After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law

Day Three on Jaguar Ridge began with a scream.

It wasn’t a scream of terror. It was a scream of existential despair.

”A spider!” Lucas shrieked, scrambling backward on his hands and knees through the mud. ”It’s on me! Get it off! Get it off!”

Aria unzipped her tent, sipping the last of her lukewarm coffee. She watched as Lucas slapped frantically at his own leg. There was, indeed, a spider. It was the size of a dime.

”It’s a garden spider, Lucas,” Aria called out lazily. ”It eats mosquitoes. You should be thanking it.”

Lucas stopped thrashing, breathing heavily. He looked wretched. His designer clothes were stiff with dried mud, his skin was sunburnt, and his eyes were wild with lack of sleep. He looked less like the ”Prince of Showbiz” and more like a castaway who had lost his volleyball.

Bella, meanwhile, was sitting on a rock, trying to fix her hair using a puddle as a mirror. She ignored Lucas completely. The alliance of the ”Golden Couple” had dissolved into a cold war of survival.

The drone buzzed overhead, signaling the start of the day’s torture.

The massive LED screen flickered to life. Damien sat in the command center, looking fresh in a black tactical shirt.

”Good morning, campers,” Damien said, his voice smooth and terrifying. ”I trust you slept well. Or... didn’t.”

He zoomed in on Lucas’s twitching eye.

”Today’s challenge is about the most fragile currency in this industry: Trust.”

The screen shifted to show a drone feed of a nearby cliff face. A narrow, rocky ledge wound its way along the precipice, dropping two hundred feet into the churning ocean below.

”The challenge is called ’Blind Faith’,” Damien announced. ”You will traverse the cliff in pairs. One of you will be blindfolded. The other will be the Guide. The blindfolded partner must rely entirely on the Guide’s voice to survive.”

Aria stood up, dusting off her pants. ’Trust exercises. He really is enjoying this.’

”The pairs,” Damien continued, ”have been selected by me to maximize... entertainment value.”

He smiled. It was a smile that promised violence.

”Team One: Bella will guide Leo.”

Bella looked at Leo, who was currently trying to catch a butterfly. She groaned. ”I have to guide him? He’ll walk off the edge!”

”And Team Two,” Damien’s eyes locked onto Aria through the camera lens. ”Aria will guide Lucas.”

Lucas froze. He looked at the cliff. He looked at Aria.

”No,” Lucas whispered. ”No way. She hates me! She’ll kill me!”

”Refusal to participate is an automatic disqualification from the reward,” Damien said coldly. ”And Lucas? Remember, you have no supplies. If you lose today, you don’t eat tonight.”

Twenty minutes later, they stood at the edge of the cliff.

The path was narrow—maybe two feet wide. The drop was lethal.

Lucas stood trembling as a production assistant tied a thick black blindfold over his eyes.

”Aria,” Lucas whimpered, reaching out blindly. ”Please. Don’t drop me. I know I was a bad fiancé, but...”

”You weren’t a bad fiancé, Lucas,” Aria said, stepping up behind him. Her voice was calm, almost soothing. ”Just a terrible liar.”

She leaned close to his ear.

”But don’t worry. I won’t let you fall. Death is too easy.”

”Start!” the drone blared.

”Step forward,” Aria commanded.

Lucas took a shuffling step. His foot found the edge of the rock.

”Left,” Aria said. ”Three inches. Unless you want to swim.”

Lucas corrected frantically, sweating profusely.

They moved along the ledge. It was agonizingly slow. Every time Lucas hesitated, Aria’s voice would cut through his panic, guiding him with surgical precision. She was perfect. She didn’t miss a rock, a root, or a slip.

”Step up,” Aria ordered. ”High knee. Rock.”

Lucas obeyed. He was entirely dependent on her. For the first time in their relationship, the power dynamic was physically manifest. He was blind, and she was the only thing keeping him from the abyss.

”Why?” Lucas asked, his voice shaking as they reached the halfway point. ”Why are you helping me? You could just let me stumble.”

”Because I want to win,” Aria said coldly. ”And because watching you shake is more satisfying than watching you fall.”

She stopped him.

”Stop.”

Lucas froze, one foot hovering over empty air. ”What? What is it?”

”There’s a gap,” Aria lied. The path was perfectly flat. ”Jump.”

”Jump?!” Lucas shrieked. ”I can’t see!”

”Trust me,” Aria whispered. ”Jump, Lucas. Or stay there until sunset.”

Lucas stood there, paralyzed. He thought about the drop. He thought about the sharks.

Then he thought about Aria. In the two years they were together, she had never lied to him. She had covered for him, supported him, loved him. She was the only person in his life who had ever been truly solid.

He jumped.

He landed on flat ground, stumbling slightly.

”You...” Lucas ripped the blindfold off. He looked back. There was no gap. Just flat rock.

He looked at Aria. She was smirking.

”You lied,” he breathed.

”I tested you,” Aria corrected. ”And look at that. You passed.”

She walked past him toward the finish line, where a cooler of iced tea was waiting.

”Maybe you’re trainable after all, Nephew.”

Behind them, a scream echoed.

”Leo! Left! No, your other left!”

Bella was screaming at Leo. Leo, blindfolded and panicked, had turned right. He slipped.

One foot went over the edge. Gravel cascaded down.

”Ahhh!” Leo flailed, grabbing at a shrub.

”Cut!” The safety crew repelled down instantly, grabbing Leo before he could slide further.

”Team Bella and Leo: Failed,” Damien’s voice announced, sounding disappointed. ”Bella, you confused your left and right. That’s basic kindergarten knowledge.”

Bella stomped her foot. ”He’s an idiot!”

”He’s blind,” Damien corrected. ”You’re the leader. And you failed him.”

Aria sat on a rock, sipping her iced tea. Pretending not to notice Lucas staring at her with a mix of terror and awe.

Her phone buzzed.

[The Wallet: That jump was mean. I laughed.]

Aria typed back.

[Aria: He needed to learn that blind faith is dangerous. Especially when you put it in the wrong person.]

She looked at the ocean.

[Aria: Any news from Paris?]

[The Wallet: Lydia gave an interview to Vogue an hour ago. She’s wearing black and crying about your ’rebellious phase’. ]