The day before my stomach cancer surgery, I receive news that my brother, Darnell Huff, has been kidnapped.

The kidnappers demand a ransom of 500 thousand dollars. They threaten to dismember him and feed him to the dogs if I don't pay.

Remembering how he once risked his life to save me from human traffickers, I ignore my doctor's warnings and cancel the surgery.

Clutching the money, I rush to the entrance of an abandoned factory. But before I can go inside, I hear a conversation coming from within.

"Even if you like Amber as your sister, she's still the fake heiress. Erin is your real sister. She just came back, and you're deceiving her so callously. Isn't this a bit much?"

Darnell spins a lighter in his hand. His eyes are dark and full of disdain.

He says, "She made Amber feel insecure. Amber is the most important person to our family. Even if she isn't biologically related to us, she'll always be the only sister I acknowledge."

The other voice interjects, "Then why did you save Erin in the first place? You gave her hope only to disappoint her. She's been going to the hospital constantly lately. Aren't you worried that—"

"Enough!" Darnell cuts him off without hesitation. "She survived more than ten years living a hard life in the countryside. She's tough as nails. What could possibly happen to her? Even if she's not well, she won't die from it.

"I only brought her back to fulfill our parents' dying wish. Once Amber calms down, I'll give Erin some money and send her back to the countryside. Whether she lives or dies after that has nothing to do with me."

Every word pierces me like a knife.

So the kidnapping is nothing but a lie. Darnell only brought me back because of our parents' last wish.

But what he doesn't know is that I have given up my only chance of survival to come and save him...

"So after all that planning, your ultimate goal is just to trick her into giving back the 500 thousand dollars your parents left her?" Jaiden Erickson frowned.

He was a friend of my brother, Darnell Huff.

When Darnell didn't deny it, Jaiden looked at him in absolute disbelief. "Your family gave her life, but failed to raise her. You were the one who screwed up and lost her in the first place, leaving her at the mercy of human traffickers for 15 years.

"Now that you finally found her, you're pushing her away again? Darnell, are you even human?"

"Shut up!" Darnell grabbed Jaiden by the collar, furious.

"Even if it was my fault back then, I saved her from those traffickers myself. We're even!

"And my parents only told me to bring her back. They never said she had a permanent place in this family. Besides, I did give her the money. She's the one dumb enough to use it to save me. What was I supposed to do?"

He shrugged, completely indifferent. He didn't show a shred of sympathy for me.

"Amber, on the other hand, has a congenital heart condition. If she doesn't get this off her chest, it's going to ruin her health. As her brother, it's my job to protect her."

Darnell crossed his legs, sat back in the chair, and lit a cigarette.

Through the haze of smoke, I stared at his cold, detached face. My heart felt like it was being ripped out.

Because I had abruptly canceled my surgery, I had wasted the slot the hospital had reserved for me, taking a chance away from another stomach cancer patient.

Of the 505-thousand-dollar medical fee, the hospital only refunded me 500 thousand dollars.

To save Darnell, I couldn't bear to spend money on a cab. Ignoring the agonizing pain, I ran six miles with the cash on my back.

Now, my feet were bleeding, and my knees were scraped raw.

Worse, my late-stage stomach cancer had left me incredibly weak. The slightest exertion made me cough up pools of blood.

I had carried that heavy bag of money all this way, and the front of my shirt was soaked through with blood.

I had pushed through everything just to find Darnell, only to discover the entire abduction had been a setup.

My strength gave out, and I collapsed against the iron gate.

The noise startled Jaiden.

To play along with Darnell, he was wearing a ski mask, pretending to be an abductor as he stared down at my pathetic state.

But when he saw me covered in blood, his hand holding the knife froze midair.

It reminded me of the first time we met.

I hadn't eaten in three days and was being forced by traffickers to beg. Because I hadn't brought back enough money, four men hung me upside down from a post and beat me.

In the freezing April chill, I wore nothing but a thin, tattered shirt full of holes.

The gashes on my arms were deep enough to expose the bone.

When Jaiden saw me, his face was a mix of horror, pity, outrage, and helplessness.

He even got into a fistfight with the traffickers.

But Darnell, the toughest heir in Jindale, did nothing more than furrow his brows before casually throwing the money to the traffickers.

