I saw my newborn brother get switched at birth, and I did nothing. Because in my last life, I fought tooth and nail to keep him. The man who tried to take him destroyed my face for it. And for what? So my brother could grow up to fall in love with the charity case our family sponsored. So he could mow me down with his car to make sure she got the one scholarship spot at our dream school. As I lay dying, he stood over me, his face twisted with malice. “Don’t blame me, Sadie,” he’d said. “Blame yourself for being so stingy. You should have just given the nomination to Jade.” He’d even laughed. “You’re a monster, and you deserve every ugly thing that’s ever happened to you.” So this time, reborn in that hospital room, I chose to be a spectator. I watched, with cold, clear eyes, as my brother’s fate was swapped for another’s. 1 The sound of a baby’s cry pulled me from the darkness. I opened my eyes and found myself curled on a cot, my small body stiff. Next to me, in the hospital bed, my mother slept the exhausted sleep of a woman who had just given birth. It took me a second, but then the realization hit me with the force of a physical blow. I was back. Back on the day the man came to switch my brother. To prove it to myself, I forced my gaze toward the sound of the crying. And there he was. The man, Rick, was prying the little gold bracelet from my brother’s wrist and forcing it onto his own son’s. The movement was rough, and it made my brother wail, his tiny face screwed up in pain. Rick’s face soured with impatience. He slapped my brother—my real brother—across the face. The cry cut off into a choked silence. Then, as if sensing he was being watched, his head snapped in my direction. I squeezed my eyes shut, my heart hammering against my ribs, and forced my breathing to even out, mimicking the deep rhythm of sleep. It was so different from the last time. Last time, all of three years old, I’d launched myself at the man’s leg, clinging on for dear life to stop him from taking my brother. He’d kicked me away like a dog, sending me crashing into the wall. I heard the crack of my own bones. But I’d screamed through the pain, a raw, desperate sound that finally brought a nurse running. The man, furious that I’d ruined his plan, had pulled a knife. “You stopped my boy from having a good life,” he’d snarled, dragging the blade across my face. “So you won’t have one either.” From that day on, my face was a ruin of scar tissue. I spent years in and out of hospitals. I was nine years old by the time I was well enough to start first grade alongside my brother. School was a special kind of hell. My looks made me a target for ridicule and cruelty. Even my own parents, and Liam, the boy I’d saved, looked at me with a thinly veiled disgust. My existence was an embarrassment to them. So I buried myself in books. My only goal was to get into a good college, find a good job, and get as far away from my family as I possibly could. I never imagined that in my senior year of high school, after I’d finally secured the sole nomination for the Harrison Scholarship, my own brother would murder me for it. All for a girl he’d fallen in love with. As I bled out on the asphalt, his final words echoed what he’d told me before. “You’re a monster… you deserve this.” But I was only a monster because I had tried to save him. The deepest cut, though, came after. When my parents found out what Liam had done, they didn’t blame him. Not for a second. They helped him cover it up. Helped him dispose of my body. It was then, in the fading moments of my life, that I made a vow. If I ever got a second chance, I would respect my brother’s destiny. I would not interfere. And so, here and now, I listened as the footsteps faded down the hall and the door clicked softly shut. When I opened my eyes again, the man was gone. My brother was gone with him. My mother stirred, her voice groggy. “Sadie? Was the baby crying just now?” I tilted my head, summoning the most innocent smile a three-year-old could manage. “Was he? I didn’t hear anything.” She frowned, confused. “Oh. Maybe I was dreaming.” A week later, my mother and my new, counterfeit brother, Liam, were discharged from the hospital. I was sent to preschool. This time, the teachers were kind. The other children didn’t shy away from me. There were no whispers, no pointing, no horrified stares. For the first time in two lives, I finally had the quiet, ordinary existence I had always craved. 2 Ten years dissolved in the blink of an eye. We were at the county fair, the air thick with the smell of popcorn and cotton candy, when someone bumped hard into our group and snatched Liam’s phone. I knew him instantly. The thief was my biological brother. He was nothing like the boy from my memories. He was rail-thin and grimy, dressed in clothes that looked like they’d been pulled from a dumpster. He walked with a pronounced limp. It was painfully clear that his life had been anything but easy. A memory from my past life surfaced. My brother—the real one, the one who grew up as Liam—screaming at me alongside his friends, calling me a monster. I had confronted him, my voice shaking with rage. I look like this because I saved you. He’d just sneered. I never asked you to save me. A person like me would have been fine anywhere, even with a killer for a dad. Stop trying to guilt-trip me. Now, seeing him thriving like this… I could finally breathe easy. My parents started to give chase, but I chose that exact moment to feign a fall, crying out as my knee hit the pavement. It was a calculated risk. My real brother was the spitting image of my father. If Dad got a good look at him, he’d start asking questions. In this life, without the scars, with my excellent grades, I was an asset. My image-conscious parents valued me. Just as I’d hoped, they abandoned the chase and rushed to my side. “Sadie, honey, are you okay?” My eyes followed my brother as he vanished into the crowd. