The $20 Million Secret That Destroyed Them

Early one morning, a woman broke into my home. Her face was ruined, one eye blind, one leg dragging behind her.

"Your life's about to be over, and you still have the appetite for a breakfast sandwich!"

She snatched the sandwich out of my hand, ground it under her heel, and screamed at me. "Do not become the legal representative of Gilbert's company! Otherwise this Friday, when the company blows up over your best friend Nanette Summers selling substandard food, you will take the fall for all of it!"

"Jordan Gilbert won't lift a finger for you. The one he really loves is Nanette Summers!"

"The lottery ticket you buy tomorrow, don't give it to Jordan Gilbert! That ticket is going to win the twenty-million-dollar jackpot!"

I froze. "Who are you? Why are you telling me all this?"

The woman bared her neck, showing the same birthmark I had, and gave a wretched smile. "I'm you, eight years from now!"

...

Something in my head went blank with a low hum.

Eight years from now, I was this wrecked? Barely even looked human anymore?

But Jordan and Nanette and I had grown up together. Twenty-five years of it.

Jordan had promised me we'd file for our marriage license this Friday.

They wouldn't stab me in the back. They couldn't.

"That computer on the desk, the one Jordan Gilbert gave you, right? It's actually Nanette Summers's secondhand castoff."

The woman finished speaking, opened the computer, keyed in the password like she'd done it a thousand times, and started clicking through folder after folder, like they'd never end.

At last she pulled up a photo of Nanette Summers.

I stared at the screen, and suddenly I couldn't quite catch my breath, like a great stone was pressing down on my chest.

Yesterday, when Jordan brought the computer over, he'd said he opened it up to check it first.

I'd believed him.

I never imagined it was Nanette's throwaway.

And she'd deliberately hidden a photo of herself inside it, mocking me for being too stupid, too slow to ever find it.

So this love, this friendship, all twenty-five years of it, only I had ever taken it for real.

Buzz, buzz!

Right then, Jordan called. "Martha Henson, come over to Nanette's place, sign the legal rep contract, and then let's all go try that new seafood place that just opened!"

"Oh, and it's rush hour, lots of traffic. Drive safe."

I answered and got ready to leave.

But the woman grabbed hold of me.

"You're sure you want to go?"

"Don't worry. I know exactly what to do."

I smiled at her.

When I got to Nanette's place and pushed the door open, the first thing I saw was Nanette in a little short skirt, perched on the table right in front of Jordan.

She was spooning ice cream into his mouth, the tip of her foot pressed against his arm.

It hit me all at once.

Nanette had always been like this around Jordan, no sense of decorum, not the slightest worry about flashing him.

And Jordan had never once kept his distance.

I'd just trusted them too much. The three of us had grown up together, so I'd never given it a second thought.

"Martha."

The moment Nanette saw me, she hopped off the table, rushed over, and threw her arms around me. "It's been three whole days, I've missed you to death, mwah mwah mwah..."

She always liked to cling to me like this.

People outside used to say we were closer than blood sisters.

"You must be tired. Sit, sit."

Jordan pulled out a chair for me, thoughtful as always. "I got breakfast ready for you."

Mango cupcakes, my favorite, and the yogurt I always drank.

I felt strangely dazed.

If I hadn't seen the future me.

If I hadn't seen that photo of Nanette inside the computer.

Maybe I'd still be sunk deep in the happiness they'd built for me.

"Martha."

"Here's the agreement. Once you sign, you'll be the company's legal representative from here on out."

I'd barely gotten two bites of cake in before Jordan slid a contract across to me.

Nanette held out a pen right on cue.

The two of them were smiling as gently as they always had.

But my skin crawled. I picked up the agreement, opened it, and my eyes narrowed. "Why is everything blank except the line for the signature?"

"Didn't have time to fill it in. You sign first, we'll add the rest later."

Jordan explained.

"Oh, come on, just sign it. We've known each other twenty-five years, been friends since we were kids. You think we'd do anything to hurt you? Be the legal rep and you won't have to lift a finger, you'll get a twenty percent stake!"

Nanette urged me, smiling.

Wouldn't hurt me? Right.

The way I saw it, they meant to pick me clean.

I glanced over at Nanette. "If there's so much in it for you, why don't you become the legal representative?"