On my wedding day, my best friend Jess gave me a cheap lottery ticket as a gift. I saw disgust in her eyes as she said sweetly, “It’s the thought that counts. Besides, I’m pregnant—I need every penny. You wouldn’t take money from me, right?” Chilled but unwilling to cause a scene, I let it go. Later, I discovered the ticket was worth $50 million. My husband Mark and I claimed the prize, but the news spread fast. Jess showed up at our door, frantic and accusing me of stealing her luck. In the struggle, she lunged with a knife—but it struck Mark instead. As I tried to call for help, she tackled me. We crashed through the balcony glass and fell to our deaths. Then I woke up—back at the wedding, the lottery ticket still in my hand. 1 My hand was frozen in mid-air. A second later, Jess slapped it down, hard. A sharp, stinging pain shot up from my knuckles, snapping me back to reality. I was back. Back at my own wedding. I watched as Jess shot me a venomous glare and stuffed the lottery ticket—the one meant to be my gift—back into her own pocket. As she did, she carefully, almost obsessively, checked to make sure it wasn't bent or torn. “Jess, what are you doing?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly. “Weren’t you giving that to me?” Her face contorted with rage. “Giving it to you? Who said I was giving it to you?” she shrieked. “This is mine! I bought it for myself! Who the hell do you think you are? You think you deserve something of mine?” I quickly glanced at the numbers on the ticket. They were identical to the one she’d given me in my past life. What she didn’t know was that her ticket was a dud. The reason I’d won fifty million dollars in my past life was because I had also bought a ticket for myself that morning. The real winner was mine. The cheerful buzz of the reception hall died down, replaced by a stunned silence. All eyes were on us. A few of our mutual friends hurried over. “What’s going on? Why are you two fighting?” But Megan, who had seen the whole exchange, couldn’t help but sneer. “It’s Liv’s wedding day, and you give her a lottery ticket as a gift, which is tacky enough. But now you’re asking for it back? You’ve got some nerve!” That was the spark that lit the fuse. Jess’s eyes went wide. She shoved Megan violently. “What do you know? What could you possibly know?” “That ticket was always meant to be mine!” Her manic energy scared everyone. The crowd took a collective step back. And in that moment, I knew. She had been reborn, too. In my past life, at this exact moment, she had handed me the ticket with a smile. “I bought this lottery ticket especially for you today,” she’d said, pressing it into my hand. “Make sure you keep it safe.” “It’s the thought that counts. Just take it. Oh, and by the way, my due date is in six months. As the godmother, you’d better start saving up for a big gift.” At the time, I was just confused. I thought it was some kind of weird joke. We had known each other for over twenty years. When she got married, I had been her rock. The wedding dress, the diamond ring, even the designer handbag she carried—I bought them all for her. She had promised me that when I got married, no matter what, she would be my maid of honor. So when Mark and I set our date, she was the first person I called. Her response was a flat rejection. “I’m pregnant. I can’t be a maid of honor. It’s too much work. You wouldn’t make a pregnant woman do all that, would you?” I was hurt, but I understood. Being a maid of honor is exhausting. “Olivia! Are you deaf?” Jess’s shrill voice cut through my memories, yanking me back to the present. The thought of how I had died because of her made my fists clench at my sides. “Fine! Since Megan already called me out, I’ll just say it!” Jess shrieked, her voice echoing through the silent hall. “From this day forward, Olivia and I are done! We have nothing to do with each other!” She steadied herself on someone’s arm and climbed onto a chair, addressing the whole room. “Everyone, listen up! Anyone who goes to Olivia right now and gets their wedding gift back, I’ll give you five thousand dollars in cash! Right now!” People just stared at her like she was insane. She didn’t care. She pulled out her phone and called her husband, telling him to withdraw all their savings from the bank. When she hung up, she shot me a triumphant, vicious grin. “Liv, don’t blame me for being ruthless. You can only blame yourself for taking something that was never yours to begin with!” 2 She spat the words out, her teeth clenched. The atmosphere was thick with tension. A few people tried to gently pull her aside, but it was a half-hearted effort. They wanted to see the show. My wedding ceremony was scheduled to start in fifteen minutes. Instead, I was surrounded. “It’s Liv’s wedding day. Can’t this wait