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “I’m okay,” I said, looking up at them. “Just scraped my hand. It stings a little.” Meanwhile Liam, furious about his brand-new phone, was cursing a blue streak. “That little piece of trash. If I ever see him again, I swear I’ll kill him.” I lowered my eyes, a quiet thought forming. This world was smaller than you’d think. I needed to do something. 3 For the rest of the day, Liam’s eyes scanned the crowd, hungry for a fight. While my parents were in the restroom, he suddenly grabbed my arm. “Sadie, I see him. That little rat.” Before I could stop him, he shot off like a cannonball. I glanced toward the restrooms—still no sign of Mom and Dad. Relieved, I took off after Liam. This time, my real brother—Finn, I would later learn was his name—was caught off guard. Liam cornered him in a narrow alley between two game stalls. Caught red-handed, Finn became defiant. “What’s your problem? You rich people have everything. Why are you so cheap, making a big deal over one stupid phone?” It was so perfectly him, the same as last time. Always turning the blame, making himself the victim. Liam laughed, a humorless, ugly sound. “Just because I have money means I’m supposed to be a doormat for every piece of garbage like you?” “Whatever, man, just chill out,” Finn shot back, his voice dripping with unearned confidence. “Here’s your phone. Now let me go. I’m a minor. Cops can’t do anything to me.” But Liam wasn’t the type to let things go. He had his real father’s temperament: he hated school and loved to fight. He shoved Finn hard against the brick wall. “Funny. I’m a minor too. As long as I don’t kill you, the cops won’t do much to me either.” For the first time, a flicker of fear crossed Finn’s face. I watched, my expression unreadable. Just like last time, when Liam had let his friends torment me. Just as Liam drew back his fist, a small figure darted between them, shielding Finn with her body. “Stop it! Don’t hurt him! Finn’s dad is really sick. He was just desperate, that’s why he took your phone.” It was such a blatant, shameless lie. Rick, Finn’s criminal father, had never been sick a day in his life. When I got a clear look at the girl’s face, my brow tightened. Of course. I knew her. It was Jade, the girl my brother had worshipped in our last life. The charity case who was the indirect cause of my death. 4 I wasn’t surprised to see her here. In the last life, she and Liam—the version of him who was my real brother—had been childhood sweethearts. Now that their places were swapped, it made a twisted kind of sense that she would be Finn’s childhood friend instead. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked pleadingly at Liam. “I’ll make sure he gives the phone back. Please, just let him go, okay?” Liam was a bully and a brute, a king in his own small, violent world. He never listened to anyone. But the sight of Jade’s tears seemed to short-circuit his brain. He softened instantly. “Okay, okay, stop crying. It’s not that big of a deal.” For a dizzying moment, I was thrown back in time. I saw Jade, crying just like this, after I’d won the Harrison Scholarship. My brother—the real one—had seen her tears and gone berserk. He’d rounded up his dirtbag friends to “teach me a lesson,” to make sure I never coveted something that wasn’t mine again. I fought like a cornered animal, but their filthy hands were everywhere. They didn’t stop until one of them ripped the surgical mask from my face. The sight of my scars made them recoil in disgust. “Jesus, it’s a monster.” “You couldn’t pay me to touch that.” “God, I think I’m gonna be sick.” My face, the source of all my misery, had saved me from something worse. When I got home, I showered for four hours, scrubbing my skin until it was raw and bleeding. Then I just huddled in the empty tub, broken. I thought I could move on. But the nightmares started. The ugly faces, the putrid smell, the hands slithering over my skin like snakes. I couldn’t even see a man on the street without doubling over, my stomach heaving. I realized then that it would never be over. It was a part of me now. So, so disgusting. A cold breeze blew down the alley, and I shivered, the memory receding. Liam noticed my pale face. “You okay, Sadie?” he asked, his voice softer than usual. I looked at him, burying the revulsion deep inside. I was about to say I was fine when Jade suddenly grabbed my sleeve and dropped to her knees in front of me. “Please, miss,” she begged, her voice thick with fake emotion. “You’re not going to let him go, are you? Please, have mercy. His life is already so hard.” I stared down at her, a long, deep look. She was a master of her craft, always positioning herself as the victim, using pity as a weapon. “Come on, Sadie,” Liam urged. “Let’s just drop it.” My voice was calm, steady. “I won’t press charges against a child. But I need to speak to his mother. I have to warn her. He needs to be taught a lesson. Today it’s a phone. If she lets this continue, who knows what he’ll do next.” At the mention of his mother, Finn, who had been watching with a defiant smirk, finally looked terrified. 