Chapter 5

"After my birthday?"

Anderson let out a short, contemptuous laugh.

"Why would I wait that long? You have money and you're just stalling me?"

"Anderson, I don't have money. My accounts are frozen."

"Fine. If that's how you want to play it—"

His men came out of nowhere and grabbed me. They zip-tied my wrists and shoved me into a car.

I didn't understand at first.

Then the car turned onto a narrow mountain road, and every drop of blood in my body rushed to my head.

That was the road to my mother's grave.

In my family's tradition, the dead are always buried with a piece of jade. Irreplaceable. Priceless.

I had told Anderson that secret on the day we set our wedding date. I had trusted him with it.

Anderson dragged me to my mother's grave and waved his hand at the men behind him.

"Dig."

"You're disgusting, Anderson!"

I lurched toward him, but the dirt from the excavation hit me before I got close. I stumbled and fell.

Not far away, Anderson held up his phone.

"Georgina. Stay still. One wrong move and that video is live."

I watched them uncover my mother's bones.

And the jade. Still beautiful, even after fifteen years in the ground.

Anderson snatched it up with gleaming eyes and stuffed it into his jacket. Then he picked up my mother's remains and threw them aside. Scattered them across the dirt like garbage.

"Anderson, you'll regret this!"

"I don't think that's your call to make."

Alice glided forward and pinched my jaw between her fingers, tilting my face up toward hers.

"Anderson's thirtieth birthday is in a few hours. Tonight, the world finally gets to see your little trick exposed for good."

An hour later, Anderson brought me to his birthday party.

His heartbeat was displayed on a massive screen at the front of the hall — a live EKG feed for the whole room to watch.

Everyone in Indiana knew the Johnson family curse. The hall was packed. People had come from everywhere to witness the moment. Was the hundred-year curse real, or had it all been a lie?

Alice took Anderson's hand and walked him up onto the stage. She gestured at the enormous clock behind her.

"In less than one minute, I will break this curse — right here, right now. Everyone, watch."

The hall went completely silent.

Every eye moved between the clock and the EKG on the screen.

The clock's hands hit twelve.

The heartbeat on the screen was strong and steady. Anderson stood tall, his color perfect.

The room erupted.

Even Laura broke down in tears of relief. She was already climbing the steps to the stage, reaching for Anderson—

And then Anderson collapsed without warning.