My face instantly paled as I stared at Alvin in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind? How can you joke around with your own future like that?"

"Just tell me whether you're giving me the money or not!" Impatience flashed in Alvin's eyes. "You've been controlling every aspect of my life all these years.

"If you really care about me, you'll send me abroad instead of expecting me to continue struggling in this country's cutthroat academic environment. I wouldn't even have been able to hang in for so long if Dad hadn't been there to give me the guidance and support I needed."

I looked at Alvin—and the smug Jimmy standing beside him—and scoffed.

Alvin had always been in poor health. He even had several surgeries done when he was younger. Because of that, I devoted all my time and attention to taking care of him. I couldn't even sleep soundly at night for fear that I wouldn't hear him call for me.

It took years of sacrificial care and unfailing attentiveness to nurse him back to health. That was the only reason why I restricted him from doing certain things.

Yet according to him, I was just being a controlling person and somehow wasn't as good to him as Jimmy, the guy who abandoned us as children and only showed up occasionally to say a few empty words to him?

"Do you know that it was his extramarital affair that resulted in Mom's car accident?" I snapped at Alvin, feeling a mix of exasperation and frustration. How I wish I could slap some sense into him. "But now, you're taking his side and pressuring me for money. How is this fair to Mom—or me?"

In fact, I was already giving him a sugarcoated version of the truth. In reality, Jimmy's mistress had deliberately called Mom to let her hear what she and Jimmy were doing in bed. It'd been such a huge shock to Mom that she lost control of the car and got into an accident.

I'd kept the truth from Alvin all this time because I didn't want it to affect him. I never thought I'd end up spilling the truth now.

"So what?" Alvin retorted.

The anger burning inside of me seemed to solidify as I paused, struck dumb by Alvin's response. Staring at him in disbelief, I asked, "What did you just say?"

"Dad has nothing to do with Mom's death. It was just an accident." Alvin didn't look at me, possibly because my expression was too incredulous, but that didn't stop him from talking.

"All men do these things. Mom's the one who was too weak and sensitive and got into an accident because of it."

All men did these things, huh?

Stunned, I turned woodenly toward Jimmy, who was still standing beside Alvin with a gloating expression on his face. He rubbed his protruding belly and eyed me mockingly.

I turned my gaze back to Alvin, who was starting to resemble Jimmy more and more.

"Is that how you've thought about this all along?" I asked.

This whole time, I'd assumed that Alvin was unaware of the past and still harbored a childlike desire for fatherly love. Never did it occur to me that he was indeed his father's son. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, after all.

"Either way, half the payout belongs to me. I have every right to get it back from you."

Alvin didn't respond to my question outright. Instead, he brought up the money again. Nevertheless, his attitude alone was all the answer I needed, and my heart turned cold with disappointment.

"Why are you wasting your breath on her? It seems to me she just doesn't want to give you the money!" Jimmy started shouting again.

With him leading the charge, the rest of our relatives started voicing their agreement as well.

"Sandra, regardless of the situation, that money belongs to Alvin. It's not right for you to keep hiding it from him and refusing to hand it over."

"Alvin's future is in your hands now. You're his sister. You can't ruin his life."

"If your mother knew things had come to this between you two, she'd be heartbroken."

The invisible pressure surrounded me once more. It suddenly hit me that Alvin must've planned this from the start—he'd already decided to force me to hand over the money during the party.

When did he stop trusting me? When did he start plotting against me?

"Fine. You want the money, right?" I snorted as I pulled out my phone. "I'll give it to you. You'd better not regret it."

Since I'd given in and got my phone out, Alvin finally broke into a smile. "Why would I regret it?"

But just moments later, he cried out, "Five thousand dollars? Why is it only five thousand dollars?"

"How's that possible?" Jimmy snatched the phone from Alvin's hand. After seeing the transferred amount on the screen, he frowned grimly before suddenly pointing at me as if he'd realized something.

"Sandra Bellamy! How can you steal your own brother's money? Have you no shame? The money comes from your mom's life insurance payout!"

"Oh, so you do know it's the life insurance payout for my mom's death, huh?"

Clutching my phone tightly, I scoffed at Jimmy. "Sure, it seems like you're speaking up for Alvin, but anyone who isn't aware of the situation might think you're trying to take the money for yourself instead."

After all, if I hadn't held a knife to my throat back then, this money would have already ended up in his hands. Now that he and his mistress had another son, it was hard not to suspect it was his own pockets he wanted to line with that money.

Jimmy's gaze flickered, but I didn't bother with him anymore. I simply looked at Alvin, still hoping to see even a trace of realization on his face.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Unexpectedly, he avoided my gaze and snapped irritably at me instead. "I've already told you I want to use this money to study abroad. Do you really want to ruin my future?

"Just what will it take for you to give me the money? Do you think Mom would want to see you being this heartless toward your own family like this for the sake of money?"

"You're calling me heartless?"

Fuming, I jabbed a finger at Jimmy. I had to hiss out the words to avoid shouting them instead. "If you cared about this family at all, you wouldn't have invited him over—and you wouldn't be taking his side to demand money from me in front of everyone!

"I'm guessing this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing, huh? You planned this from the beginning, didn't you?"