until after?” someone murmured. Jess tilted her chin up. “Let me repeat myself. If you cut ties with Olivia right now, I will give you five thousand dollars each!” Just as she finished speaking, her husband arrived, panting, dragging a heavy black duffel bag. “Put it on the floor!” she commanded. He grunted and dropped the bag, unzipping it to reveal stacks and stacks of cash. “Honey, all of our savings. Twenty thousand dollars. It’s all here.” The sight of that much cash stunned the room into silence. Megan, standing beside me, gasped. Her voice was suddenly syrupy sweet. “Jess, you’re… you’re serious?” Jess laughed, a short, sharp sound. “Of course, I’m serious. When have I ever lied?” “And believe me, I’m about to have a lot more money than this.” Before, they would have dismissed her as crazy. But now, with a bag full of cash at her feet, they were listening. Megan was the first to turn. Her eyes flicked over to me, and she held out her hand. “Liv, I wish you all the best. Now, about that two-hundred-dollar gift I gave you… can I get that back?” Before I could even speak, Jess was already counting out five thousand dollars and shoving it into Megan’s hands. “Limited-time offer! First come, first served!” That was all it took. A wave of people surged toward me, demanding their gifts back. Among them were some of my own relatives. “Liv, sweetie, I know this hurts,” my own aunt said, not even trying to hide her greed. “But who can resist an offer like this? Five thousand dollars! Do you know how little I make a month cleaning houses?” She turned and yelled over her shoulder, “Me! I’m next! I’m officially cutting ties with my niece! Can I get a little extra for being family?” The few guests I had were now all crowded around Jess. A few minutes later, the once-stuffed duffel bag was empty. As everyone quietly counted their money, Jess strode toward me on her tiptoes. In front of my disbelieving eyes, she called over the venue manager. She pointed around the beautifully decorated hall. “I want to book this ballroom. Right now. How much will it cost?” The manager shot me a troubled look. “Ma’am, I’m afraid that’s not possible. This ballroom has already been booked by this…” “Whatever she paid, I’ll pay double!” The manager hesitated. “Ma’am, it’s against our policy to…” “Triple!” A flicker of excitement crossed his face. He was wavering. “Four times! No! I’ll pay five times her price to book this hall. Right now.” That sealed it. The manager was sold. Without even looking at me, he agreed. “Yes! Of course! I’ll have my staff change the decorations immediately.” Throughout the entire exchange, he treated me like I was invisible. “Don’t bother,” Jess said, a smirk on her face. “Leave everything as it is. Just take down their wedding portrait from the stage.” She shot me a look of pure triumph. The manager, ever the professional, pulled me aside. “Ma’am, you saw what happened. We’re a business, and we need to make a profit. So… I’m very sorry, but we will, of course, compensate you for the breach of contract.” 3 I curved my lips into a smile. “Well, for a spineless opportunist, you’re surprisingly polite.” His face turned a shade of green. After a sharp huff, he ordered two waiters to remove my wedding portrait. I didn’t catch it in time. It fell to the floor with a crash. As I bent to pick it up, Jess’s foot came down on the photo, right on my face. I looked up and met her contemptuous gaze. “Back when you were doing better than me, you always looked down on me,” she sneered. “Now, it’s my turn.” “Thank God! The universe is finally setting things right. It’s my time to be rich!” A fire burned in my chest. “Look down on you? When did I ever look down on you?” “You dare say you didn’t? At my wedding, you gave me that diamond ring in front of all my friends. Wasn’t that just to show off how much money you had?” Her foot twisted on the photograph, grinding it into the floor. I couldn’t help it. I laughed. So that’s when it started. She had hated me since then. No wonder she’d grown so distant after she got married. And I, like an idiot, had kept worrying about her. The only reason I bought her that diamond ring was because she told me she loved it but couldn’t afford it. She had no idea I’d worked a month of overtime and emptied my own savings account just to buy it for her. I was an orphan, raised by the charity of neighbors. From the moment I met Jess, I had considered her family. Now I saw that it had all been one-sided. But at least I was seeing things clearly now. The photo was ruined. I didn’t want it anymore. I slowly straightened up. “Jess, I just hope you don’t regret this.” Booking this hall had cost me five thousand dollars. Five times that was twenty-five thousand. “Regret?” she scoffed. “Liv, you think too small. When you find out how