Chapter 1

Just because, the year I turned eight, a fortune-teller said I would live to a hundred.

And my sister, he said, had the classic look of a beauty doomed to die young.

So my mother took back every scrap of love she had for me and gave it all to my sister.

My sister pushed me off my bike into a ditch once, and I got sixteen stitches.

"What are you whining for? You're not going to die."

My mother cursed me raw, then turned to my sister's scraped knee with eyes red from worry.

The year I turned eighteen, my mother took my sister on a trip to the beach.

I was working a part-time job when a car hit me, and they rushed me into the ER that night.

The hospital called about the bill.

My mother's voice didn't so much as flinch.

"The fortune-teller said she'd live to a hundred. A little scrape like this won't kill her. There's no need to waste resources trying to save her."

She hung up and went back to taking photos with my sister.

My sister said she liked a bag, so a bag that cost a hundred grand was bought on the spot.

Even my fiancé, just because my sister looked at him a few extra times.

My marriage was taken from me and handed to her.

Later, when I had given up and cut my wrist, my sister smirked and told me.

"When we were little, Mom always hit me and loved you more. I couldn't stand it, so I stole a hundred dollars from her and gave it to that old fortune-teller."

"Never thought the old man saying I'd die young would actually wake up Mom's motherly love."

"I had all of Mom's love to myself for years. So tell me, sis, wasn't that hundred dollars money well spent?"

1

Blood ran down my wrist and turned the whole tub red.

My whole body went rigid.

"What... did you say?"

"Rebecca Harding, you tell me exactly what you mean."

"You took a hundred dollars and gave it to the old fortune-teller? What is that supposed to mean?"

I struggled to get up, but my sister suddenly shrieked and burst into tears.

"Mom, she's going to hit me!"

My mother rushed out of the bedroom and threw herself in front of Rebecca.

My sister squeezed out a few tears and got her accusation in first.

"She told me to give up chasing Leo and hand him back to her."

"She said if I didn't, she'd frame me for trying to murder her!"

My mother flared up at once.

"Lola Harding!"

"Yesterday you wouldn't give up your engagement, and today you're bullying Rebecca. Are you trying to drive me into an early grave?"

I dragged a pale smile onto my face.

"Mom, can't you see I cut my wrist?"

My mother only glanced at my wrist and frowned.

"Lola, can't you stop pulling this stunt over and over?"

"You're not going to die. The fortune-teller already said it, your fate is to live to a hundred."

"A top-tier lucky life. And here you are smearing some tomato juice around, playing the poor girl who slit her wrists."

"If it's not a car crash, it's your wrist."

"Lola, next time could you at least try a different trick?"

She said she had no time to coddle my delicate pride, she still had to take my sister to the mall to buy new clothes.

The door slammed shut.

The last thing I saw was the triumph in my sister's eyes.

As if to say.

See? I won again this time, didn't I?

The blood loss left my brain starved for air.

And through it all, only Rebecca's smirking voice kept echoing in my ears.

"When we were little, Mom always hit me and loved you more. I couldn't stand it, so I stole a hundred dollars from her and gave it to that old fortune-teller."

"Never thought the old man saying I'd die young would actually wake up Mom's motherly love."

So all these years... the long life, the early death, all of it had been nothing but one of Rebecca's cruel little games.

Panic hit me all at once. On instinct I reached for my phone to call for help.

But I'd lost too much blood.

Before I could even get to my feet I crashed to the floor and lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, I was already lying in a hospital.

"Lo, are you okay?"

Above me were Leo's bloodshot eyes.

Two hours earlier, when Leo couldn't get through to me on the phone, he'd come to the house to check on me.

And found me passed out in a tub full of bloodied water.

He'd rushed me to the hospital right then.

"You're the one I love. I'm not going to marry your sister."

"Lo, is it that you don't believe me? How could you be foolish enough to cut your wrist?"

He held me, aching for me, his voice breaking.

I looked at him quietly, silent for a long time before I slipped my hand free.

"Leo, let's break up."