The Luck Thief Chapter 1

When I was fifteen, I "lent" my good luck to my foster sister, Madison.

Six months later, her wealthy biological parents found her at the group home and took her back. They adopted me, too.

When I was eighteen, I stopped her from dating the school's star quarterback, Liam, ensuring she got into an Ivy League university.

Later, Liam died in a car crash. Madison blamed me for everything.

She shredded my SAT admission ticket, making me miss the test.

She convinced our foster parents to kick me out and blacklisted me from every job in town.

When I was homeless and begging on the streets, Madison still wasn't satisfied. She locked me in an oil drum and left me to suffocate.

I woke up gasping for air, back on the day her romance with Liam began.

This time, I won't stop her.

And I'm taking my luck back.

"I'm so hungry." I leaned weakly against a dumpster.

People walked by on the busy street, wrinkling their noses and steering clear of me.

"Starving, aren't you?" Madison stood behind me, her voice cold.

"What game are you playing this time?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Since Liam died, Madison had engineered my expulsion from the family.

She made sure no restaurant would serve me and no one would hire me.

She toyed with me slowly. When I was on the brink of starvation, she'd propose a game.

She livestreamed me scrubbing public toilets for two steamed buns.

She put a collar on my neck and walked me down the street like a dog, rewarding me with a bowl of plain rice if I let people mock me.

Madison sneered and signaled the bodyguards behind her. "Take him."

They grabbed my arms roughly and dragged me toward a van.

Passersby pointed and whispered, but no one dared to intervene. Who would mess with the unpredictable heiress of the Vance family?

The last person who tried to help me was still in the hospital with broken limbs.

So I stopped hoping. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt for me.

I stared blankly at Madison, standing in the sunlight. She was no longer the girl whose eyes used to light up when she saw me.

Back at the group home, when the director starved us, Madison would sneak into the kitchen to steal buns for me.

I remembered crouching in a corner, devouring the food with tears in my eyes.

"Are you a starving ghost reincarnated? Slow down," she'd say, patting my head gently.

I wasn't crying because of hunger. I was crying because she had been caught and beaten with a stick. She had protected the buns with her body, presenting them to me while covered in bruises.

That was the first time anyone had been kind to me.

So I lent her my "Koi Luck"—my innate good fortune. After that, she never got caught stealing again. Everything went smoothly for her, and eventually, her biological parents found her and took us both into their mansion.

A cramp in my stomach pulled me back to reality. I was thrown into the van.

Consciousness faded in the bumpy ride. When I woke up, I was in a dark, cramped, cold space.

"Let me out! Let me out!"

I had severe claustrophobia. Madison knew that!

Panic surged like a tidal wave. I pounded on the walls.

A small speaker crackled to life. Madison's icy voice filled the space.

"Ethan, this is what you deserve. If it weren't for you, Liam wouldn't be dead."

I couldn't hear the rest. The suffocation grew stronger, and my consciousness began to scatter.

I was the one who tried to save Liam.

You were the one who killed him, Madison! Why am I the one suffering?

Darkness swallowed me. My last thought was of endless cold and despair.