Chapter 1No Way Back to Summer

Ten years after I missed my shot at college, I was selling burgers from a street cart when I ran into Marisa Doyle.

Her eyes fell on the empty pant leg where my left leg should have been, and she froze.

I calmly bagged up her order and held it out. "That'll be ten dollars."

She did not take it. Instead, she scanned the QR code taped to my cart, and my phone chimed with a notification. She had sent me a million dollars.

"I never thought you'd end up like this. Back then... What I did to you was wrong. I gave your Wexley University acceptance letter to Tobias."

Scalding grease spattered off the griddle and turned my arm red, but I did not feel a thing.

Ten years earlier, Tobias Kerr had been brought home as the family's real son, and I had become the fake heir nobody needed anymore. Even my engagement to Marisa was handed over to him.

Anger stung my eyes as I stared at the diamond ring on her finger, and my voice broke.

"So now that it's all out, you get to feel better. What about me?"

After losing my place at college, I was thrown out of the house. I scraped through community college and hit dead ends everywhere I turned. When I finally found a job that kept food on the table, a car accident took one of my legs.

Just then, a runaway truck came barreling straight at me.

Marisa lunged forward and shoved me out of the way. A second later, the truck slammed into her and sent her flying.

In her final moments, she apologized to me.

"I've paid back everything I owed you. Please don't hate me. If there's another life, don't love me again."

Her blood splashed across my face. The moment her hand went limp, everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day everything changed.

* * *

Ezra's POV

The glaring red numbers on my printed SAT score report were proof enough. This was not a dream. I had really been reborn.

My parents' ecstatic cheers rang in my ears.

"That's our Tobias! I knew our boy was as good as anyone!"

"Exactly! His grades might be bad most of the time, but when it counted, he beat his brother!"

Marisa Doyle's smile was so doting it was practically spilling over. "He's my man. Of course he takes after me."

I stood quietly in a corner where no one paid me any attention, and my heart grew colder by the second.

In my past life, when I found out I had scored 790 on the SAT, I refused to believe it. I cried and made a scene, demanding that my test be rescored.

I had been at the top of my class since I was a child and, in all three years of high school, I had never once dropped below second in my grade. There was no way I had failed to break 1,100.

However, the moment my parents heard the word "rescore," they turned on me and slammed their hands on the table.

"Rescore? Ezra, do you want all of Halverton to see how you've made a joke of yourself for 18 years, all because you can't let go of your pride?"

When I learned Tobias Kerr had scored 1,520, I lost my mind and accused him of tampering with the results. That outburst was the last straw. My parents showed me no mercy, shipped me off to community college, and washed their hands of me for three years.

Thinking of Marisa's confession before I died, I clenched my fists until they shook.

"Mom, Dad, please don't be like this. Ezra didn't do well this time, so let's just skip my send-off party, okay?" Tobias gave me a look of feigned sympathy.

"Ridiculous!" Dad barked. "I haven't even blamed him for cheating and embarrassing the Kerr family, yet he has the nerve to be upset?"

Mom furrowed her brow as well. "You're too kind for your own good. Your brother would sell you out, and you'd thank him for it!"

Marisa fixed her cold eyes on me in warning. "Ezra, this is the SAT. Are you really going to claim it was faked?"

My fingers dug hard into my palms, but my expression did not change as I nodded. "I'll go to community college. I don't need your money."

The three of them froze.

Marisa frowned slightly. "Tobias got into Wexley University on his own merit. What's the point of sulking?"

I scoffed inwardly. He was a slob who skipped class to sleep and spent every day partying. Some merit that was.

Ignoring their suspicious looks, I turned and headed for my bedroom to pack. I had barely taken a step when Tobias rushed over and grabbed my hand, looking anxious.

"Ezra! Don't be mad. I'll cancel the party, okay?"

I frowned and was about to shake him off when someone pinched my arm hard, and Tobias fell straight backward with a cry.

In the next instant, Marisa shoved me into the wooden cabinet. Liquor bottles shattered across the floor, and my palm came down hard on the broken glass. I sucked in a sharp breath because of the pain.

Marisa's expression turned icy. "Ezra! How dare you push him! Admit it, you're just jealous of Tobias!"

My parents rounded on me, red-faced with fury.

"If you have a problem with us, take it out on us! What kind of person hits his own brother?"

"Tobias has always been frail. If anything happens to him, you'll pay for it!"

Tobias was so frantic that tears spilled down his face. "Mom, Dad, Mari, I fell by accident! Don't blame Ezra! He's hurt!"

As if none of them had even seen my hand, the three of them rushed out and drove to the hospital.