Part 1My Family’s Regret

When we were little, my parents let my sister and me choose a piece of jewelry.

Lying on the table were my mother’s gold ring and her silver one.

I chose the gold. My sister chose the silver.

My parents then took me away for a two-day trip. As I lay in the motel bed that night, I overheard them talking.

“She’s just too greedy. So calculating for a child. Why can’t she be more like her sister?”

“Well, we can’t afford both of them. The sooner she’s gone, the less we have to worry about.”

I knew what they meant.

Huddled under the covers, I was paralyzed with fear, silent tears streaming down my face.

It was my sister who had told me she was allergic to gold.

She said touching it could kill her. That’s why I let her have the silver one!

I buried that secret deep inside me for over a decade.

Until I was accepted into the local state university.

There, in a crowded lecture hall, I saw my sister again.

* * *

The moment I stepped into the classroom, I spotted Olivia Reed.

She had grown up, far more beautiful than I remembered. The clothes she wore were obviously expensive. She must have recognized me too, because she drifted over, a deliberate, cloying warmth in her soft voice.

“You’re so pretty. You look just like a friend I had when I was little.”

I looked at her perfectly made-up face, and a memory flashed through my mind: Olivia, secretly dabbing on our mother’s cheap makeup, then tearfully blaming me when she was caught. Shifting every ounce of blame onto my shoulders.

I didn’t look up, my voice barely a whisper.

“You mean the sister you got rid of?”

Her voice died in her throat.

In my peripheral vision, I saw her freeze for a few seconds. The smile on her face was glued in place, her eyes wide with shock. Her hand, which had been reaching out to me, hovered awkwardly in mid-air.

I ignored her and focused on my textbook.

I found out later that my biological family had struck it rich. They were a world away from the hand-to-mouth existence I remembered.

It took Olivia a long moment to recover, a flicker of something dark crossing her eyes before it vanished.

After class, I was heading back to my small rental apartment when Olivia blocked my path. She leaned against the wall, her tone leaving no room for argument.

“Chloe. My parents know we’re at the same school. They want you to come over for dinner. You wouldn’t say no, would you?”

Without a second thought, I shook my head.

“No, I’m busy.”

She immediately closed the distance, linking her arm through mine. “It’s just dinner. It’s not like we’re going to eat you.”

I looked at her fake smile and laughed inwardly. I knew exactly why she was so insistent. She wanted to show off. To flaunt her perfect life, to rub my nose in the fact that our parents adored her.

I wanted nothing to do with them.

But she wouldn't let go, her grip tight and cloying. Fine. I agreed.

It was time to make a clean break, once and for all.

She led me to the campus entrance where a silver Maserati was parked.

“My eighteenth birthday present,” she said, her voice casual but laced with pride. “From Mom and Dad. It was only a little over a hundred grand.”

“Oh,” I said, not offering another word. I opened the door, slid inside, and stayed silent.

As the car moved, I stared out the window. It had been twelve years since I’d last traveled this road. Back then, I was in the back of a rickety old pickup truck, sobbing my heart out as they drove away without a single glance back.

Now, sitting in a luxury car, I felt nothing but a hollow numbness.

The car pulled up to a sprawling villa. As I stepped out, I saw two faces—one achingly familiar, the other completely strange. They had aged, their hair streaked with gray. Their entire demeanor had changed, softened by wealth.

But looking at them, I felt no flicker of emotion.

They stared at me, their gazes fixed and unblinking. “The resemblance is uncanny,” one of them murmured. “She looks just like…”

Olivia walked over, tucking her arm into her mother’s. “Mom, Dad, this is Chloe Fisher, the student I was telling you about. Doesn’t she look familiar?”

Mrs. Reed snapped out of her trance and hurried toward me. She grabbed my hand, her voice overflowing with synthetic warmth.

“Come in, come in! It’s cold out here.”

The inside of the villa was opulent, a palace of marble and crystal chandeliers. A far cry from the drafty shack of my childhood.

Mrs. Reed produced an elegant gift box and held it out to me, her face alight with expectation.

“My dear, it’s our first time meeting, but I wanted to give you a little something. I hope you like it.”

I took the box and opened it right there.

Inside was a solid gold ring. Judging by the weight, it must have cost a few thousand dollars.

So, they were replaying their old trick. Trying to stage the same scene all over again.

I handed the box back to her and smiled politely.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Reed. I’m allergic to gold.”