Chapter 3

After spending the whole morning moving into my new place, my phone buzzed with Amber’s call.

“Jess, they gave me this bottle of pills to take before the DNA match can be processed. Since you’re in medical school, can you check if there’s anything weird in these pills?”

Amber’s bossy tone grated at me. She was always like this, expecting me to do favors for her family or friends, to cover their costs, to use my time for her benefit. I’d drop everything to help her, and she never showed the slightest gratitude.

I replied, “That’s not exactly my field, Amber. Besides, since Legacy Medical produces the pills, you’d need to go through them for testing. That’d cost you thousands.”

That got her attention. “Testing, really? Come on, Jess! You’re supposed to be my best friend, and you’re asking for money?”

I stifled a laugh. She just wanted a scapegoat if something went wrong, someone to take the fall. And I wasn’t about to hand her that.

She kept going. “You’re so heartless! Don’t you remember how I pulled you out of that fire all those years ago?”

I’d had enough. “Amber, are you really the one who saved me?”

Back in middle school, when a fire broke out, I’d woken up in the hospital with Amber at my side. She swore she’d saved my life, and I spent years doing everything she wanted, “repaying her” for saving me.

It wasn’t until the last moments of my previous life that she admitted, “Why do you deserve a better life than me? I locked you in that classroom and watched the fire break out. Lucky you didn’t die. It was only because they put us in the same hospital room that I could make you think you owed me.”

Amber went quiet on the phone.

After a long pause, she stammered, “What’re you talking about, Jess? No one but me could’ve saved you. Just tell me if these pills are safe.”

Her brazen denial made me laugh coldly.

In my past life, she’d also snuck off to have the DNA test. When she got the meds, she’d asked me to double-check them. Back then, I’d paid out of pocket to get them analyzed by a top lab, only to discover they were unapproved for human testing.

Amber and the others were basically lab rats. Legacy Medical was hyping its newest anti-aging “blood cleansing” drug, claiming it could remove toxins. Older clients would benefit from younger relatives’ blood transfusions, living longer, more vibrant lives.

After hearing my warning, Amber hadn’t taken the pills and avoided the worst. But she never thanked me—instead, she thought the dead were “unfit heirs.” She was sure she’d be the one to survive and inherit.

I said, “But if you test the pills, won’t Monroe know? He might revoke your inheritance.”

There was a pause. “Wait… he’d do that?”

I smiled, giving her one last nudge. “He’s your father, Amber. I’m sure he’d never harm you.”