Chapter 1

My first life ended in betrayal, fire in my throat, my mother' s life destroyed after mine.

It was the "American Innovators" national scholarship competition in D.C.

A big deal for everyone, a life-changer.

Mark Olsen, my boyfriend, the school quarterback, convinced our finalist group to wait for Jessie Evans.

Jessie, the queen bee, claimed she lost her "lucky locket."

We were an hour from the venue, check-in was strict.

As team captain, I tried to reason with them.

They called me jealous, uncaring.

We left late, barely made it.

Our team didn' t win, the stress from earlier didn't help.

At a dinner that wasn't celebratory, Jessie spiked my soda.

Something I was fatally allergic to, a specific food dye.

Anaphylactic shock. Quick.

Mark and the others testified I drank it knowingly, distraught over "almost costing Jessie the chance to compete."

Jessie played the grieving friend, became a national "survivor" online.

My mother, a Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist, fought for justice.

Jessie' s family allies launched a smear campaign.

Mom' s reputation shattered, she lost her job, died from a stress-induced heart attack.

After I died, I learned the truth.

Jessie orchestrated everything.

Revenge.

My mother had exposed her CEO father' s massive corporate fraud, sending him to prison.

That was the why.