Chapter 1

My name is Molly.

Or at least, that' s who I was supposed to be. Gentle, naive Molly, who only ever wanted to be loved by the family that threw me away.

Tonight was my 18th birthday party. The Hewitts, my biological parents, threw it for me at their massive Napa Valley winery. It wasn' t a celebration. It was an obligation, and their cold faces made that clear.

They preferred Nicole, the girl they raised, the one who took my place.

The party was a stiff, joyless affair until the doors burst open.

Nicole stumbled in, her designer dress torn, her face smeared with fake blood.

She ran straight to me, collapsing at my feet.

"Molly, I' m so sorry! Please, forgive me!"

She sobbed, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I know you hate me for having the life that should have been yours. I know you want me gone. But I never thought... I never thought you' d hire those men to hurt me."

The room went silent. Every eye turned to me. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt, stared with pure disgust. My brother, Andrew, looked like he wanted to kill me.

"You... you did this?" my mother whispered, her voice trembling with rage, not concern for Nicole, but fury at the potential scandal.

"I didn' t," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "I would never."

Andrew didn' t wait for an explanation. He crossed the room in three long strides and his fist connected with my jaw.

Pain exploded in my head. I fell to the floor, my vision blurring.

"You' re a monster," he spat, standing over me. "A piece of trash from the gutter, trying to ruin our family."

He kicked me hard in the stomach. I curled into a ball, gasping for air.

My father watched, his face a mask of cold indifference. "Andrew, stop. You' ll leave a mark."

He wasn' t telling him to stop hurting me. He was telling him not to be messy.

My mother pulled out her phone. "I' m calling Dr. Albright. She needs to be put away. Taught her place."

Dr. Albright' s "behavioral correction facility." A private asylum for the wealthy to hide their inconvenient children.

They dragged me out of my own birthday party like a piece of garbage. As they forced me into the car, I saw Nicole peek from behind my mother' s back.

She wasn' t crying anymore.

She was smiling.

That was the night Molly died. She just didn' t know it yet.