Chapter 3

Just when I thought I could finally relax for a couple of days, Jane popped up out of nowhere at the entrance of my office building, insisting on taking me out for a big feast to apologize.

Once we got to the restaurant, she started tearing up.

She started talking about how hard her life was, how much she was suffering, and how she and Karen had it so rough.

I just kept cutting my steak, stone-faced.

Jane flaunted a hundred-grand Hermès yet wouldn't drop a dime on Karen's hospital bills. Now she wanted my pity.

Jane cried for ages before she finally realized I wasn't buying it. She got a little pissed off. She demanded, "Yara, are you even listening to me or what?"

I nodded, still chewing my steak. I said, "Yeah, I'm listening. You really know how to tell a sob story. Honestly, I almost felt sorry for you."

Jane caught the sarcasm in my voice. She asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Karen's dad isn't dead yet. You're crying to the wrong person," I said.

"How can you say that?" Jane shot back, her face flushing with anger.

Her eyes filled with tears as she stared blankly at her coffee cup, mumbling, "I can't let him think less of me. I can totally live without him."

So Jane wanted to prove she could live without him by living off me?

She really had the nerve.

In my previous life, while I bled myself dry raising Karen, Jane played indie-girl abroad, using "study" as her costume and her disappearance as bait to make Zack ache.

I never saw the strings: Jane tugged at Zack and whispered to Karen behind my back.

Thanks to all the one-sided brainwashing from Jane and my parents, Karen always held a grudge against me. He soaked up everything I did for him, draining me dry, yet somehow acted like he was the one suffering and I was the villain.

By the time stomach cancer caught up with me, Karen was already a seven-figure earner, a crown prince in the business world.

That was when Karen finally showed his true colors, kicked me to the curb, and patched things up with his parents like they were one big happy family.

Thinking back on all those years I gave everything, only to be used and tossed aside by this family, my rage kept boiling higher.

I clenched my fingers, about to speak, when a sudden wave of nausea hit me. I rushed to the bathroom and threw up.

Jane's suspicious face was reflected in the mirror.

She said, "Yara, don't tell me you're pregnant."

A chill ran down my spine.

Back in my previous life, Jane was the first to notice I was pregnant. She got all paranoid, thinking I'd start favoring my own kid and stop caring about Karen.

So my parents, trying to help her out, tricked me into coming home and shut me in that crappy rental full of toxic formaldehyde fumes.

Jane caught on quick, cozying up to me with a playful grin. She said, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. So, wanna go shopping? I spotted a ton of new arrivals on my way here."

She switched gears in a heartbeat, pulling me along to try on outfits and test out perfumes, acting like her whole sob story from earlier had never even happened.

After piling the counter with a mountain of stuff, Jane stepped back and waited for me to swipe my card.

I just kept scrolling on my phone, pretending I didn't notice her.

"Yara, pay up!" Jane reminded me.

I raised an eyebrow and said, "If you don't have any money, why are you even out shopping?"

Plenty of employees and customers were staring at us now. Jane's face turned as red as a peach, and she huffed, "Yara, you are my sister. Isn't it your job to pay for me?"

Ever since my freshman year in college, my parents made me cover all of Jane's expenses.

Back then, I'd just swipe my card and pay up before Jane even had to ask.

But things were different now. I leaned back and said coolly, "My money isn't here for you to blow. If you can't afford it, put it back and don't mess up other people's stuff."

It was the first time I'd ever flat-out refused Jane, and she just couldn't handle it.

Her eyes went wide in disbelief, then she let out a cold laugh. She said, "Fine, you'll regret this."

With that, she hurled the clothes and perfumes she was holding onto the floor and stomped on them a few times for good measure.

Everyone around us was shocked, and the salespeople rushed over. But Jane just shot me a smug, defiant look, then turned and bolted.

As she ran, she shouted, "Go ask my sister to pay. She's loaded."

Jane had been spoiled rotten by my parents. When she was with me, she didn't even try to hide how awful she could be.

I watched her disappear into the crowd, then calmly pulled out my phone and made a call.

Half an hour later, Zack showed up, looking sharp in a suit.

After all, Zack was Jane's sugar daddy and Karen's father, so handing this mess over to him was only fair.

Jane always played the sweet, innocent girl around Zack. Well, let's see her keep pretending now that the truth was out in the open.

When Jane found out, she totally lost it, freaking out and blaming me for wrecking her reputation with Zack. She acted like it was the end of the world for her, like she just couldn't go on anymore.

She went absolutely ballistic on the phone, cursing me out and swearing she'd never let me off the hook, even if it were the last thing she did.

The next day, I got the news from my parents that Jane had killed herself.

My mom snapped, "You knew how much Jane cared about her pride. Why did you have to destroy her like that? You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

My dad shouted, "Jane's dead. You happy now? It's on you, Yara. You shamed her into the grave, and you'll pay every cent for it."

This moment finally arrived.