A Hundred Million Dollar Death

Vance ditches me at the altar. He brags to his boys that chasing the untouchable girl equals nothing but a sick bet.

He actually craves Piper—the biological daughter my filthy rich family just dragged home.

Terrified I might ruin their aesthetic, my parents and superstar brother lock me inside the estate.

They hand the security guards a simple order: break her legs if she steps outside. They expect me on the floor, begging. They want me sobbing.Bullshit.My eyes stay bone dry.

I call out to the system in my head. I choose death. Put me on the roof. I want to plummet and shatter my bones right at their feet. Let my blood stain their toxic memories forever.

The rules stand clear. The exact second my heart stops beating in this nightmare, the game ends.

I get to wake up in the real world, breathing, alive, and a hundred million dollars richer. Chapter 1 My wealthy family used to worship the ground I walked on.

My superstar brother used to protect me. Then Piper came back. The moment the longlost biological daughter stepped through the door, I became a ghost.

Even Vance, the man who promised me forever, was just playing a game. Winning my heart was nothing but a sick bet with his friends.

Now, on the day we are supposed to get married, he is leaving me at the altar for her. Eighteen years of living in the lap of luxury is enough. I don't hesitate.

I tell the system I want out. I choose death. I will take the hundredmilliondollar payout and wake up in the real world. I slide into the heavy silk of my wedding dress.

Ignoring the vicious glares burning into my back, I force my lips into a smile and place my hand in Vance's outstretched palm.

The groom's side of the aisle erupts into laughter. "Game over, Vance. You win." "Got to hand it to you.

You actually bagged the untouchable girl." Vance smirks at his friends. "Wire me your bets and the wedding gifts.

Every last cent." My brother steps right in front of me, blocking my path. "Vance loves Piper. He's marrying Piper today.

You need to keep your mouth shut and stay out of the way." My mother grabs my wrist, her manicured nails biting into my skin. "Maeve, your sister struggles with severe depression.

She is suicidal. Vance is the only one who keeps her grounded. You need to step aside for her." My father scoffs. "She already stole eighteen years of Piper's life.

Giving up one man is getting off easy." They order security to lock me inside the estate. They want to make sure I don't crash the reception at the hotel. I do not cry.

I do not scream. My chest feels hollow, but I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep the manic grin off my face. The bodyguards shove me inside the foyer.

Instantly, the cold, mechanical voice echoes in the quiet of my mind. Does the host confirm the choice to initiate death and exit this world? I confirm.

Please select your method of death. Put me on the roof. I want to jump.

I want Vance and my family to watch my body shatter on the concrete so the blood stains their memories forever. Method generating... Method confirmed.

Upon death, the host will receive the onehundredmilliondollar reward. This action cannot be undone. Do you confirm? I confirm. The deadbolts click. The windows are sealed tight.

A small army of staff surrounds me in the foyer. "You better stay put, Maeve. Otherwise, things are going to get ugly." Martha stands right in front of me.

Her hands are wrapped tightly around a bat. I take two steps toward the front door. The heavy metal slams into my thigh with a sickening crack.

Blinding pain explodes up my leg, stealing the breath from my lungs as my knees crash hard against the hardwood floor. "Piper gave me strict orders," Martha says. "If you act up, I break your legs." She suddenly raises her voice, yelling for the rest of the room. "Maeve is trying to escape!

She's going to ruin the wedding! Stop her!" Four bodyguards pull out their batons and close in on me. I scramble backward. "What are you doing? I didn't even run!

You can't touch me!" "We know exactly what you're plotting." Martha points the bat at me. "You might not be running right this second, but you will." She steps closer, tapping the metal against her palm. "It's a lot easier to shatter your kneecaps than to watch you all night.

I won't let you ruin Piper's big day." "Aren't you afraid I'll tell my parents?" "Tell them," Martha says. "See if they care.

I will just say you panicked, jumped from the secondfloor balcony to escape, and snapped your own legs. They will not do a damn thing to me." Chapter 2 They swarm me.

Batons and metal pipes slam into my ribs. My back. My legs. I hear the sickening crunch of my own bones snapping. Blood soaks into my wedding dress, the stain spreading fast.

The ruined fabric clings to my skin, heavy, hot, and suffocating. They don't stop.

They swing like they want me dead. "If I die here, my parents will ruin you!" I scream, tasting copper. "You still think you're the little princess?" Martha spits. "You're a stray.

A mistake. The only reason you're not on the streets is because they pitied you." She kicks me hard in the ribs.

The air punches out of my lungs, leaving me gasping and choking on nothing. "When Piper came back, they were ready to toss you out," Martha says. "Your brother begged them to keep you.

Said it was no different than feeding a stray dog. That's what you are." She raises the bat again. "And you actually thought you could steal Vance from her?

