I stared at the photograph for several seconds.

White sheets.

Hotel coffee.

The corner of a man’s jacket on the chair.

Sofia had made sure enough of it appeared in the frame.

I typed:

“Oh no. What happened?”

Three dots appeared immediately.

Then disappeared.

Then appeared again.

Finally:

“Victor and I talked all night. One thing led to another. I feel horrible.”

I smiled.

Exactly the same script.

Different man.

I replied:

“Did he tell you anything important?”

Her answer came almost instantly.

“Just that he hasn’t felt this understood in years.”

That was interesting.

Because Victor Moore had a wife.

Not merely a wife.

Camila Reyes.

Sofia’s older cousin.

The same cousin whose wedding Sofia had attended six years earlier.

The same cousin she constantly claimed she “barely knew anymore.”

And the same woman whose marriage Victor kept secret at work because Camila was the daughter of one of the company’s largest shareholders.

In my previous life, Sofia had known exactly who Victor was.

She slept with him anyway.

Then when the affair exploded, she cried and insisted she had no idea.

Victor lost his position.

Camila divorced him.

Two families tore each other apart.

And somehow, Sofia remained the victim.

Not this time.

I called Camila.

“Clara?”

“We haven’t spoken in years. I’m sorry.”

She laughed softly.

“You sound terrifyingly serious.”

“I need to ask you something about Victor.”

Silence.

Then:

“What did he do?”

Not what do you mean?

What did he do?

That told me enough.

“Are you still married?”

“Yes.”

“Does Sofia know?”

Another silence.

“Of course she knows. She was at our wedding.”

Perfect.

I closed my eyes.

“Camila, I think we need to meet.”

Three hours later, she was sitting across from me in a café.

I showed her everything.

My posts.

Sofia’s messages.

The hotel photograph.

Camila stared at it for a long time.

Then she laughed.

It wasn’t a happy sound.

“That idiot.”

“Which one?”

“Both.”

Fair enough.

Then she looked at me.

“Why did you encourage this?”

I could hardly tell her I had returned from another life.

So I gave her the part of the truth she could understand.

“Sofia slept with my boyfriend last week and claimed she did it to test his loyalty.”

Camila’s expression changed.

“She said what?”

“She was helping me.”

“And you suspected she’d do it again?”

“Yes.”

“With Victor.”

“Yes.”

Camila leaned back.

“You’re insane.”

“Possibly.”

Then, unexpectedly, she smiled.

“I like you.”

The following Monday, Sofia arrived at my office carrying pastries.

She hugged me dramatically.

“Clari, I’ve felt terrible all weekend.”

“I can imagine.”

Victor had not arrived yet.

“How could he do this to you?” she whispered.

“To me?”

She squeezed my hand.

“I know you liked him.”

“I never said that.”

“But obviously there was something.”

I tilted my head.

“So what exactly happened?”

She lowered her eyes.

“He kissed me.”

“Only kissed?”

Her silence answered.

I nodded thoughtfully.

“So you tested him.”

Her face brightened.

“Yes. Exactly.”

“And he failed.”

“Completely.”

“Then thank you.”

Her smile faltered.

“What?”

“Thank you, Sofia.”

I squeezed her hand.

“You saved me again.”

She stared at me.

That wasn’t what she wanted.

She wanted tears.

Accusations.

Competition.

She wanted proof that she had taken something from me.

Instead, I looked delighted.

“You’re such a good friend.”

Her mouth tightened.

“Clara, are you making fun of me?”

“Why would I? This is what you do, right? You test men for women you care about.”

Before she could answer, the elevator opened.

Victor walked out.

He saw Sofia.

Then me.

His expression became uncomfortable.

“Clara, can we talk?”

“Absolutely.”

I stood.

“But someone else wanted to join us.”

The elevator opened again.

Camila stepped out.

Victor stopped breathing.

Sofia’s face went white.

Camila wore red.

Beautiful.

Elegant.

Terrifying.

“Good morning, husband.”

Nobody in the office moved.

Victor looked like he wanted the building to collapse.

“Camila.”

Sofia whispered:

“Cousin…”

Camila turned toward her.

“Oh, good. You remember we’re related.”

