Introduction

My biological parents, the Duncans, finally threw me out, discarding me like trash onto the wet Chicago pavement.

Minutes later, trapped in a kidnapper's van, I heard my own brother Andrew on speaker, coldly telling them to do whatever they wanted with me – they didn't care.

Stella, the perfect daughter they raised in my place, even chimed in with fake sympathy, reinforcing their blatant disregard for my life.

I survived the kidnapping, even a stabbing where I saved a stranger, only for Andrew to accuse me of faking it all for attention and sympathy while still demanding I return to their gilded cage.

Why did my own family hate me so much, even choosing to let me die repeatedly, while showering affection on a girl who clearly manipulated them?

I jumped into Lake Michigan, not to end my life, but to escape their suffocating lies and build a new one, free from the ghost of Jocelyn Chavez.