patrons and top students, hosted at a lavish downtown hotel. Chloe spent a week planning her outfit, her hair, her en

n tipped the contents into Liam' s cocktail. In my first life, this was the moment she stole his "life essence" for the locket. T

hotel elevators. My stomach turned, but I knew I couldn' t inter

s later,

room one morning. When she came

dy?" I asked, my voice

diculous. I think I got food poisoning f

arted complaining of fatigue, of feeling bloated. She' d press a h

flopped on her bed. "I feel awfu

or," I suggested again, know

We need to focus on your health, remember?" She gestured towards me. "You' r

my food, claiming I had no appetite. I bought cheap, greasy takeout and left the containers around to make it look like I had strange

were a sign of her success, proof that the baby was growing inside me. She was so blinded by her own scheme th

a dizzy spell in the studio, lean

powerful. It' s taking a lot of your energy. But it w

the frantic, unseen changes happening within her. She was a walking, talking time bomb, and she

ing the part of the con

' re right,"

thick, it was a