THE PERPETRATOR

World A — Olivia Smith’s World.   (NOW BELONGS TO EMMA) Meanwhile, back to the previous Olivia Smith World…. The moment Emma, in Olivia’s body, stepped into the grand Smith mansion, she was met with the scent of lavender polish and the soft rustle of maids in green and white uniforms moving briskly about their chores. Before she could even adjust to the opulence around her, Olivia’s mother, Laura, rushed forward and enveloped her in a trembling embrace. The warmth of that hug wasn’t comforting, it was desperate. The woman was scared, clinging to her daughter as if afraid to lose her again. Emma froze at first, but Olivia’s memories came flooding in, painful, vivid. She saw flashes of nights when Olivia had returned home, blood splattered across her clothes, her knuckles bruised from another confrontation. The assassins sent after her never succeeded, but each attempt chipped away at her parents’ sanity. Every time, the couple would break down. They would plead with their daughter throu