1: 1

Back in our hometown, when a child comes of age, the whole family builds a bonfire tower for them and sets it alight.

It's meant to promise a bright, blazing life ahead, and a career that climbs higher every year.

Three days before the celebration, my father and brother spent two months building one with their own hands, a bonfire tower seven meters tall.

Lesley Dickerson gasped with delight.

"Seven meters. That's the tallest tower in the whole village this year!"

Mom laughed and ruffled the top of her head.

"Of course my Fifi deserves the best. You're the little princess of this family."

There was only one tower. I hesitated, again and again, and finally made myself ask.

"Where's mine?"

Zachary Chilton froze for a beat, then frowned.

"We ran out of time, so we didn't make yours."

Mom gave me a cool glance.

"You still owe this family five hundred thousand in raising costs, and you want a tower too?"

I blinked and forced the tears back down.

Three years ago, after Lesley was brought home, I went from the doted-on little princess to the extra adopted daughter overnight.

Fifteen years of being raised had turned into a heavy debt.

I looked at the four of them, standing there together with their backs to me.

And I knew the extra one in this family should leave.

...

The bricks for the tower were made by my father and my brother, Zachary, with their own hands, then stacked one by one.

Every brick laid was a blessing for their child.

The year I was twelve, the older girl next door had her coming-of-age celebration.

Flames roared up from the top of the tower, red sparks flooding the sky, lighting up the night and my face.

Back then, my father saw the longing in my eyes and teased me.

"When it's our Eve's turn, your dad will build you an even taller, even bigger tower."

Zachary ruffled the top of my head.

"I'll help then too, and give Eve my blessing."

The tower they'd promised stood right in front of me now.

Only it wasn't for me. It was for Lesley, the one who was truly theirs.

Tears welled up, and my throat went dry and tight.

Seeing me still standing there, my father glanced at his watch.

"Evelyn Chilton, look at the time. What are you still doing here? Don't you know you're supposed to go make lunch?"

I gave a dull "Mm" and turned toward home.

In this house, all the chores and errands are mine. Cooking, ten dollars. Mopping, eight. Laundry, five...

The money I earn goes toward paying back what I owe my parents for raising me.

The day Lesley was brought home, she saw I was still living here and broke down sobbing.

"If you're keeping this adopted girl, what did you bring me back for, your own daughter?"

To calm her, my parents lied that I was staying only to pay off fifteen years of raising costs, working as a servant until the debt was cleared, then I'd be sent away.

Behind her back they told me to just keep up the act for a while, and once Lesley accepted me, I wouldn't have to do any of it anymore.

I thought "a while" meant a month, half a year at most.

But now it looked more like the rest of my life.

In the living room, I set the last dish on the table and had just started to sit down to eat.

Lesley took a bite of the crawfish and looked up at me.

"Evelyn, why isn't the crawfish spicy? Don't you know I love spicy food most?"

"I didn't enjoy this meal. That's coming out of your wages."

I tried to explain.

"Zach's stomach has been bad lately, so I went light on the chili."

Zachary paused with his chopsticks midair and rolled his eyes at me.

"Fifi likes it spicy, so you make it spicy. Deciding on your own gets your wages docked."

Lesley let out a cold snort.

"You really know how to grovel."

I didn't answer. I sat down and had just reached out with my chopsticks.

Then Mom suddenly cleared her throat.

"Evelyn, from now on you eat in the kitchen."

My hand froze around the chopsticks.

"What?"

Lesley watched me with a nasty little grin.

"What servant gets to sit at the table with the family?"

I looked from my father to Zachary, hurt, but neither of them so much as glanced at me.

So I carried my bowl back to the kitchen and finished a bowl of rice with nothing but pickled scraps.

After they finished, I started on the dishes.

My father's voice carried in from the living room.

"Evelyn, don't bother with dinner. We're going to the zoo this afternoon, and we'll eat out tonight."

I answered him.

When I finished the dishes and came out of the kitchen, the living room was empty, three pairs of slippers set neatly by the door.

So it turned out the "we" my father meant didn't include me.

The tears I'd been holding back finally fell.

My teacher sent me a message.

【Evelyn, are you sure you want to enter the classified training program at the Kingsport Research Institute? You won't be able to come home for ten years.】

【The spot locks in tomorrow, and you'd leave the day after. Talk this over carefully with your parents.】

I wiped the tears away and wrote back.

【I'm sure. My family fully supports me.】

2: 2

Enrolling in the institute's classified partnership program meant the institute covered room, board, and tuition, and paid a one-time buyout of five hundred thousand dollars on top of that.

It was exactly enough to cover the raising costs I owed Mom and Dad, so I could cut ties with this family for good.

The truth was, the moment I learned I'd been swapped at birth, I'd decided to leave.

Back then Mom held onto me tight and wouldn't let me go.

"Eve, you've been my daughter for fifteen years. Blood or no blood, you're still my daughter."

Zachary snatched my suitcase away.

"Evelyn! You're the only sister I've got! You're not going anywhere!"

Dad came in from outside holding the adoption papers he'd had drawn up at the mayor's office.

"Eve, you're a Chilton. You're our daughter."

"I sent someone to track down your birth parents. They're from the next town over. They gave away all three of your older sisters before you, and only kept a son."

"This is your home. Just settle in and stay."

I hadn't wanted to leave in the first place, so I stayed.

But to coax Lesley back into the family, and to keep from putting Mom and Dad in a hard spot, I had to play the unwanted one.

Except three years went by, and by now I could no longer tell where the pretending ended and the truth began.

That night I made a pack of instant ramen for dinner.

In Mom's ledger I wrote: "$3, one pack of instant ramen."

Everything I used in this house had to be logged.

It was the middle of the night before they finally came home.