much money I’m about to have, I promise you, you’ll be on your knees begging me to be your friend again.” Just then, my husband, Mark, came out of the dressing room. He was supposed to be greeting guests with me, but earlier, Jess had “accidentally” spilled a drink on him, and he’d been changing. “What’s going on?” he asked, then his eyes fell on the discarded portrait. “Jess? What are you doing?” He moved to pick it up, but two security guards grabbed him. “Jess, what the hell is going on?” Mark yelled. I was shaking with rage. A second later, guards grabbed me, too. “This is my party now,” Jess announced coolly. “And you two are not welcome. In fact, you don’t deserve to be here. So I’m having you removed.” She waved a dismissive hand, and the guards shoved us toward the main entrance, their hands on the back of our necks. Jess followed us out, a small, smug smile on her face. She was holding a piece of paper. She handed it to the manager, who taped it to the glass door. It read: “No Dogs or Millers Allowed.” 4 Mark went ballistic. He tried to lunge at her, but I held him back. Jess saw my gesture and her smile widened. “That’s right, Liv. You need to understand the new reality. You and I… we’re not in the same class anymore. When you see me from now on, you should probably bow. You wouldn’t want to get sick with envy over all my money.” A crowd of our former friends gathered around her, laughing and cheering her on. “Jess, I always knew you were destined for great things, even back in school! I was right!” Sarah, another classmate, gushed, linking her arm with Jess’s. “Jess, I always hated Liv,” she added with a venomous glance in my direction. “If I hadn’t heard you were coming, I never would have shown up to this pathetic wedding.” The most sickening part was seeing my own aunt in the crowd, fawning over Jess. “Jess, dear, do you remember me? When you were little, I told you not to play with Liv. I knew she was bad luck and would ruin your fortune!” Surrounded by her new entourage of sycophants, Jess was escorted back inside. When they were all gone, Mark finally exploded. “What is wrong with her? What just happened?” I took a deep breath and explained everything as best I could. He looked shocked, but he believed me. I gently touched his shoulder. “Let’s just take a trip. A honeymoon, just the two of us. We don’t have to deal with any of these people.” He stroked my cheek, his eyes full of concern. “Okay.” On the drive home, my wedding dress felt cumbersome and ridiculous, but I didn’t care. Today, I had seen everyone’s true colors. It was a painful but necessary lesson. My phone started buzzing nonstop. I opened it to a flood of photos and messages from my former friends. “Thanks to Jess, we’re eating king crab!” “Hey Liv, thanks for putting this all together! We wouldn’t be eating all this amazing seafood without you!” I calmly turned off my phone. I knew exactly what Jess was doing. She was spending her future. That afternoon, she took her new fan club on a shopping spree at the mall, buying designer bags and luxury goods. A trip like that with so many people would cost a fortune. She was betting everything on that fifty-million-dollar prize. What she didn’t know was that I was holding the real winning ticket. The time for the lottery drawing was getting closer, and I couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she realized her numbers didn't hit. I was wondering where she got all her cash when a friend who worked in real estate messaged me. “Hey, check this out. Is this your friend Jess’s house? She’s selling it for half the market value! Did she win the lottery or something?” I smirked. “Something like that.” So that’s how she was funding her grand performance. She’d sold her car, sold her house—liquidated every asset she had. All to throw money at people who would abandon her the second it ran out. Late that night, as I was packing our suitcases, my phone rang. It was Jess. Her voice was smug. “Guess where I’m staying tonight? A luxury presidential suite. Have you ever even seen one, Liv?” “Let me tell you something. After tonight, the gap between you and me will be a chasm you can never cross. Tomorrow, I will be a multimillionaire.” “Fifty million dollars! You’ll never see that much money in your entire life!” I couldn’t stand the sound of her voice. I hung up. The next morning, I woke Mark up early. We had to get out of the state. Just as we were about to cross the state line, her number appeared on my screen again. A frantic, desperate series of calls. I answered. A furious roar erupted from the other end. “OLIVIA! WHAT DID YOU DO?” “WHERE IS MY FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS? WHERE IS MY MONEY?” “WHY? WHY AM I STILL BROKE IN THIS LIFE?!”
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