Keep dreaming." A sharp, broken laugh scrapes its way up my throat. "You are not trying to stop me from crashing the wedding.

You are trying to kill me." Martha smiles. "Accidents happen when people try to run away, Maeve." Cold dread floods my chest, freezing my blood. I am ready to die. I want to die.

But not like this. Not as some random accident. If my heart stops before I execute the system's exact method, I might be trapped in this nightmare forever.

Survival instinct overrides the agony. I lunge forward. My shoulder slams into Martha's stomach, sending her crashing backward into the table.

The candle my mother lit for Piper tips over. The glass shatters. Open flame hits the heavy velvet drapes. Fire climbs the wall in seconds.

The heat sears my face. "You crazy bitch!" someone screams. The bodyguards scramble back from the flames. I don't wait.

I drag my broken leg toward the door, hauling myself out into the crisp air. The estate gates are lined with security cameras. They won't risk beating me out in the open.

I hobble onto the main road. The ruined fabric of my dress drags against the asphalt, leaving a thick trail of dark red. Cabs speed past me.

Nobody wants to pick up a bleeding bride. Finally, a car pulls over. A young woman rolls down her window, her eyes wide with shock. I beg her to drive me to the hotel.

The hotel belongs to my father's holding company. The staff knows exactly who I am. When I drag myself through the revolving doors, the lobby security guards freeze.

The concierge drops his pen. No one dares to stop me. I reach the grand ballroom entrance. My parents and my brother are standing by the double doors.

They are shaking hands, greeting the VIPs. Brilliant, flawless smiles plaster their faces. Then, my father turns his head. His eyes lock onto me. The smile vanishes.

This is the society wedding of the decade. The press line is packed. Camera flashes explode in my face, blinding me. Reporters shove their way forward, hungry for the scandal.

My brother bridges the distance between us in three long strides. "What the hell are you doing here?" He mutters under his breath, "Useless idiots couldn't even keep one girl locked up." He glares at my ruined dress. "Look at yourself.

You did this on purpose, didn't you? Just to ruin her day. You want the spotlight that badly? You want to be on the front page?" My mother rushes over.

Her eyes scan the red stains. "Maeve, what happened? Is that blood?" "It's mine," I say. My voice rasps. "Piper's people nearly beat me to death.

I barely got out." My father's hand cracks across my cheek. The force snaps my head to the side.

Copper floods my mouth again. "You shameless liar," he hisses. "Can't you just let your sister be happy?" My mother grabs my wrist. "Maeve, you're saying Piper ordered someone to hit you?" My brother yanks her away from me. "Don't listen to her.

It's paint. She's just putting on a show for the cameras. She loves the attention." He digs his fingers into my battered arm, dragging my broken body toward the exit.

Chapter 3 I stumble and hit the floor hard. The ruined fabric of my dress falls open, exposing the mangled, unnatural angle of my broken leg.

The bone presses starkly against the bruised skin. The entire grand lobby goes dead silent. A normal person would be screaming.

But the system severed my pain receptors the second I confirmed my exit. I feel nothing but a dull, heavy deadness where my bones used to connect. My mother covers her mouth.

Tears spill over her lashes. "Maeve, what happened to you?" The muscles in my father's jaw jump.

A brief flash of heartbreak hits his eyes before it hardens. "What did you do to yourself?" My brother just stares, the anger draining out of his face as he looks at the blood pooling around my knees.

The crowd parts. Vance pushes through the wall of guests and looks down at me. "Maeve?" I lift my bloodsmeared face. "Perfect timing.

I just have a few questions." Piper rushes out behind him. She is dressed in perfect, spotless white.

She looks flawless, even with her cheeks wet from fresh tears. "Maeve, this is the most important day of my life." Her voice trembles. "Do you have to ruin this too?" She shakes violently, gripping the fabric of her skirt. "Why do you hate me?

You already stole my whole life! All I want is Vance.

Can't you just let us be happy?" My brother reaches down to pull me up. "I'm taking you to the ER." "Don't!" Piper chokes out. "The ceremony is starting right now.

You're leaving me?" She looks at my brother, her eyes wide and pleading. "It's just a stunt.

Do you honestly believe I'd order someone to beat our sister like that?" My brother drops my hand like my skin burns him. "You are sick, Maeve." Disgust hardens his features. "Mutilating yourself just to frame Piper." He steps back, putting distance between us. "Go to the hospital yourself.

Don't worry, we won't let you stay a cripple. We'll pay for the best surgeons." Words are useless now.

Gritting my teeth, I force myself to stand, dragging the dead weight of my shattered leg behind me as I balance on the good one. "I only have one thing to ask.

Then I'm gone." I turn to the man I was supposed to marry today. "Us getting together. It was just a bet with your boys. You never actually cared about me.

