The Heiress Vessel Surviving My Billionaire Father's Occult Nightmare

The city’s wealthiest billionaire lost his daughter. To cope with the grief, he decided to adopt an orphan girl of the exact same age from our shelter. I bore the closest resemblance to his deceased daughter, and we even shared the exact same birthday. Yet it wasn't until my third lifetime that this "golden ticket" finally fell into my lap. The billionaire treated me like royalty, pampering me like a true princess. I was over the moon, believing I had hit the jackpot and would live in luxury for the rest of my days. But then, the nightmare struck. On the night of my eighteenth birthday, he stabbed me seventy-seven times. With every plunge of the blade, he screamed like a madman: "It’s not you! It was never you!" "What makes you think you have the right to take my daughter's place? Die! Just die..." When I opened my eyes again, the billionaire was back at the shelter, looking for a girl to adopt. Chloe, the resident bully who had aggressively snatched the spot in the first timeline, was trembling violently: "I’m not going! On my eighteenth birthday, he drained every drop of my blood and turned me into a mummified corpse!" Mia, the manipulative snitch who had schemes her way into his luxury car in the second timeline, burst into tears: "I won’t go either! On my eighteenth birthday, he pushed me off a thousand-foot skyscraper. I was smashed into red pulp on the pavement!" I had just regained my senses from the agonizing terror of death: "Wait a minute! There are only three girls our age in this entire shelter. Who the hell is he actually trying to adopt?" Alexander, the billionaire’s son, was running out of patience. He snapped at us to hurry up and choose one person to go with him. Seeing all three of us trembling, plastered with sheer reluctance, Alexander sneered with a cold, disgusted face: "Ungrateful wretches. Wealth and luxury are knocking at your door, and none of you want it?" "Ever since my sister died of that terrible illness, my father has been desperately searching for someone to fill the empty hole in his chest. And according to Master Lee, a renowned spiritual psychic, that person is definitely from this shelter—someone who shares my sister's birth date." "Make up your minds already! Whoever leaves with me gets my father's undivided love and a life of pure luxury as an heiress." Chloe, who was standing right at the front, instantly took a step back. Her whole body shook like a leaf. "I... I can't. I'm loud, violent, and ill-tempered. Mr. Vance would absolutely hate me!" Mia was just as firm in her refusal: "I’m even worse! I'm sneaky, manipulative, and I play dirty to get what I want. I have zero class. I'd embarrass the family." Alexander’s gaze slowly shifted toward me. Goosebumps erupted all over my skin. Don't look at me! I had the most gruesome death of all! Yet Alexander was clearly most interested in me: "You look the most like my sister. The moment my dad sees you, he'll cherish you like his own flesh and blood." Cherish my foot! In my third lifetime, I actually fell for his bullshit. On top of that, Chloe and Mia had already suffered their horrific deaths and pushed me forward, convinced that I was the one the billionaire had truly been looking for all along. So, I happily followed him home. And what did I get? On the day of my eighteenth birthday, I was pumped full of adrenaline and stabbed seventy-seven times. I couldn't even pass out from the pain. That sheer agony—wishing for death while being kept awake to feel every agonizing slice—was something I refused to live through a second time! Gritting my teeth, I decided to play crazy. I started throwing a wild tantrum, screaming and wailing on the floor, flatly refusing to leave with him. Alexander's patience finally snapped. He glared at us with icy disdain and threw down an ultimatum: "Stupid, ungrateful trash. You have two days to think it over. If you still can't pick one person, then all three of you are coming with me. The Vance family doesn't mind feeding a few extra mouths." The second Alexander walked out, all three of us let out a collective sigh of relief. Even though Chloe had bullied me relentlessly, and Mia had made a hobby out of scheming against me, our lives were on the line. I had no choice but to form an alliance with my two worst enemies so we could carefully piece together what went wrong. Chloe was the first to speak. "I've always been loud and energetic. Alexander told me my personality was just like his late sister's. So, I deliberately copied the dead girl's habits, and the old man spoiled me rotten for years." "But on my eighteenth birthday, he drugged my drink, slit my wrists, and bled me dry. All while screaming like a complete psycho with bloodshot eyes, raving that I wasn't the one he was looking for, that I was an imposter stealing his daughter's place. He turned my body into a dried-up mummy!" Mia chimed in next: "Then came my turn in the second life. I learned from her mistake and thought copying the dead girl made him sick of her. So I avoided all of her habits and poured all my energy into kissing his ass." "Up until my eighteenth birthday, he adored me too. I honestly thought I'd cracked the code! But then he took me to the roof of a thousand-foot skyscraper and tossed me off. I hit the concrete and exploded into minced meat! Right before he pushed me, he said the exact same thing: that I wasn't the one, and that I didn't deserve to replace his daughter!" Then, both Chloe and Mia turned their eyes to me. "Lynn, why did you fail too?" "You look practically identical to that dead girl!" I shook my head, feeling totally helpless. "Yeah, and I got the most horrific death of all!"We had gone over the shelter's records dozens of times. The three of us were the only girls who shared the dead heiress's age and birth date. There wasn't a single other option! On top of that, we had used completely different approaches after being adopted. Yet without fail, every single one of us was showered with immense love at first, only to be brutally murdered on the very day of our eighteenth birthday. Why didn't the billionaire make a move earlier or ask to swap us out before then? What on earth happened on our eighteenth birthday that suddenly made him realize he had picked the wrong girl? Our deduction hit a complete dead end, leaving us drowning in despair. Chloe gritted her teeth. "Should we just run?" Mia let out a bitter sigh. "He has unlimited money and power. Where could we possibly hide?" Chloe clenched her fists tight. "If we don't run, he's going to adopt all three of us and butcher us one by one! No matter what we choose, we're dead meat!" Wait. That wasn't true! There was still a way out! A