He didn't call the police or demand justice. He just said coldly, "Put her in the car."

"Sir," I rasped. "I brought the 500 thousand dollars."

Even with the mask on and the knife in his hand, I knew that Jaiden didn't really want to hurt me.

And I didn't want him to be caught in the middle of Darnell and me. So, I had no choice but to play along with their little act.

"Every single dollar is here. Please, I beg you, let my brother go! He's the only family I have left."

Suppressing the agony rising in my chest, I choked out the sentence.

My hands trembled violently as I held the bag of money out to him.

Jaiden hesitated. Just as his resolve seemed to waver, a beep suddenly sounded from the mini communicator attached to his chest.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the words flashing on the screen.

My heart sank instantly.

"What are you waiting for? Take the money! She's just putting on an act to play the victim. Classic women's trick. Since she wants to play games, let's mess with her too!"

Before I could finish reading, the screen flipped away, and I could no longer read the rest of the text.

All I saw was Jaiden suppressing the sympathy in his eyes. His expression turned cold as he snatched the bag of money from my hand.

"You took too long to bring the cash. If you want to save your brother, jump in there."

I looked where he was pointing and saw a murky, foul-smelling wastewater pit.

In the past, this kind of suffering wouldn't have fazed me.

During the years I was held by the traffickers, I had grown used to the beatings, the torture, the freezing water, and the bitter cold.

But now, my late-stage stomach cancer had left me so incredibly weak that my body simply couldn't handle the strain. The slightest shock could make me vomit blood and pass out.

Jaiden's face darkened further at my hesitation. He pulled a bloody, severed finger from his pocket and tossed it at my feet. "Do it, or your brother dies!"

I stared at the finger and realized instantly that it was plastic. Yet, I still nodded. "Okay."

During all the years I was held by traffickers, I had prayed every day for my family to find me. Especially Darnell.

Because, for as long as I could remember, he was the only one who cared for me.

Mom was permanently depressed, and Dad was a workaholic who was never home. My entire childhood had been spent with Darnell watching over me and protecting me.

He had been my only anchor in the dark, the one last shred of hope I clung to.

So that day, whether he was actively deceiving me or just trying to appease Amber, it didn't matter. If it meant seeing him accept me as his sister again before I died, I would do anything.

With a loud splash, I dived headfirst into the wastewater.

For some reason, even though it was the height of summer, the water felt like ice.

The moment I hit the water, a suffocating pressure squeezed my chest.

"Darnell!"

Through the haze, I heard a sweet, high-pitched voice.

It was Amber Huff, my adopted sister.

She wore an expensive, light-colored dress and delicate stiletto heels. Her wavy hair framed a perfect, hourglass figure.

She didn't even walk in herself. A bodyguard carried her through the door like a princess.

"Ugh, it's filthy in here! Darnell, catch me!"

When I had collapsed weakly against the iron gate earlier, Darnell hadn't even blinked. But the moment Amber called out, he dashed forward without a second thought.

He reached out and gently took her from the bodyguard's arms.

"What are you doing here? Your health is already frail. You shouldn't be breathing in all this dust. What if something happens to you?" he chided, but his eyes were full of adoration as he held her a little tighter.

"I missed you! Besides, didn't you say that she fell for the abduction story and agreed to pay the ransom? I just couldn't wait to see how low your real sister would stoop for you."

"Shh…" Darnell immediately covered her mouth. "Keep it down! She's right there in the wastewater pit. I might not care for her, but she's still a Huff. I don't want to push things too far."

Amber glanced in the direction he pointed. When she made out my silhouette in the pit, a flicker of surprise crossed her face. "You actually threw her in there? I was only joking around. I can't believe you took me seriously!"

The biting cold wrapped around me like a shroud.

Shaking uncontrollably, I clung desperately to the ladder at the side of the pit just to keep from sinking.

Amber walked over and looked down at me struggling in the freezing water. Then, in a voice meant only for my ears, she whispered, "How is it? Fun? I planned this whole game, you know. I can't help it. My heart condition means that the slightest stress can kill me, so Darnell does whatever I want."

With that, she reached out and flipped the water valve switch next to the pit.