True or false?" "True," Vance says. Tears spill over my lashes, hot and uncontrollable, cutting tracks through the blood on my face.

I used to think I was the luckiest girl in the world. Doting parents. A protective brother. A man who held my heart. It was all a fragile illusion.

One touch, and it shattered into nothing. I could have chosen to cancel the system's contract.

I could have lived out the rest of my days in this reality, hoping they would love me again. Not anymore.

I want out. "One last thing," I say. "If you already won the bet, why wait until today?

Why humiliate me at the altar?" "Piper was worried you wouldn't be able to handle the truth," Vance says. "She asked me to keep it a secret so you wouldn't get hurt." I laugh so loud the sound echoes off the high walls. "How incredibly sweet.

My saint of a sister.

You were so terrified of hurting my feelings that you let me put on a wedding dress, just to humiliate me in front of hundreds of people." I stare right into Piper's eyes. "You wanted me standing here looking like a complete idiot while you took my place.

This is about humiliation." "Shut up!" My brother snaps. "Piper isn't a master manipulator!" A bitter, exhausted smile curves my lips. "No?

Since the day she moved in, she has threatened to end her life a hundred times over every tiny inconvenience." I look at my family. "And yet, she's still breathing.

People who actually want to die don't leave a trail of breadcrumbs for you to find them." Chapter 4 "Shut up!

Don't you dare speak about your sister that way!" My father raises his hand, ready to strike me again. My mother catches his wrist. "Stop. Look at her.

She's bleeding everywhere." "I am your daughter, too," I say, my voice raw. "You raised me. Does all of that mean nothing just because my blood does not match yours?

Am I suddenly not worthy of your trust?" Piper's breathing fractures.

She clutches her chest and stumbles backward, collapsing weakly against Vance. "How can you say those things, Maeve?

Are you trying to push me over the edge?" I stare at her. "If you want to end it so badly, come to the roof. We can jump together." Vance lunges.

His large hand wraps around my throat, cutting off my oxygen. "If you want to die, do it yourself.

Say one more word to Piper, and I'll kill you right here." The brutal pressure crushes my windpipe.

The man who promised me forever is squeezing the life out of me, his fingers bruising my skin.

Just as my vision starts to tunnel into blinding darkness, he shoves me away. "Get out," Vance spits. "Looking at you makes my stomach turn." I drag my mangled leg toward the elevator banks. "I'm going.

You'll never have to look at me again." My mother takes a halfstep forward. My father yanks her back. "Leave her. Let her rot wherever she wants.

Piper's ceremony is what matters." They swarm Piper, coddling her. No one tracks my movements. No one cares when the elevator doors slide shut, taking me to the penthouse level.

I haul my broken body up the maintenance stairs and push open the heavy metal door to the roof. The wind whips the bloody shreds of my dress. I step onto the concrete ledge.

I just need to wait for the exact timestamp the system gave me. Down on the street, panic erupts. Someone spots me. Sirens wail in the distance.

Police cruisers block the intersection, and firefighters rush to inflate a rescue cushion directly below my ledge. The ceremony inside finishes.

My family and the wedding guests spill out of the main entrance, drawn by the flashing red and blue lights.

My brother glares at the chaos. "Who is trying to jump off our hotel on Piper's wedding day?" The hotel manager runs over, pale and trembling. "Sir, it's Maeve!" The color drains from my parents' faces.

Vance bursts into laughter. "Maeve? It's a pathetic stunt. She wants attention.

I'll swallow broken glass before she actually jumps." Piper buries her face in Vance's chest, sobbing hysterically. "Why won't she just let me be happy?

I should have never come back!

I shouldn't even be alive!" Vance kisses the top of her head. "We need to institutionalize her," he says to my father. "Piper will never have peace as long as Maeve is around." My father nods, the muscles in his neck pulling taut. "Tell the police to pack up that ridiculous cushion.

She's not jumping. Putting on this massive show is exactly what she wants." My brother marches over to the police barricade. "Take the cushion down. My sister is having a tantrum.

She isn't going anywhere." "Sir, if we remove the safety equipment and she falls, we are not legally responsible," an officer says. "I waive the liability," my brother snaps. "She doesn't have the guts to die." The police eventually cave to the billionaire family's demands.

The giant yellow canvas deflates. They drag it away. Up on the ledge, a dark, heavy wave of relief washes over me.

I was terrified that cushion would save my life and trap me in this nightmare forever. Down below, Vance guides Piper out from under the awning.

He tilts his head up, opening his mouth to scream at me. The clock hits zero. I step into the empty air. Gravity drags me down like a stone.

I hit the pavement barely three feet from Vance and my family. The impact is a deafening, wet crack. My body shatters.

A thick, hot spray of blood coats Vance and splatters violently right across my parents' faces. Total, suffocating silence slams into the crowd