All Chapters of The Last Match Burns the Brightest: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

With trembling hands, my grandfather, Gerald Gallagher pulled out three matches. Everyone in the room was confused.Someone asked, "Has the old man lost his mind? He's seriously taking out three matches as a family heirloom?"Another chimed, "Are those matches meant to humiliate Vera? That's way too much, even for him!"Gerald's voice was hoarse and weak as he said, "Between this multi-billion dollar inheritance and these three matches, you two can only choose one. Renee, you're the oldest, so you go first!"A chill ran through my entire body, and I suddenly realized I had been reborn. Remembering the tragic fate of my family in my past life, I instinctively turned to look at my parents.My vision instantly blurred from the tears.In my past life, I had chosen the fortune. However, Vera Gallagher, my adopted sister, had used the three matches to make her wishes, which led to my parents' deaths and my own miserable end in a remote mountain town.The pain from those final moments

Just moments ago, my parents had been perfectly fine, but suddenly, every one of their toes had turned black. They clutched their feet and wailed in agony.My body went numb, and I immediately dialed 911. By the time the doctors arrived, the blackened area had already spread from their toes to their entire lower bodies.The doctor's face was grave as he said, "It's spreading too fast! Prepare for immediate amputation!"I nearly collapsed. As I thought about the second wish I had made, I wanted nothing more than to take it all back.The money we had just scraped together was now all spent on surgery."Why is this happening to them? What caused this?"Watching as I cried uncontrollably, the doctor shook his head and sighed. "We don't know the exact cause... I've never seen anything like this in my career, and neither has any senior doctor I’ve learned from."I cried until I could barely breathe.The next day, the loan sharks came to collect the debt."Damn it! We've been looking

Vera put on a confused expression and said, "That's so strange. The matches can grant any wish, yet you chose to turn yourself into a monster. Renee, do you have some kind of thing for looking old? Because that's the only explanation I've got."It felt like someone had reached into my chest and wrung my heart out like a wet rag.If the matches were not the problem, and my third wish had been for Vera to get what she deserved, then why had everything landed on me instead?I grabbed her by the collar and shouted, "You must've done something! Did you use some kind of trick to redirect it? To bounce it all back onto me?"Vera pried my fingers off with obvious disgust and looked at me with contempt. "A trick? Please, you're not worth that kind of effort. Renee, since you're dying anyway, let me tell you a secret... I was reborn too!"My mind went completely still for a second, then started racing. In our last lives, Vera had used the matches to destroy our parents and I. If she had bee

Vera screamed, "You idiots! Are you blind? I told you to ruin Renee's face, not mine!"To our surprise, Vulture, who had just been bowing respectfully, suddenly kicked Vera hard in the stomach."I've been in this business for decades, and this is the first time someone's tried to scam me. "You hired me and paid me with a whole box of gold bars. I thought you were loaded, but it turns out that every single one of them was chocolate wrapped in gold foil. You played us for fools and even dared to call us idiots..."It seemed that my third wish, for Vera to face the consequences of her evil, had already begun to work.Vera screamed and staggered backward. "It wasn't me! Renee used the match to curse those gold bars!"The men in black burst into laughter."A curse? Do you think you're some fairy-tale princess?" one of them mocked.Vulture flicked open his lighter and said coldly, "Come on, boys. Light her up and help her come to her senses."As Vera's screams filled the room, I to