Chapter 1

The screech of tires.

Bright headlights burning into my eyes.

Then, nothing.

Darkness.

Cold.

My last thought was of them. Mom, Dad, Michael.

All ruined. Because of me. Because of her.

A voice.

"Sarah? You awake?"

My eyes snapped open.

Sunlight. Cheap dorm room curtains. The smell of stale coffee.

And Jessica.

Her face, all feigned concern, hovered above me.

"You were moaning in your sleep. Bad dream?"

Jessica.

My roommate. My best friend.

The viper I brought into my home.

My breath caught. This room. This exact moment.

It was the Monday before Thanksgiving.

One week.

One week before she destroyed everything.

I sat bolt upright, heart hammering.

"What day is it?" My voice was a croak.

Jessica smiled, that sweet, practiced smile. "Monday, silly. Big marketing presentation today, remember?"

No.

It couldn't be.

I scrambled for my phone on the nightstand.

November 20th.

The year. Last year.

I was back.

A sob escaped my lips, raw and uncontrolled.

Jessica's smile faltered. "Hey, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I had. My own.

The memories flooded back, sharp and brutal.

Jessica, her eyes gleaming with an envy I'd been too blind to see.

She'd always been fascinated by my family. Our warm, noisy home. Our family restaurant, Miller's Place, always bustling.

"Your brother Michael is so good to Emily," she'd sighed once, after seeing a picture of the diamond engagement ring he'd saved up for months to buy her.

Emily, my sweet sister-in-law, already pregnant with their first child.

Jessica's gaze had lingered on the ring, a hunger in it I didn't understand back then.

"He must make good money at the restaurant," she'd mused.

I, naive and trusting, had just laughed. "He works hard."

I didn't see the calculation in her eyes.

I didn't see her plan taking shape.

I invited her home for Thanksgiving. My parents, always welcoming, were happy to have her. Mom, with her famous turkey and stuffing. Dad, his blood pressure already a concern, but always ready with a story and a smile.

That Thanksgiving dinner.

Jessica, charming everyone. Especially Michael.

She kept his wine glass full. Laughed a little too loud at his jokes.

Later that night, she claimed he'd come to her room. That he'd forced himself on her.

A lie. All a lie.

Emily, back from visiting her parents the next morning, walked into the chaos. Jessica's tearful accusations. My brother's stunned denial.

The shock sent Emily into early labor.

The baby, a little girl, didn't make it.

Jessica, far from shamed, then announced she was pregnant with Michael's child. Another lie.

The rumors tore through our small town, then our university.

"Sarah Miller helped her roommate trap her brother."

My parents, to protect me, to stop the whispers, pressured Michael.

He started giving Jessica money. Large sums. Our family savings, meant for the restaurant's expansion, dwindled.

Dad's blood pressure spiked. He had a stroke.

The restaurant struggled. Michael, stressed and overworked, crashed his delivery van. A broken leg, a lost job.

Jessica, meanwhile, flaunted her "settlement" money. New clothes, expensive trips.

And me?

I was a pariah. The girl who betrayed her own family.

The online bullying was relentless. The looks on campus.

The weight of it all crushed me.

I walked into traffic. Not seeing. Not caring.

Until the tires screeched.

And now... now I was back.

Before it all happened.

Jessica was still talking, her voice a gentle drone.

"So, about Thanksgiving, Sarah... I was wondering. You know, since my family's so far away and I'll be all alone here in the dorm..."

Her eyes, wide and pleading. The same look she'd given me last time.

The look that had sealed my family's doom.

A cold fury rose in me, so potent it almost choked me.

This time, things would be different.

This time, I wouldn't be her fool.

This time, Jessica would pay.

Every last cent.