Chapter 3

If Liam really wanted to steal my ticket, all he had to do was leave me inside to burn!

He could have taken the ticket while I was reduced to ashes. No witnesses. No evidence.

Why on earth would he rescue me?

Was the mirror lying to me? Was its warning completely fabricated?

*Ring—ring—ring—*

The sudden blare of my ringtone shattered my frantic thoughts.

Just like my past life, it was my mom calling.

I swiped to answer. Her shrill voice cried out the exact same words: "Chloe, your dad got into a horrible car crash! He's in the ICU! Go cash that lottery ticket right now and wire us the money for his surgery!"

I clutched my aching chest, forcing words through my tight throat: "How do you even know I won the lottery?"

In my past life, I was the one who told them.

In this life, I hadn't uttered a single syllable to anyone!

"Liam told me! He couldn't reach you, so he called me in a panic, saying you vanished right after hitting the jackpot!"

"Chloe, your dad is in critical condition! You have to wire that money right this second—"

A photo dinged onto my screen via SnapChat.

My dad was lying on a blood-soaked gurney, unconscious, wrapped in bandages.

My temples throbbed violently.

Who was I supposed to believe? My own mother, or that supernatural mirror?

Liam had died twice to protect me. That practically screamed that the mirror's prophecy of him killing me was a lie!

Yet in my past life, my parents really did take every penny and disappear off the face of the earth.

"Chloe? Why aren't you answering me?!"

"We raised you! We gave you life! Now that your father is dying, are you just going to stand there and watch him bleed out?!"

My mom's voice cracked with hysterical sobs.

The hesitation in my eyes slowly hardened into cold resolve.

"I'll pay for Dad's treatment. But only after I see him with my own eyes at the hospital and verify his injuries."

I didn't know if the mirror was playing tricks on me, but my own memories couldn't lie.

I remembered every agonizing second of dying from cardiac arrest in my past life.

It happened because my parents drained me dry and left me to rot!

This time, I would only trust what I saw with my own two eyes.

Over the line, my mom exploded into furious shrieks: "You heartless, ungrateful little monster! You think I'd make up a lie about your father dying?!"

"It takes time to cash that ticket! It takes hours to drive all the way back from the city! Does your father have that kind of time?!"

"You're putting his life on the line over money?! How did I raise such a selfish, evil bitch?!"

I didn't give her another breath. I hung up.

Now I was almost certain she was trying to scam me. People only blow up like that when their con falls apart.

I was not going to let history repeat itself.