"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!"

Jimmy pushed his way through the crowd and put his arm around Alvin before putting on a tearful performance as he listed out my "awful deeds".

"Just look at yourself! You've been living such a comfortable life that your skin is practically glowing! Meanwhile, Alvin looks so frail.

"Why do I get the feeling you've been abusing him all along, huh? And now you're hoarding the life insurance payout and trying to use emotional blackmail on him! How dare you talk about family, huh?"

I scoffed in anger.

At home, I had always given Alvin the best of everything. If he looked frail, it was because of his health condition. But that was somehow my fault?

However, thanks to Jimmy's claims, the crowd that had briefly settled down after my counterattack seemed to snap back to life. Holding their banners, they began to condemn my "heartless" behavior.

"I have to admit she's pretty tough. Look at how she took down that burly guy with one move."

"Yeah, she looked pretty cool just now, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a heartless monster—using her mom's life insurance payout to buy herself a house. She's not even fit to be called a human."

As they spoke, they edged closer, slowly surrounding me. The suffocating pressure closed in from all sides.

"Sandy, I know you've had it hard all these years. Money is important. I get that. But it shouldn't come between us like this," Alvin said in a choked voice, his eyes misty.

"I didn't want things to turn out like this. I would never have asked you for the money if I didn't need it to study abroad. I wouldn't even mind giving it all to you.

"But right now, I have no other choice. Just give me the money, Sandy. When I come back after studying abroad, I'll give you all my salary. Please, Sandy? Sandy…"

He called out to me again and again, sounding sincere enough to move the surrounding crowd to sigh in sympathy. But I could see right through him. I caught the scheming look in his eyes—and the smug satisfaction in Jimmy's.

At last, I was completely disillusioned.

My own brother—the one I had raised with my own hands—had turned into a monstrous leech. He'd spent a decade draining me dry, and now, he wanted to make my life a living hell, too.

"You came here just for money, didn't you?" Looking at the crowd that was scowling angrily at me, I smirked. "You even resorted to a trick like this just to force me into giving you money."

"I'm not trying to force you," Alvin declared, his gaze scheming. "It's just that your attitude worries me. Once you give me the money, nothing else will happen. I'm not trying to harm you."

"Cut the bullshit! If you still think of Alvin as your brother, you'd hand over the money now!" Jimmy demanded before pretending to wipe his tears again. "Alvin is such a kind young man. Despite everything you've done to him, he's still worried about you.

"What's wrong with him wanting to get back the money that's rightfully his?"

Voices of agreement rose through the crowd again, while I stayed silent.

Kind, huh?

Was that the word used to describe a brother who used lies to manipulate the public, relying on public opinion to back his sister into a corner?

"Sandy, even though we're siblings, when it comes to money, we should keep the accounts clear. Family is one thing, but this money really matters a lot to me."

My lack of response made Alvin impatient, and his tone started taking on a resentful tinge.

"Haven't I endured enough all these years, with the way you kept forcing me to focus on my studies? I'd been on the verge of breaking down countless times now. What's wrong with me wanting to study abroad?

"Do you even know what it's like to stay up past midnight just to study? Have you ever had to get up at 6:30 am just to review your lessons? Do you have any idea how it feels to be so caught up in trying to solve a math problem that you're too stressed to even eat dinner?"

Alvin's voice kept getting louder. "You know nothing! You dropped out of high school, yet you kept forcing me to study. Now that I can finally choose an easier path for myself by studying abroad, you hang onto all the money and refuse to give me my share!"

Once again, I could only laugh in anger.

It was true that I never had to study past midnight or wake up early to review my lessons. But no one knew the hours I worked each day. Even getting to sleep at 1:00 am was a luxury for me. I also had to wake up at 5:00 am to prepare his breakfast.

In fact, I'd been hospitalized multiple times as a result of my sleep deprivation and overexhaustion.

How was any of that less tiring than studying?

To make matters worse, he was the reason I had to drop out of school!