I was woken by Lesley's excited shrieking.

"Mom, I love you to death, this necklace costs fifteen hundred and you still bought it for me."

Mom's voice was all indulgence.

"Whatever you want, Mom will buy it for you."

"So you love Mom now and not me? And here somebody's feet were sore, and who was it that carried her the whole way?"

"Oh, my sweet brother, I love you too."

Dad laughed out loud.

"Fifi, then what about me?"

"Dad, brother, Mom, I love all of you!"

There was a door between us and I couldn't see a thing, but I still couldn't stop my mind from filling in the cozy, happy scene on the other side of it.

I pulled the blanket over my head and forced myself not to listen, not to think.

A while later there was a knock at my door. Mom.

"Evelyn, are you asleep?"

I pretended to sleep and didn't answer.

A few seconds later the door opened and something was set down beside my pillow.

Mom said softly,

"A present for you. Goodnight."

Only after the door closed again did I open my eyes.

By the moonlight coming through the window, I made out the gift Mom had left me.

It was a simple necklace.

Something in me went warm, and I reached to put it on.

The tag on the clasp slipped into view.

【Clearance item: $2】

My hands froze on the necklace. I hesitated, and in the end I put it on anyway.

After all, it was the first present Mom had given me in three years.

Early the next morning I got up as usual to make breakfast for the whole family.

Lesley passed by the kitchen, caught sight of the necklace at my throat, and suddenly yelped.

"Zach, come look, you lost the bet!"

"Evelyn's wearing the necklace!"

Zachary came out of his room rubbing his eyes, his gaze landed on the necklace, and his mouth twisted.

"You win, a bet's a bet. I'll send you the two thousand right now."

He set his phone down, his whole face full of disgust.

"You'd actually wear a two-dollar necklace? You really are cheap."

Lesley was holding back a laugh.

"It looks pretty good on you, though."

Hearing that, Mom quickly warned Lesley,

"Fifi, your skin is delicate, you can't just go wearing cheap junk like that."

I pretended I needed the bathroom, went in, took off the necklace, and dropped it in the trash.

When it was done, I looked at myself in the mirror.

"Evelyn, time to give up now. There was never a place in this family for you."

3: 3

That afternoon, Mervyn Pruitt, my childhood sweetheart, came by the house carrying a fancy paper gift bag.

He'd promised to give me a gown as my coming-of-age present.

Warmth spread through me, and I reached out to take it.

"You're here."

Mervyn turned his body aside, out of reach.

"Eve, this isn't for you."

He stepped past me and handed the bag to Lesley.

"Fifi, I tracked down the designer from the photo you sent and bought that couture gown you wanted. Go try it on."

"Mervyn, you're amazing. I'll go try it right now."

Lesley's eyes lit up. She took the bag and hurried into her room.

Only after the door shut did Mervyn's gaze move off Lesley and settle on me.

"The gown Fifi wanted was pretty expensive. I spent everything I had on it. If you want one, wait until my paycheck next month."

But my birthday is tomorrow, same as Lesley's.

Next month wouldn't be a coming-of-age gift anymore.

Zachary, sprawled on the couch playing a game, curled his lip and rolled his eyes at me.

"Ignore her. Day in, day out, all she does is fight Fifi for attention."

Mervyn's face cooled a few degrees too.

"Eve, you took fifteen years of Uncle and Aunt's love that should've been Fifi's. You can never pay back what you owe her. Grow up a little."

But when Lesley first came back, he'd said I was the one he'd grown up with, that I was the only one he'd ever want in this life.

Looking at the coldness in Mervyn's eyes, I swallowed the "What did I do wrong this time?" that had risen in my throat.

There was no point asking. He couldn't give me the answer I wanted.

In the eyes of every one of them, I had a share in all the suffering Lesley had endured over the past fifteen years.

So for Lesley's sake, they could hurt me however they pleased.

Never mind. Tomorrow night I'd be gone anyway.

Lesley pushed her door open and came out, gathering her skirt to twirl in the living room.

"The fit is perfect. Mervyn, I love it so much."

Mervyn watched her, his smile soft and doting.

"As long as you like it."

I pressed my lips together and turned back into my room.

The moment I shut the door, I heard Lesley lower her voice.

"Mervyn, I think Evelyn's upset. Go smooth things over with her…"

Mervyn gave a light scoff.

"Don't bother with her. She's just greedy. She wants to grab everything you have."

I hadn't done a single thing.

Yet they'd slapped the labels on me anyway: fighting for attention, greedy, grabby.

I dragged out my suitcase and started packing.

I was only halfway done when a knock came at my door.

I opened it. Mervyn and Lesley.

Mervyn walked in with paper and pen, his eyes sweeping over my room, barely a hundred square feet.

"The room's a little small, but if I design the closet right, it should fit all your clothes."

Lesley tipped her head up, gazing at him with admiration.

"Mervyn, you're incredible. You can do everything."

I backed against the wall and said nothing.

After Lesley came back, the three-hundred-square-foot room with its own bathroom went to her, and I moved into the storage room.

Now they wanted to take even the storage room.

Mervyn glanced at the luggage I was packing.

"Looks like Uncle and Aunt already told you. Once you leave for college, this room becomes Fifi's closet."

"You won't have time to come back anyway. You'll be working through every break to pay off your debt."

I gave a soft "mm."

I couldn't be bothered to argue anymore.

That night I got an email from the school.

I clicked the link and signed the confidentiality agreement.

Five minutes later, a text popped up.

【Ms. Chilton, welcome to the Kingsport Research Institute Classified Training Program. Your buyout payment will be deposited to the bank card you provided within twenty-four hours.】

【Your enrollment flight will be booked by the institute. Watch for the text and report on time.】