Another torrent of freezing water rushed in, sending the temperature plummeting even further.

Amber watched with immense satisfaction as I shivered violently in the icy depths, my face turning blue.

Her smile grew colder, sharper. "Why did you have to come back and ruin my life? Before you showed up, everyone treated me like the true heiress of the Huff family, spoiling me. But the minute you came back, everyone started reminding me that I'm just adopted.

"Actually, I've known for a while that you have late-stage stomach cancer and don't have long to live. So I figured, why not have Darnell fake an abduction to see if you'd risk your life for him? I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to actually trade your life for his."

She giggled behind her hand. Her laughter pierced my eardrums like needles.

"Oh, by the way, Darnell knew exactly where the traffickers were hiding you a long time ago. He deliberately delayed looking for you. He told me he hated you. He said someone tainted by human traffickers didn't deserve to be a Huff."

Amber's words felt like a thorn driven straight into my heart, leaving me gasping for breath.

But how could that be?

15 years ago, when Darnell first learned I was missing, he had cried as if his entire world had ended.

He had run through every street and alley, calling my name, searching for me without pause.

Over and over, he had wept with regret, blaming himself for taking me out to buy cotton candy and leaving me behind to wait when he didn't have enough money.

Back then, before the traffickers had taken me too far away, I saw Dad beat him until he couldn't stand. He had kneeled on the very spot where I vanished, his body racking with violent sobs.

I had opened my mouth, desperate to scream his name and tell him I was right there, but the duct tape across my mouth muffled every sound.

Later, as the traffickers moved me away, I looked through a crack in the car window and saw the entire street plastered with missing person flyers.

Darnell had held my photo, asking every passerby, "Have you seen this girl? She's my sister. She's lost. Please, if you see her, you have to tell me. I'll give you money, a lot of money…"

With his hands pressed together in a desperate plea, he looked so humble and helpless that I still remember it vividly to this day.

Tears streamed down my face.

I raised a hand stiff from the cold, reaching out toward Darnell for help.

Even though I knew he favored Amber and I was nothing more than an expendable burden to him, the lingering obsession in the depths of my heart refused to let me give up.

I needed an answer from Darnell.

He was the one who had plastered the streets with flyers and begged for me along the sidewalks. And he was also the one abandoning me now.

Which one was the real him?

But the moment my hand extended, Amber suddenly swayed, clutching her chest as she collapsed to the ground.

Seeing this, Darnell didn't bother asking questions. His immediate thought was that I was trying to hurt her.

Forgetting entirely that he was supposed to be playing a hostage, he rushed over and shouted at me, "It was just a joke! Did you really have to go this far and hurt Amber? Erin Huff, how can you be so malicious?"

I couldn't believe my ears.

He had faked an abduction and used Jaiden and a fake severed finger to force me into a wastewater pit.

And now, ignoring my shivering, freezing body, he blindly threw all the blame onto me.

Broken in body and spirit, every drop of color drained from my face.

Darnell seemed to realize that something was wrong. He let go of Amber and reached his hand out toward me.

But before his fingers could touch mine, Amber cried out in pain, "Darnell, my chest hurts…"

In that split second, Darnell retracted his hand without a hint of hesitation. He scooped Amber up into his arms and bolted out.

And I, already frail and spent, could no longer endure the prolonged immersion in the icy water. My strength gave out completely, and I sank to the bottom.

…

When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed.

I guessed Darnell was worried that a death would ruin the family's reputation. I figured that he had ordered Jaiden to drag me out of the water before driving off with Amber.

At that moment, my entire body was hooked up to IVs and monitor lines.

As the nurse adjusted my IV drip, she chided me with tender concern, "You treat your own body like a joke. Doesn't your family care about you at all?

"The last two times you had sudden gastric bleeding, even your kidneys took severe damage. It took three days and nights in the ICU to pull you back from the brink of death.

"The hospital has advanced targeted therapy options that could prolong your life, yet you chose to give them up. Now you've gone and wrecked yourself like this. Aren't you afraid of dying at all?"

As I stared at the genuine worry on her face, my chest tightened painfully.

Growing up, my family had never shown me such sincere concern. Yet, here was a total stranger caring more about me than my own flesh and blood.

But how could I not be afraid of death?