Alvin said nothing, but the evasive look in his eyes gave him away.

Even though I'd already suspected it, seeing his reaction still made my heart sink. The brother I'd devoted a decade to caring for didn't trust me at all. He even teamed up with the father who cheated on our mother to publicly pressure me into giving him money.

What a mockery it made of everything I'd done for him!

"There's only five thousand dollars. I didn't take a single cent. I've already given everything to you."

Suppressing my anger, I picked up my bag and turned to leave. "Since you're an adult now, we'll go our separate ways from here on out."

All I got to show for ten years of undivided care and attention was a nasty ingrate. Well, I wasn't going to foolishly carry on making the same mistake.

"Hold it right there!" Jimmy shouted behind me. "How dare you say you didn't take any money when you only gave Alvin five thousand dollars? Who do you think you're fooling, Sandra? You even bought a house recently! How can you say there's only this little sum of money?"

I stopped in my tracks. My blood seemed to freeze over as I whipped around and stared at Alvin. He was the only one I told about the house.

"You just bought a house this year, Sandy. How can you say that's all the money you got?" Alvin met my gaze without a hint of guilt, his tone accusatory. "If you're going to lie, at least come up with a better one.

"I know you've sacrificed a lot all these years, but half of Mom's life insurance payout was always mine. No matter what, you should give it to me. Don't you think you're crossing the line by using that money to buy yourself a house instead?"

"I used my own money to buy the house! As for your share of the payout, five thousand dollars is truly all that's left of it. If you don't believe me, I can print out the account statements tomorrow," I replied coldly.

Seeing the uncertain flicker in Alvin's eyes, I snorted and left.

Behind me, Jimmy's furious shouts and our relatives' overlapping chatter kept going.

Alvin attended a boarding school. Ever since he demanded the money at the party, he stopped coming back to the house, choosing to stay at his dorm instead. That being said, he'd called me a few times, pressuring me to give him the money each time, of course.

I didn't give him another cent.

Meanwhile, I went to work as usual, but I kept getting the feeling that my coworkers were gossiping about me behind my back.

A few days later, I finally understood why.

"Sandra, if you can't resolve this matter, you should just resign on your own." My superior threw me a resignation letter he'd prepared for me and sent me straight home.

The gossiping didn't stop. After checking my phone to see the social media post a coworker had sent me, I finally found the reason for all the contempt and malice I'd been receiving from them.

Alvin had posted about what happened at the celebration party, only he'd embellished it with more lies than I could count. Every word he wrote was an accusation. He claimed I was a heartless woman who cared more about money than family.

He even twisted the truth around, saying that I'd taken all of Mom's life insurance payout to buy myself a house.

Standing outside the office building, I trembled with anger as I stared at my phone. Just as I was about to call Alvin, a group of people suddenly rushed toward me.

"There she is! That's her! She looks like a decent person, but she stole her mother's life insurance payout from her own brother! She's a monster!"

"You heartless beast! How dare you live a life of luxury with your mom's life insurance payout and use your brother's share to buy yourself a house? You're deplorable!"

"Look at her, making herself appear all fancy and presentable. That doesn't hide the fact that she's a shameless and ungrateful bitch!"

The crowd surrounded me, and a handful of them at the front were even holding up banners, claiming that I'd kept all of Mom's life insurance payout for myself, preventing my own brother from attending college even though he'd gotten a score of 1400 on the SAT.

The bolded words, printed in red, drew the attention of the other passersby.

I even spotted my neighbors in the crowd. Many people were taking pictures with their phones, and some had already started live-streaming the scene.

"Goodness me! The brother did so well on the SAT, but his older sister ruined his chance to go to college!"

"How could she take all of her Mom's life insurance payout for herself? I guess you really can't judge a person by their appearance."

"Look at her. She's dressed like a slut. I bet she is one, too!"

Nasty insults filled the comment sections of the live streams, and some even started spreading obscene lies about me.

"I hate people like you who'll do anything for money. I'm going to teach you a lesson on behalf of your dead mother!" With a roar, a burly man charged at me, his fist raised.

"Whoa!"

"What a righteous man!"

The crowd was fired up—not to help me, but to praise the man's so-called "righteousness".

A punch landed, alright, but it wasn't the one everyone expected.

As the dust settled, Alvin suddenly pushed through the crowd, seemingly coming out of nowhere, his face full of worry. "Sandy, are you okay…"

His voice faltered, along with the feigned concern on his face.

The burly man was lying flat on the ground, groaning in pain. Everyone thought I'd be the one who got a beating, but I remained standing with an expressionless face.

"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern. You definitely showed up at just the right moment." I rolled my wrist, deliberately emphasizing the last few words.

Of all the times he could've shown up, he did at the most pivotal moment, right when I was about to get punched. What a timely arrival it was, indeed.

"You will really stoop to anything just for money," I added darkly.

If I didn't happen to know a bit of self-defense, I couldn't even imagine what I would have gone through today. I would've been besieged by the scandal and the humiliation. Thanks to his schemes, I might have even lost my job.

This was what I got in return for everything I'd done for him the last decade.

"Stop acting like you're morally superior. If you cared about family at all, you'd give Alvin his share of the life insurance payout instead of using the money to buy yourself a house!"