My Best Friend Bought Me a Cursed Life Chapter 01

My Best Friend Bought Me a Cursed Life Chapter 01 The Memory Auction

Ella Morris and I breathed our last together. Moments later, we found ourselves at a “memory auction.”

The rules were unyieldingly simple: the victor could seize another’s memories, their very life, their every last possession–and be reborn in their stead.

Both of us set our sights on the same prize: the life of Cecilia Astor, the princess of the Astor fortune.

In our previous life, my best friend, Bella White, burned every last drop of her soul energy to bid for Cecilia’s life. I, meanwhile, had nothing left–so I opened my eyes to find myself reborn as a scrawny stray cat huddled on a cold, rain–slicked street.

But Bella made a terrible discovery. The father was a miser, the mother a greedy harpy, and the younger brother a violent sociopath. They treated Cecilia like a bargaining chip to be sold to the highest bidder.

As a stray cat, I was taken in by a gentle, handsome veterinarian. He showered me with endless fish treats and let me curl up on his soft, warm lap for cozy naps.

Bella, trapped inside Cecilia’s body, was forced to marry a decrepit old man. On the day she jumped from the penthouse roof, she looked down and saw me–the cat–curled up in the vet’s arms, basking in the sunlight.

Her last breath was a curse:

“Ella Morris, may you never be human again.”

Now we stood before the auction podium once again. Cecilia Astor’s life was on the block again.

Bella raised her hand.

“I’m out,” she said to the auctioneer. “But I’ll spend every last shred of my soul energy to light the bidding lamp for this woman. Let

her win.”

The gavel fell.

Bella looked at me and smiled–a slow, terrible smile.

“Bestie,” she whispered. “Enjoy this life everyone’s watching. Make it spectacular.”

The pain hit first.

My soul slammed into flesh, and a deafening crash of breaking glass filled my ears. Warm, sticky liquid oozed down my forehead. “Cecilia! Stop playing dead! Mom and Dad said five hundred thousand, and you’re not leaving this room until you hand it over

The voice was young, male, and laced with arrogance.

I pried my eyes open, Blood seeped into my left eye, blurring my vision and dyeing the world a deep, and crimson

A young man with bleached blond hair stood over me, holding half a shattered crystal ashtray. His face way round and pa small eyes glinting with a greedy, cruel light

Sebastian Astor Cecilia’s brother.

In the previous life, this was the moment Bella broke. Less than an hour after being reborn, he hit her violently. Then her parents

ganged up on her, beating her mercilessly to force her to hand over five hundred thousand dollars to pay off Sebastian’s gambling

debts.

That was the beginning of Bella’s nightmare. And the moment the Astor parasites realized they could bleed her dry.

I swiped the blood from my forehead and let it linger on my tongue.

Salty. Sweet.

Bella’s ghost hovered in the air above me, watching. She’d spent all her energy on that bid, so now she was nothing but a spectator. A wandering spirit, waiting for her chance to become a stray cat.

She watched me lap at my own blood and let out a laugh–sharp, jagged, like shards of glass.

“Enjoy your fortune, Ella,” she sneered. “That ashtray was just the appetizer. Hell’s coming for you.”

Sebastian noticed my silence, took it for stunned shock, and reached to grab my hair.

His fingers never made it.

I lunged forward, my hand clamping around the fruit knife left on the table, and drove it clean through his palm.

“AAAAHHHH-!”

His scream could’ve cracked the windows.

Sebastian crumpled to his knees, his good hand clamping over the wounded one, blood jetting across the costly Persian rug.

I didn’t stop. I put my heel on his wounded hand and ground down.

“Five hundred thousand?” I said, my voice flat as a frozen lake. “How about I burn that much in Monopoly money for you to spend in hell?”

Bella’s laughter died in her throat.

She stared at me in horror. “Ella, have you lost your mind?! That’s the only son of the Astor family! They’ll destroy you!”

I looked up at her ghost and smiled–bright, genuine, warm.

“You’re wrong about one thing, Bella,” I said. “You thought this was hell because you were a sheep.”

“However, I’m a wolf.”