/0/83742/coverbig.jpg?v=20250623150345)
I was barely surviving, cleaning sticky tables at the diner, praying my scholarship exam would be my ticket out of this dead-end town and away from my foster mom Maria' s mounting medical bills. Then, they walked in: the Parkers, my biological parents, followed by a girl my age who was sickeningly sweet, Ashley. They said they'd been looking for me, but that saccharine smile on Ashley's face was a lie. Suddenly, glowing text appeared in mid-air, a live stream comment: "[Ashley is so kind! Good thing she has the 'Luck-Siphon System' bound to the villain, or we wouldn' t have our perfect girl.]" My blood ran cold when another comment flashed, this one a chilling red: "[The foster mom is so tragic. Her eventual death in a house fire is an 'unfortunate accident' that the villain (Hailey) shouldn't blame Ashley for.]" Villain? House fire? My kind, hardworking Maria, just collateral damage in some twisted plot? This perfect girl, my "sister," was stealing my future, my talents, even my mother' s life, all for her own twisted glory. I was the villain in her story, the one destined to be stripped bare and then discarded. But if they wanted a villain, I would give them one far worse than they could ever imagine. I would move into their pristine mansion, get close to Ashley, and take back every single thing she had stolen from me. I decided right then: Hailey, the hardworking student, was gone. Now, only the villain remained, ready to dismantle their perfect world, piece by horrifying piece.