Chapter 48: The Cost Of A Life Sheri Curts, Max’s ex-fiancée with a failing family business, was the only person who knew Max’s true identity. That he wasn’t Max Smith, but instead a member of the Stern family. A family with immense power and wealth, the kind that most people couldn’t accumulate even across several lifetimes. Despite all this, Aron had informed him that the only people aware of the current race to choose the next heir were the candidates themselves. Of course, the heirs could tell anyone they wished about their inheritance or the Stern fortune, but Max was confident Sheri didn’t know about any of that. After all, Sheri had apparently left Max to chase after one of the other heirs, hoping she could secure some of their money to save her family business. Max believed that the relationship between him and his ex-fiancée must have ended poorly. Otherwise, why wouldn’t Max have helped her out financially? At one point, Max did think that Sheri’s presence at the school might be valuable, that he could potentially gain some information from her. Perhaps she knew what had happened to him the day he ended up in the hospital. It had quickly become apparent, just from attending school, that Ko and Dipter, both names on the list, were the ones Max needed to keep an eye on. Because of that, Sheri had quickly become irrelevant, someone he no longer needed to pay attention to, until now. Because she clearly knew about the money they had. ’So he was close enough with her to tell her about it... which means she’ll also know why he never used it.’ "Max!" Sheri called out again. "Answer me, did you finally give in? Did you finally use the money? You know what happens if you do... You held out for so long. That was the one good trait you had!" Now Max found himself at a clear crossroads. He could tell her that he had used the money and cut the conversation short, but doing so might lead him to find out nothing. Or he could ask her why he wasn’t supposed to use the money at all, but that would likely raise even more questions than answers. ’So in this situation, there’s really only one thing I can do,’ Max thought. ’I have to tell her the truth... she’s not one of the heirs, and if the real Max trusted her enough to share this information, then maybe she’s not as bad a person as I thought... Aron, I hope this doesn’t cause more trouble for you.’ "Sheri, there’s something I need to tell you, something that might explain why I’ve been acting strangely..." Max went on to explain to Sheri that he had amnesia. He told her how he had woken up in the hospital with no memory of what had happened. Everything was gone, to the point that he didn’t even remember anyone at school, or the fact that he was part of the Stern family. It was hard for her to believe at first, but what convinced her was how completely different Max was acting, like he was a completely different person altogether. Of course, Max didn’t tell her the whole truth, that he was actually a man in his late thirties who had been murdered, possibly by members of his own gang, and had woken up in the body of one of the richest people in the world. "I... didn’t even know you were in the hospital..." Sheri said, her voice soft. For the first time, Max saw what looked like genuine concern on her face. ’Well, there goes that. I was hoping she could at least tell me what happened there, but I guess not.’ "The thing is, I didn’t even know you knew about the money. My grandfather only recently told me about it, but it was all left untouched, and I had no clue why." Immediately, Max noticed Sheri biting her fingernail, glancing nervously over her shoulder. "Why?" Max asked. "Why hadn’t I used the money? Why didn’t I just leave this school, with everything that was happening to me?" "Damn it!" Sheri said, slamming her foot on the ground. "This whole thing is so stupid. "I was surprised too. Our family has been in trouble for a while. I’m sure you know that. That’s why I ended up here. I left private school and came to this one. I was here before even you arrived. "When you transferred here, I was shocked. We were still engaged at the time, but we’d only met a few times. "I asked you what was going on... and you wouldn’t tell me, at least not right away. "I’d see you walking down the halls with bruises on your face. I heard the names they called you and worse. I couldn’t stand it. And then, to make it even more confusing, I saw you were using a fake name. "None of it made any sense. I asked again, what was happening to you? I knew what had happened to your parents, but everything else felt ridiculous. "So I told you I would go to your grandfather. My family, even though we were going through tough times, still had some connections with him." Max couldn’t help but pull a face. Even though his grandfather could have helped them out, he wasn’t that type of person. Still, in this situation, seeing his grandchild like that, Max wondered if he might have stepped in. "You panicked the moment I mentioned it. You were completely alert. And that’s when you finally told me the truth, about everything. About the contest your family was involved in. "It was a crucial detail you had to share... because the money, it was part of the reason why you were trapped." Max was waiting, finally, he would understand what was really going on. Why he hadn’t been able to use the money. Why he was stuck in this school. "I’m not sure if you remember her," Sheri began, "but there’s someone here you care about a lot... a girl named Abby." Max had already run into Abby a few times. Based on how she reacted to him, it did seem like they were close. "You told me that if you spent even a single penny of that money... they would go after her. "Your exact words were: ’With the amount of money they have, how much do you think it would really cost them to get rid of her?’"