Chapter 1

In her past life, my granddaughter went to a bar to keep her heartbroken best friend company, and got stabbed twenty-five times.

The damage to her organs was severe. She hung on for a month in the ICU, and for the rest of her life she'd have to wear a colostomy bag.

My son and his wife demanded answers, furious, and the best friend just rolled her eyes.

"She wanted to come with me. Nobody forced her. You people aren't trying to shake me down for money, are you?"

Even the man who did the stabbing refused to admit any wrong.

"That little bitch turned my wife against me, dragged her to a place like that, ordered male dancers too. She had a few knives coming."

It turned out the best friend was pregnant out of wedlock, and her future mother-in-law had been squeezing her over the bride price, which was why the couple had fought and started talking about a breakup.

To win a fight with her mouth, she'd deliberately provoked the man, told him my granddaughter had talked her into breaking up and promised to set her up with someone better.

That was what sent him to the bar for revenge.

My granddaughter never even got a chance to explain before she was stabbed into hemorrhagic shock, her whole life destroyed.

The story caught fire online, and strangers called my granddaughter the friend who lured a girl to her death.

Even the acceptance letter she'd just gotten from an elite East Coast university was sent back.

My son and his wife got dragged into the online mob and went gray overnight.

I tried to get justice for my granddaughter, and they knocked me out and threw me into an incinerator, burned me alive.

Before I lost consciousness, I prayed with everything I had.

Give me one chance to do it over. I'll stop at nothing to save her.

When I opened my eyes again, the best friend was on the phone with her, crying.

"Star, I got dumped. Can you come to the bar and be with me for a while?"

My granddaughter was about to say yes when I snatched the phone away, my voice shaking.

"You're a young girl calling my granddaughter in the middle of the night to drag her to a place like that. What exactly are you after?"

"..."

Then I hung up.

My granddaughter stood in front of me, stunned.

"Grandma, what are you doing? Patsy Lambert just got her heart broken. I'm only going to sit with her for a bit—"

"You're not going."

"Grandma!"

"I said no, so it's no."

The phone buzzed. A text from Patsy.

"Star, now that you got into a top school, I bet you can't be bothered with a community-college friend like me anymore?"

Of course that was the thing my granddaughter couldn't take. She rushed over to grab the phone. "She's definitely gotten the wrong idea! I have to explain!"

My temple was pounding. I gripped the phone tight. "She's doing this on purpose, to rile you up!"

"But she's my friend!" The tears spilled over. "Grandma, you used to say Patsy was so mature, that I should learn from her—"

I closed my eyes for a moment.

I really had thought she was mature, once.

Sweet-mouthed, quick to please, always sending well-wishes on every holiday.

Later I understood. That was just cheap upkeep on a sucker.

The phone lit up again.

Patsy had sent a screenshot of an old chat between her and Star.

"You said I was your best friend. Now you won't even come sit with me? Forget it. I guess I'm not worth it—"

Seeing that message, Star's whole body flinched.

"How can she say that... I never said I wouldn't..." She wiped her eyes and looked at me. "Grandma, you saw it, didn't you? She must be so upset right now. If I don't go, she'll never speak to me again."

I held the phone, knuckles white.

This girl knew exactly how to work Star.

If I kept blocking her, Star would think I was destroying her friendship.

But if I let her go...

The image flashed in front of me, my granddaughter in the ICU last life, tubes running out of her everywhere.

She was only eighteen. All she'd done was be kind to a friend.

She hadn't done a single thing wrong, and she'd been made the scapegoat.

"Grandma already told you, a place like that isn't safe." I tried to steady my voice. "You're a girl, going out in the dead of night. If something happens to you—"

"What could happen?" She was getting frantic. "Patsy's waiting for me right at the door!"

"Still no!" I hid the phone behind my back. "Your parents said you could relax after your exams, but not the bar."

"Then just don't tell them!" It came right out of her.

Last life, I'd thought a kid who'd finished her exams deserved a little fun, so I'd nodded.

I even covered for her.

I never dreamed it would ruin her whole life.

This life, even if it cost me this old life of mine, I wouldn't give an inch.

Seeing me stay quiet, she thought she had a chance, and came over to tug at my sleeve.

"Grandma, I'll be back before ten, I promise. Just tell one little lie for me, say I'm downstairs going for a run—"

The blood shot straight to my head.

"Lie?"

She shrank back from the shout, her eyes going red.

"Grandma, what's gotten into you today? Last month when you fell and broke a bone, Patsy made a special trip with fruit to see you. Did you forget?"

I hadn't forgotten.

But that fruit, my granddaughter paid for it.

Patsy stayed ten minutes and took three photos together to post on social media.

Star was so touched she called her the best friend in the whole world.

To say thank you, she even treated her to a big dinner out at a popular hot-pot chain.

That one meal cost her half a month's living money.

This child was too foolish. Sold out, and still counting the money for the people who sold her.

"You're not going, and that's final." I stepped back three paces, clutching her phone. "You try to walk out that door, and I'll call your father right now and see if he lets you go!"

That did it. She was furious.

"Then call! Call him now! Tell them I'm a grown adult and my grandma still confiscates my phone, won't even let me have friends!"

She slammed the bedroom door behind her.