Sofia immediately started crying.

“Camila, please, I didn’t know—”

I interrupted.

“That’s strange.”

Everyone looked at me.

I opened my phone.

“You commented on their wedding photos.”

Sofia froze.

I read aloud:

‘My gorgeous cousin finally found her perfect man. Love you both forever.’

The office went silent.

Camila slowly looked at Sofia.

“You didn’t know?”

Sofia’s lips trembled.

“That was years ago. I didn’t recognize him.”

Victor actually closed his eyes.

Even he knew how ridiculous that sounded.

Camila didn’t scream.

She simply removed her wedding ring.

She placed it in Victor’s hand.

“My attorney will contact you.”

Then she looked at Sofia.

“And you can explain to Aunt Teresa why you needed to ‘test’ my husband.”

Sofia turned toward me.

Her expression changed completely.

The tears disappeared.

“You did this.”

Finally.

There she was.

Not fragile Sofia.

Not misunderstood Sofia.

The real one.

“You knew.”

I smiled.

“I knew Victor was married.”

“You set me up!”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“I introduced you to a man.”

“You knew I would—”

She stopped.

Too late.

I raised an eyebrow.

“I knew you would what?”

Everyone was listening.

Sofia looked around.

For the first time, she understood the trap.

If she accused me of knowing she would sleep with Victor, she would have to admit that seducing my partners was a pattern.

Her face twisted.

“You’re disgusting.”

“No, Sofia.”

I stepped closer.

“I never forced Daniel into your hotel room.”

Her face went pale.

“I never forced Victor into your bed.”

I lowered my voice.

“And I certainly didn’t force you to betray your own cousin.”

She slapped me.

The entire office gasped.

I touched my cheek.

Then laughed.

Sofia stared at me as if I had gone insane.

Maybe I had.

Because in my previous life, I had spent years afraid of this woman.

And suddenly she looked very small.

Security escorted her out.

Victor resigned before the end of the week.

Camila filed for divorce.

And my friend group?

That was my favorite part.

Laura wrote:

“Okay, sleeping with your cousin’s husband is different.”

I replied:

“Why?”

No answer.

Marina tried:

“Sofia obviously has issues.”

I wrote:

“She had issues when she slept with Daniel too.”

Silence.

Then Andrés:

“Maybe we judged you too harshly.”

Maybe.

I left the group.

Every single one of them.

I had spent my first life trying to convince people that betrayal hurt.

My second life would not be wasted explaining basic decency.

Daniel tried to come back two months later.

Apparently Sofia had lost interest in him almost immediately after “winning.”

He waited outside my building with flowers.

“I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

“I know.”

“I still love you.”

“That sounds inconvenient.”

He stared at me.

“Can we start again?”

I smiled.

“No.”

And for the first time, rejecting him felt better than being chosen.

Years passed.

I dated differently this time.

I stopped hiding men from Sofia because Sofia was no longer in my life.

I stopped wondering whether every beautiful woman was competition.

And most importantly, I stopped confusing history with friendship.

Knowing someone for ten years doesn’t make them loyal.

Sometimes it only means you tolerated them for ten years.

Eventually, I met someone.

Not the man I had married in my previous life.

Someone else.

His name was Adrian.

On our third date, I told him the strangest version of the truth I could manage.

“I used to have a friend who slept with my boyfriends to test whether they deserved me.”

He nearly choked on his wine.

“That’s not a friend.”

Four words.

That simple.

No excuses for Sofia.

No lecture about forgiveness.

No suggestion that I should be grateful.

Just:

That’s not a friend.

I think that was when I first fell in love with him.

Two years later, when Adrian proposed, I said yes without fear.

At our wedding, Camila was one of my bridesmaids.

Sofia wasn’t invited.

Neither were the people who had spent years teaching me to tolerate her.

Someone later told me Sofia still complained that I had ruined her life.

I laughed.

Because Sofia had been right about one thing all along.

Sometimes people really do need to be tested.

She had spent years testing the men in my life.

But when I woke up in the past, I finally tested her.

I gave her one temptation she absolutely should have refused.

And she proved exactly who she had always been.

The difference was that this time…

I believed the result.