sudden realization hit me. "Do you remember that spiritual master Alexander mentioned? Master Lee?" Alexander had stated that the billionaire only targeted our shelter because of Master Lee's guidance. That meant Master Lee was very likely the one person who knew which girl the billionaire actually wanted to adopt. With our lives hanging in the balance, rules didn't matter anymore. Chloe acted immediately. She ambushed one of the shelter staff members who had been abusive to us, threatening him until he agreed to drive us into the city to track down Master Lee. Master Lee looked like an ethereal, wise sage, but we couldn't tell whether he was a total fraud or someone with genuine mystical gifts. At first, we kept our heads down, begging him with the utmost humility. Yet the moment we brought up the Vance family, he panicked, frantically trying to kick us out of his studio. Having no other choice, Mia ripped the collar of her shirt, threw herself onto the floor next to Master Lee, and began screaming for help at the top of her lungs. Master Lee went completely pale from fright. "Stop! Stop it right now!" "What do you want to know? I'll talk, I'll talk!" Seeing him cave, Mia scrambled up from the floor, her eyes blazing. "Cut the cryptic nonsense and give it to us straight. Who is the girl the billionaire actually wants to adopt?" Master Lee’s gaze swept across our three faces before his trembling finger pointed straight at me: "It's you..."Before I could even react, Chloe cut in, cursing, "Bullshit! Lynn died the most... Look, there is no way in hell it’s her!" Master Lee's eyes remained dead serious: "It is her—" Before he could finish his sentence, a dozen burly bodyguards in black suits barged through the door. They gagged Master Lee, shoved him to the floor, and dragged him away by force. Right behind them, the billionaire himself stepped into the room. His aura was suffocating as he walked up to us. "Go on back, girls." "Master Lee is suffering from poor health. He needs to be hospitalized for treatment and shouldn't be receiving guests." With a single sentence, he sealed Master Lee's fate. We were so terrified that we didn't dare utter another word about the man. Only after the billionaire left did the choking dread fade, allowing us to gasp for breath. Once my heart stopped hammering, I said flatly, "Maybe the person he wanted to adopt really was me." Chloe shook her head violently, gripping my hand tight. "Lynn, that fraud was talking out of his ass. If it was really you, why did the old bastard stab you seventy-seven times?" Mia quickly backed her up. "She's right, Lynn. I know we've treated you like crap, but when I found out you got murdered too, I cried for hours!" Yet there were only three of us. Mathematically, there were no other possibilities left. I stood up and told them, "You two head back first. I'm going to see him alone." Something crucial had slipped through the cracks. I had to find the answer myself. Truth be told, before he brutally murdered me in the last timeline, I had firmly believed I was his intended daughter through all three lives. Long before he formally proposed the adoption, he had frequently visited the shelter just to see me, repeatedly telling me how much I looked like his poor, late daughter. Even later, when he adopted Chloe and then Mia in the other two timelines, he had still secretly sent me financial support. Chloe and Mia never received a single dime of that secret help. "Lynn, what brings you here?" As soon as I stepped into his luxury town car, a warm, grandfatherly smile spread across the billionaire's face. "Have you girls made up your minds? Are you going to be the one to take my daughter's place?" Looking at him, all I could picture was this exact same man carving into my flesh with a blade, torturing me alive until my last breath! I dug my nails into my palms to keep my emotions under control, keeping my voice light and innocent: "Mr. Vance, was I really the one you wanted to adopt the most?" His smile twitched for a split second before returning to its warm, paternal facade: "Who else could it be, sweetheart? You look the most like my daughter, after all." My heart sank like a stone. He had dodged my question. He only said I looked the most like her; he never actually confirmed that I was the one he truly wanted. I tried acting like a spoiled, curious child to pry out more information: "Mr. Vance, if I'm the one you wanted all along, why didn't you just pick me from the very start?" He let out a soft chuckle, his eyes completely devoid of genuine warmth: "If you weren't willing, I couldn't very well force you, could I?" "Master Lee's divination revealed that the daughter I need to adopt is among the three of you." "But Lynn, I promise you this: in my heart, you are the closest thing to my own flesh and blood. If you agree to come home with me, I will shower you with all the love in the world and never let you suffer a single grievance." With that, he pulled out a strawberry hard candy. Strawberry was my absolute favorite flavor. I never expected him to carry them around with him wherever he went. His gentle tenderness had once brought real warmth into my miserable existence. In that cold, unforgiving shelter where getting pushed around was daily routine, his sudden appearance had felt like a beam of pure light, giving me a reason to hope. In my previous life, after he adopted me, his care had been beyond meticulous. A powerful billionaire had personally cooked three meals a day for me, tutored me with my homework, and watched me grow up with endless patience. Yet just when I had truly come to love him as my own father, he pumped my veins full of adrenaline on my eighteenth birthday and turned my life into a living hell! "It's not you! It was never you! Why did you steal her place, you imposter?" "You filthy, disgusting thing. Your very soul makes me sick to my stomach! What makes you think you're worthy of replacing my daughter?" "Die! Just die and get out of her seat..." Right now, the raving lunatic who had slaughtered me felt like a completely different person from the gentle man sitting in front of me. His soft voice pulled me out of the paralyzing nightmare of my memories: "Lynn, what are you daydreaming about? You haven't answered me yet. Are you willing to come home with me?" He raised his large, warm hand and gently stroked my hair. As his fingers ran through my messy strands, a few hairs snapped, sending a tiny jolt of pain across my scalp. And in that exact fraction of a second, my eyes widened in pure horror as a dozen forgotten details clicked into place! Overwhelmed by sudden, suffocating panic, I stared at the billionaire in disbelief: "The... the person you really wanted to adopt... is... is—"