Dumped For Pennies, Returning With Billions

Cari Butler shot up from the narrow mattress. Her lungs pulled in air violently, making her chest ache. Cold sweat coated her forehead, dripping down her temples and stinging her eyes. She pressed the heels of her hands hard against her temples. Her skull felt like it was splitting open. Massive waves of unfamiliar memories forced their way into her brain, causing her stomach to churn with nausea. She opened her eyes and blinked against the dim light. Her vision scanned the peeling paint on the walls, the leaking water pipe in the corner, and the cheap luggage scattered across the sticky linoleum floor. The air smelled like stale sweat and cheap bleach. Her breathing slowed as the memories settled. She realized exactly what had happened. She had transmigrated. She was now the fake daughter of the wealthy Zamora family, sharing the same name, and she had just been kicked out of her luxurious life. A massive crash shattered the silence. The flimsy wooden door of the dorm room flew open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. Rory Corrigan stood in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. A malicious smirk stretched across her face. Rory stepped into the room, the sharp click of her heels echoing. She waved a hand in front of her nose, her face twisting in disgust at the damp smell of the room. She held a thick textbook in her other hand and slammed it down hard on Cari's only intact desk. A cloud of dust rose into the air. "Look at the little plucked bird," Rory said loudly, looking down at Cari. "Finally rolled back to the slums where you belong." Cari slowly raised her head. The fear and weakness that usually clouded the original owner's eyes were gone. Instead, Cari's gaze was sharp, cold, and entirely adult. Her eyes immediately locked onto the thick, sparkling diamond necklace resting against Rory's collarbone. It was a custom Tiffany piece. Cari's mind automatically calculated the value based on her past life. That necklace had to be worth at least eight thousand dollars. Rory noticed the direction of Cari's stare. She puffed out her chest and reached up, her fingers playing with the largest diamond. "Like it?" Rory bragged, her voice echoing in the hallway. "Harper gave it to me. It cost a whole eighty cents." Cari's eyebrows pulled together instantly. Eighty cents. She thought her ears were malfunctioning. "Eighty cents?" Cari repeated, her voice dripping with pure, unhidden disbelief. Rory took the tone as jealousy. Her smirk grew wider. "That's right," Rory sneered. "A broke loser like you will never see eighty cents in your entire pathetic life." Cari's brain spun. Eighty cents for a custom Tiffany necklace? She wondered if Rory was using some obscure American slang to insult her. Cari decided she was done listening to this nonsense. "Did you buy your brain at a discount store for a penny, or were you just born this stupid?" Cari asked, her tone flat and brutal. Rory froze. It took her a full second to process the insult. The smugness vanished, and her cheeks turned a dark, angry red. "You bitch!" Rory yelled, pointing a shaking finger at Cari's nose. "I will make sure you are dead in this school! You hear me?" Outside the door, a few students had gathered. They sucked in their breath, whispering to each other in shock that Cari actually talked back. Cari did not hesitate. She stood up from the bed. She stepped directly into Rory's personal space, using her taller frame to look down at the girl. The air around Cari felt like ice. Rory felt the physical pressure of Cari's stare. Her breath hitched, and she instinctively took a step backward. Her high heel caught on the uneven floor, and her ankle twisted slightly. Rory scrambled to catch her balance. Her face burned with humiliation. "You'll regret this," Rory spat out, her voice trembling slightly. She turned around and practically ran out of the room. The students in the hallway scattered immediately, terrified of catching the fake daughter's bad luck. Cari watched them go, then sat back down on the edge of the bed. She picked up the original owner's phone. The screen was covered in a web of cracks. Her thumb rubbed against the sharp edge of the broken glass as she tapped the news app. The headline at the top of the screen made her heart stop. "Top Manhattan Mansion Sells for Record-Breaking Three Thousand Five Hundred Dollars, Shocking Wall Street." Cari's thumb froze on the screen. Her pupils shrank. Her chest tightened until she could barely pull in oxygen. She stared at the numbers, the cracked glass distorting the text. A crazy, impossible theory began to form in her mind.