5 It didn't take long to find his mother, Brenda. She was a stocky, middle-aged woman with hard eyes. When she saw Liam and me, a flash of panic crossed her face. It was obvious she knew exactly who we were. She glanced nervously behind us, and when she saw we were alone, she visibly relaxed. "What... what are you two doing here?" I explained what had happened, and the relief that washed over her was almost comical. "Don't you worry," she said, her voice overly cheerful. "I'll make sure he learns his lesson." As she spoke, I saw Finn flinch. I nodded slowly, letting my words land with deliberate weight. "He was lucky this time. It was just me and my brother who caught him. If my parents had been there, they wouldn't have been so forgiving." Brenda's expression darkened as the implication hit her. "I understand. I'll keep a better eye on him. He won't be causing any more trouble." She grabbed Finn by the arm, shoved him into their small, rundown apartment, and locked the door behind him. "You stay in there and think about what you've done." Finished, she turned back to Liam, her face stretched into a sycophantic grin. "Young man, would you like to come in for a soda? I just bought some cookies." Liam wrinkled his nose in disgust. "No way. This place looks filthy." He turned and stalked off without another word. Brenda started to follow, then thought better of it. She went back inside. A moment later, I heard Finn's screams, followed by the sound of blows. Brenda was taking out her frustration on him. When I caught up to Liam at the end of the alley, Jade was waving to us, a sweet, harmless smile on her face. "Bye-bye, pretty lady! Bye, handsome boy!" Pretty lady? Hearing that from Jade's lips was a novelty. The last time we'd spoken, she was leaning over me as I lay dying, whispering in my ear. "Ugly monster. This is all your fault. You should have listened to him. Now you can just die." The memory was so vivid that for a second, I felt the phantom pain in my chest. Liam, captivated by her farewell, started to turn back, a stupid grin on his face. I grabbed his arm, my grip tight. "Come on. Mom and Dad will be worried." In just a few minutes, he was already under her spell. If they spent any more time together, I had no doubt he’d end up just as twisted around her finger as my real brother had been. I couldn't let history repeat itself. Reluctantly, Liam let me pull him away. He didn't see Jade's smile curdle into a scowl the moment our backs were turned, the innocent rabbit act vanishing as if it had never been. 6 After that day, I never saw Finn again. It seemed Brenda had taken my warning to heart. With no more distractions, I focused on my studies. Just as before, I earned the nomination for the Harrison Scholarship. This time, there was no one to stand in my way. I was accepted to my dream university. My parents, bursting with pride, threw me a lavish party. As friends and family congratulated them, my parents beamed. But whenever Liam’s name came up, their faces would fall. He was a terrible student, a magnet for trouble. They had tried everything—threats, punishments, an army of expensive tutors—but nothing worked. He remained stubbornly, defiantly himself. It was in his blood. His biological father, Rick, was the same. My dad, unaware of the genetic truth, tried to put a positive spin on it. “Liam’s just like me,” he’d say with a forced laugh. “A late bloomer. He’ll do great things one day.” My mother would chime in, her eyes pleading with me. “That’s right. Sadie, don’t you ever look down on your brother, you hear me? It would break his heart.” “I won’t,” I promised, my expression placid. I lowered my eyes, remembering a different time. My real brother calling me a monster, and my parents praising his wit, marveling at how clever he was to come up with such a rhyming insult. They had told me to stay away from him, so my "horrifying face" wouldn’t give him nightmares. The hypocrisy was suffocating. Fortunately, Liam’s spectacular failures had an upside. My parents had decided that I would be the one to take over the family business. They knew, even if they wouldn’t admit it, that leaving it to Liam would be corporate suicide. He’d bankrupt them within a year. I made a point to be kind to Liam. I defended him when our parents yelled at him, took his side in arguments. I wanted them to believe that after they were gone, I would continue to take care of him. And in a way, it was true. This was my path. In this new life, I understood one thing with perfect clarity: power was the only real protection. I had to seize every opportunity to make myself stronger, to ensure no one could ever hurt me again. I thought my life would continue on this quiet, upward trajectory. I never expected Brenda to show up on our doorstep, with my brother in tow. 7 It started when Liam got into a fight on his third day of high school. He came home with a split lip and a black eye, courtesy of another student. That student was Finn. Our housekeeper was the one who told me. She said that Finn's mother had brought him over to apologize. To beg for my parents' forgiveness, she had beaten Finn bloody right there on our front porch, but my parents refused to even come downstairs to see them. "Shouldn't you go out there and tell her to stop?" the housekeeper asked, her voice laced