Chapter 1

The day I escaped from the mountains, I was covered in injuries from head to toe.

I made it to the police station, but when I walked in, I saw my twin sister, Sophie Summers, and my mother, Jessica Summers, holding each other and sobbing their hearts out.

Sophie pointed at my photo on the wall and said, "Officer, that's her! She's the human trafficker who abducted me 10 years ago. I barely managed to escape."

Jessica slapped me hard across the face and called me a monster, saying I'd destroyed her daughter's life for 10 years.

Ten years ago, human traffickers broke into our home, and they said they could only take one of us, either me or Sophie.

Jessica cried and said, "Emily, let Sophie stay. She's always been the weaker one."

So they took me instead.

Ten years later, I became the trafficker, and she became the victim.

*****

Two police officers pressed me down into the interrogation chair, and across from me sat an officer with a face like stone.

"Name."

"Emily Summers." I gave them my real name, but my voice came out hoarse and raspy like a broken bellows.

The officer across from me slammed his hand on the table.

"Still lying! Your name is Stella Summers. The victim Sophie has already identified you as the trafficker who worked with others to sell her to those remote mountains 10 years ago!"

Stella.

That was the name I'd given myself in that godforsaken valley where they kept me.

I'd hoped that I could be like a star, finding light in the darkest night to guide my way out.

But I never thought my star would end up falling after all, crashing down into the web of lies my twin sister Sophie had woven for me.

I looked up at the one-way mirror in the interrogation room. I knew Jessica and Sophie were standing right behind it, watching everything.

"I didn't do it." I stared at the mirror and said each word slowly and clearly. "I'm Emily. I'm the one who was abducted."

Another loud bang echoed through the room as the officer threw a stack of photos down in front of me.

The photos showed Sophie looking glamorous and polished, snuggled up close to Jessica. They were both wearing expensive clothes and beaming at the camera, and behind them stood a luxurious mansion.

"These are photos of Sophie and her mother from over the years. For 10 years, Sophie's mother spent every penny she had searching for her daughter. She went from being a wealthy woman to an ordinary person just trying to survive.

"And you, Stella? You're an orphan with no parents. You suddenly disappeared 10 years ago."

The officer's voice was cold as ice.

"Now you show up covered in injuries, and the real victim Sophie has also escaped. You still dare to make excuses?"

I looked at Jessica's face in those photos, that face I'd carved into my bones and thought about for 10 solid years.

Ten years had passed, but she hadn't aged at all. In fact, she looked even more refined and elegant now.

She'd spent every penny searching for her daughter? The year they took me, we were living in a cramped, run-down apartment building, and we didn't even have decent furniture.

It turned out my 10 years of suffering had become their stepping stone to success and wealth.

Something in my chest felt like it had been carved out with a knife, leaving an empty space where the wind howled through.

"I want to see my mom," I demanded.

The officer let out a cold laugh and pressed a button on the desk.

Jessica's voice—so familiar yet so strange now—came through the speaker, and every single word felt like a poisoned blade stabbing into me.

"Officer, I don't have a daughter like that! She's a monster. Officer, I don't have a daughter like that! She's a monster!

"Sophie has nightmares every single night and cries out for me. My poor baby girl..."

Her crying and cursing blended together into one horrible noise.

I closed my eyes.

Ten years ago, on that afternoon, the traffickers barged into our home looking like demons.

Sophie and I hid behind our mother, both of us shaking with terror.

The trafficker pointed at us and said, "We can only take one. You choose."

Jessica held Sophie tight and turned to me with tears streaming down her face. "Em, let Sophie stay. She's always been the weaker one."

I thought she meant for me to hide first.

But instead, she pushed me out from behind her with her own two hands and gave me to them.

Ten years had passed since then.

I'd thought she would regret it and miss me.

But now I realized that in her heart, I'd stopped being her daughter a long time ago.

To her, I was just the monster who'd ruined her precious daughter's life.