Chapter 1

The night before my SAT, I got the call to collect my father's body from prison.

But my mom found me first.

She wanted Dad to take the fall for her first love, Ethan Shaw, for a second time.

"Where's your father? Ethan accidentally caused a patient's death during surgery. Tell him to go to prison for Ethan again. These two times will make up for that slap your father gave Ethan."

"After this, I'll come back to the family and stay with you two."

I clutched Dad's urn in my arms, my head down, mumbling in a daze.

"Dad's dead."

But Mom just scoffed and immediately had her people lock me in the sauna room.

The temperature in the sauna shot up rapidly from 113 degrees to 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mom sent voice messages to Dad's chat, threatening him.

[Xavier! You've got some nerve teaching our son to lie to me!]

[Let's see what kind of game you're playing! If you don't want Connor to get hurt, you better show yourself right now!]

My whole body turned bright red from the burns.

I desperately pounded on the door, trying to explain and call for help.

But Mom was too busy comforting her frightened first love to pay me any attention.

Severely dehydrated, I suddenly laughed bitterly.

Mom, Dad and I are using our two lives to atone for your beloved first love.

Is that enough?