with pity. I felt a jolt, as if I’d misheard. "What did you say the boy's name was?" "Finn," she replied. "I heard his dad is some kind of murderer on the run. Like father, like son, I guess. He seems like a little thug himself." There was no doubt now. My biological brother had come to me. All those years ago, Rick had swapped the babies because he’d just killed someone. He knew he was going to be caught, and he wanted his son to have a better life. I was surprised he hadn't been apprehended yet. But I was more surprised that Brenda would have the audacity to bring Finn here. Finn was a mirror image of our father. The second my parents laid eyes on him, they would know. They would have to know their son had been switched. Was this Brenda’s conscience finally catching up to her? Did she want to swap them back? No, that didn't make sense. If she felt guilty, she wouldn't be beating Finn to a pulp on our doorstep. I had to know what game she was playing. I decided to go down and see them for myself, to see my brother after all these years. My plan was to intercept them before my parents could, to get them away from the house without a scene. But as I reached the bottom of the stairs, the front door opened, and my parents walked in. My father saw me and his face hardened. "Good, Sadie, you're here. Come with us. We're going to meet the little punk who hurt your brother." "He's going to regret ever laying a hand on our Liam," my mother added, her voice dripping with venom. It seemed fate had decided. My parents were about to meet their real son. I took a deep breath, steeling myself. "Let's go." I was no longer the helpless victim. Even if Finn returned to this family, he couldn't hurt me. Not like before. 8 The moment I saw my brother, I understood why Brenda had dared to come. His face was destroyed. A web of angry, raised scars crisscrossed his skin, the kind of burn you get from hot oil. He was almost unrecognizable. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was responsible. Brenda had him on the ground, his body bruised and bloody. He stared up at us, his eyes burning with a hatred so pure it was almost beautiful, like a devil clawing its way out of hell. My mother gasped, taking a step back and clutching her chest. "My God, what a monster. He's hideous. I shouldn't have come down here. Seeing that face will give me nightmares." Her words hit him like a physical blow. He let out a raw, agonized roar. "Shut your mouth! I wasn't always like this! She did this to me! She threw hot oil in my face!" He struggled to his feet, trembling with rage. "Why does everyone look at me like I'm garbage? Does being ugly mean you don't even deserve to live?" I watched him, my face a perfect mask of calm. I remembered his last words to me in our other life: You're a monster, and you deserve every ugly thing that's ever happened to you. Now, the words were his. The scornful glances, the disgust—it was all his now. Was this karma? Brenda just shrugged at his accusation. "It was an accident. Honestly, you're so dramatic." She turned to my parents, her smile slick and apologetic. "I heard my Finn here got into a scuffle with your boy. I brought him over to say sorry, and I've already taught him a good lesson. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive him." She held out two gift baskets. "I hear your son is still in the hospital. I'm so worried about him. Could I... could I maybe go see him?" So that was it. She wasn't here for Finn. She was worried about her own biological son, Liam. Before my parents could answer, Finn spat out, his neck corded with defiance, "I did nothing wrong. He called me a freak and said he was going to take my Jade away from me. He deserved it." Brenda hit him on the back of the head. "Will you shut up? Do you know who Liam is? He's a golden boy, born to have the world at his feet. You're not even worthy of polishing his shoes. So what if he said a few words to you?" Finn’s face crumpled with betrayal. "Are you even my mother? You're always taking his side. Guys like Liam are just spoiled brats who got lucky. So what? I got into that private school on a full scholarship because I'm smart." Brenda hit him again. "You and your stupid grades. Liam is going to be a CEO someday. You'll be lucky to be his janitor." Finn laughed, a cold, sharp sound. "CEO? That idiot? He's a lost cause. I heard his sister is the one inheriting everything, not him." Brenda's face went slack. She turned to my parents, her voice tight with panic. "Is that true?" My father's expression was glacial. "This is a family matter. It has nothing to do with you." "But Mr. Harrison," she pleaded, her voice cloying. "You have to understand. A daughter gets married, she becomes part of another family. Your legacy... it has to go to your son." She was desperate now, practically begging my parents to change their minds on behalf of a boy who wasn't even hers. My parents looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "It's our money. We'll give it to whoever we want. Now get off our property." Seeing Finn so thoroughly brutalized, they'd lost their appetite for revenge. They had the housekeeper escort Brenda and Finn out. They didn't let her see Liam. But I knew this wasn't over. As Brenda was being led away, she shot a look over her shoulder at me. It was pure, undiluted venom. In her eyes, I was the one stealing what rightfully belonged to Liam.
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