Chapter 1: The Joke That Almost Killed Me
The last thing my sister did before her fiancé canceled their $18,000 honeymoon was laugh at me while I struggled to breathe.
She stood beside the swimming pool in our parents' backyard, holding a champagne flute, surrounded by friends and family who had gathered to celebrate her engagement. Her makeup was flawless. Her diamond ring sparkled beneath the patio lights.
And I was in the water, fighting for my life.
"Move, Olivia!"" Madison snapped behind me.
"You're ruining my pictures!""
I turned toward her, startled by the sharpness in her voice.
"I'm standing by the fence," I said.
"Your photographer is on the other side of the pool.""
"Exactly. You're in the background.""
I glanced toward the photographer, who was busy arranging Madison's bridesmaids beneath an arch covered in white roses.
"I'm not even in the pictures.""
Madison's smile tightened.
For most of our childhood, I had learned to recognize that expression. It meant she had decided I was going to pay for something, even if I had no idea what I had done wrong.
"God, you're always so difficult," she muttered.
Before I could answer, she planted both hands against my shoulders and shoved.
I stumbled backward.
My heels scraped against the concrete. My arms flew outward, searching for something to grab, but there was nothing behind me except open air.
Then the water swallowed me.
The cold hit first. It stole my breath so completely that I couldn't even scream.
I sank beneath the surface, my dress dragging against my legs. When I tried to kick, my feet moved uselessly through the water. I couldn't find the bottom. I couldn't find the edge.
I couldn't swim.
Madison knew that.
I broke the surface for half a second.
"Help!"" I gasped.
Someone shouted my name.
Then I went under again.
My lungs burned. The sunlight above me fractured into trembling silver pieces. I reached upward, but my hands found nothing.
A shadow plunged into the water.
Strong arms caught me around the chest and pulled me upward. I broke through the surface coughing, choking, and gulping air as if I had never breathed before.
"Olivia! Look at me!"" Ethan Brooks shouted.
"Can you hear me?""
My sister's fiancé held me against him, one arm locked around my waist as he kicked toward the pool's edge.
I clutched his shirt with both hands.
"Please," I rasped.
"Please, get me out.""
"I've got you. Don't let go.""
Ethan hauled me to the side, where two guests reached down and helped pull me onto the concrete.
I collapsed onto my hands and knees, coughing so hard my ribs hurt.
Someone brought a towel. Someone else asked whether they should call an ambulance.
I barely heard them.
All I could hear was Madison laughing.
"Oh my God!"" she exclaimed, covering her mouth with one hand.
"Ethan, you look like you've just rescued someone from the Titanic!""
I slowly lifted my head.
She was standing three feet away, her phone still in her hand.
"That was so dramatic," she continued.
"She fell into a pool, not the Atlantic Ocean.""
Ethan stared at her in disbelief.
"She can't swim, Madison!""
Madison rolled her eyes.
"Then maybe she should learn. She's twenty-six, not six.""
My father, Robert, pushed through the crowd.
"What happened?""
"Olivia slipped," Madison answered immediately.
"She's making a big deal out of nothing.""
I looked at my sister.
"You pushed me.""
Her eyebrows rose.
"Excuse me?""
"You pushed me into the pool.""
"Oh, for heaven's sake!"" Madison threw her free hand into the air.
"I gave you a little shove because you wouldn't move. How was I supposed to know you'd react like that?""
"You knew I couldn't swim.""
For a moment, her smile faltered.
Then she leaned closer and whispered, just loudly enough for me to hear, "Maybe if you weren't so desperate for attention, people wouldn't have to put up with you.""
Something inside me went quiet.
I had spent years explaining away Madison's cruelty. She was competitive. She was spoiled. She had always been jealous of the attention I received whenever our parents praised my work or thanked me for helping them.
That was what I told myself when she ruined my graduation dinner by announcing her own promotion.
It was what I told myself when she borrowed my car and returned it damaged, then convinced our mother that I was selfish for asking her to pay for the repairs.
And it was what I told myself when she invited everyone in our family to her birthday weekend except me, claiming she had simply forgotten.
But this wasn't a ruined dinner or a damaged car.
I had just come within seconds of drowning.
Ethan helped me onto a lounge chair and wrapped a thick white towel around my shoulders.
"Stay here," he said gently.
"I'm getting you some water.""
"I'm fine," I whispered automatically.
He crouched in front of me.
"No, you're not. You're shaking.""
Only then did I notice my hands trembling so badly that my fingers rattled against the plastic armrests.
Ethan looked at Madison again.
She had already turned back toward her bridesmaids, explaining that the entire incident was ruining the engagement photos.
"Can we please get back to the party?"" she complained.
"The caterers are leaving in an hour, and I still need pictures with my ring.""
Ethan stood.
"Are you serious right now?""
Madison sighed impatiently.
"What?""
"You nearly drowned your own sister.""
"Stop saying that! She's sitting right there, isn't she?""
Ethan stared at her for several seconds. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Madison's expression softened into a familiar, flirtatious smile.
"Baby, don't be mad. You know how Olivia is.""
He unlocked his phone.
"What are you doing?"" she asked.
"Canceling our honeymoon.""
The smile vanished from her face.
"What?""
"The twelve days in Maui. The oceanfront suite. The private catamaran excursion. Everything.""
Madison lunged toward him.
"ETHAN! THAT TRIP COST EIGHTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!""
He stepped away before she could grab his phone.
"And you think that's the important part?""
"Our flights are nonrefundable!""
"Then we'll lose the money.""
She stared at him as if he had slapped her.
"You can't cancel our honeymoon over a stupid joke!""
Ethan glanced at me, still curled beneath the towel, then returned his attention to his fiancée.
"It wasn't a joke.""
Madison's eyes darted toward our parents.
"Mom! Tell him Olivia is exaggerating!""
Our mother, Diane, stood frozen near the patio doors. She looked at me, then at Madison, and finally at the wet footprints trailing across the concrete.
For once, she didn't rush to defend her favorite daughter.
My father stepped between them.
"Madison," he said, his voice unusually hard.
"Did you push your sister on purpose?""
Madison opened her mouth.
Then she closed it.
May you like
And in that tiny, terrible pause, everyone at the party seemed to understand that the truth was about to be much worse than a fall into the pool.
Because my sister had just been asked a question she couldn't answer without revealing something she had spent fourteen years making our entire family forget.
