nails on a chalkboard.

[You people live off this family and still pull this? Swapping her baby?]

[I will shred every last one of you. Count on it.]

I vaulted over the hospital bed and threw myself at the black bag.

With a sharp tear, my claws ripped through the plastic in one swipe.

“Oh my God, the cat’s lost it!”

Martha Jenkins, the nurse, shrieked and stumbled backward.

Julian went white. He clutched the baby to his chest and backed away.

“Serena! What is wrong with your cat?”

“It’s never done this before! Get someone in here. Keep it away from the baby!”

Chloe rushed to shield the bed, playing the loyal protector.

“Serena, cats carry diseases!”

“Did it get into something out there? It could have rabies!”

“Where is security? Get this thing out of here!”

Two guards charged in and grabbed for my scruff.

I twisted free and slashed.

“Shit!” The guard pulled his hand away sharply, a thin red streak streaked across his palm.

I planted myself on the bag and let out a yowl that shook my whole body.

[Touch this bag, and I’ll swat you hard enough to make you step back.]

[Is someone there… please… I can’t breathe…]

The voice was fading.

I clawed at the knot, teeth ripping at the plastic, desperate to get it open.

“Stop.” Serena’s voice cut through the chaos like a blade.

She hauled herself upright, and her eyes locked on me, past the guards, past Chloe, past Julian.

“That cat has been with me for twelve years. It doesn’t act like this without a reason.”

Serena’s eyes drifted to the shredded black bag. “It went straight for that bag.”

“What’s in it?”