Chapter 1

My eyes snapped open.

The ceiling fan in my dorm room spun slow, a lazy circle.

Sunlight, thin and pale, cut through the blinds.

For a second, I didn' t know where I was.

Then it hit me, a tidal wave of memory, cold and sharp.

Not just memory, but a whole other life.

A life where Brittany, my sorority sister, smiled just like that, right before she destroyed me.

The phishing scam, disguised as a sorority survey.

My SSN, my bank details, stolen.

The $3,000 SwiftLend loan in my name, taken out by her.

Interest, fees, piling up like dirt on a coffin.

$9,000.

Brittany, pretending to help, pushing me into that "escort service."

Her family's business.

The doctored photos she sent to Havenwood, to my parents, to Pastor Miller.

The shame.

My father' s health, already bad, getting worse under the strain.

The whispers in our small town.

Then the phone call, the police officer' s voice, flat and final.

A single-car accident. My parents, gone.

Grief turned to rage, a fire in my gut.

Confronting Brittany. The argument, the struggle.

Falling.

Darkness.

And then, somehow, knowing.

Knowing SwiftLend' s loans were illegal, a sham. Unenforceable.

Knowledge that came too late.

My breath hitched. I sat bolt upright in bed, my heart hammering.

The room was the same. My textbooks on the desk, a half-eaten bag of chips.

It was real. I was back.

The calendar on my wall. September 14th.

The day it all started.

The day Brittany first mentioned the loan.

A knock on the door.

My blood ran cold.

"Kayla? You in there?"

Brittany' s voice, sweet like poison.

The door creaked open, and she poked her head in, blonde hair perfect, a bright, false smile plastered on her face.

"Hey girl! You looked so stressed in class yesterday, figured I'd check in."

She stepped inside, her eyes, bright and predatory, scanning my small room.

This was it. The moment.

Last time, I was an easy mark, worried about tuition, about helping my parents.

This time, I knew her game.

I knew everything.

The nightmare was vivid, branded onto my soul.

Her smile widened. "You know, if you're tight on cash, I heard about this super easy online loan thing. SwiftLend. My friend used it, got money like, instantly."

There it was. The hook.

My past self had been relieved, grateful.

My current self felt a cold, hard knot of determination form in my stomach.

I had to play along.

For my parents. For Havenwood.

For the life they stole from me.

I looked at her, trying to make my eyes wide with worry, just like before.

"Really? An online loan?" I asked, injecting a tremor into my voice. "I am so broke right now."