"Hey, Vanessa! You really didn't have to bring the clothes up yourself." As Selena spoke, she hugged the jackets to her chest and stood in the doorway, clearly blocking me from entering.

I glanced inside. Mom was cooking in the kitchen, wearing a thin sweater. There was a sheen of sweat on her forehead from the heat. Alex was barefoot in the living room, playing with building blocks. Under the warm yellow lights, it was a cozy, harmonious scene.

Selena subtly shifted, blocking my view. "Sorry, Vanessa. We're in the middle of tidying up, and the place is quite messy, so I can't invite you in today."

Howard was about to say something, but she quickly stopped him, telling him to take the jackets inside.

I lowered my head and smiled bitterly. Whether I went in or not, I already had my answer.

As soon as I got home, my phone rang. When I answered, the staff member on the other end tore away the last layer of pretense with his polite reply. "Hello, is this Ms. Walter? This is regarding your complaint about insufficient indoor heating.

"We've checked our system, and it shows that no payment was made for your unit."

The voice on the phone was clear and cold. Each word struck my heart like a hammer.

I didn't even remember how I ended the call. All that echoed in my mind were four words—"No payment was made".

William walked over and took my freezing hand. His palm was warm, but it couldn't drive away the chill spreading through me.

"William…" My voice came out hoarse, trembling with sobs. "My mom lied to me… She never paid the heating bill!"

At the same time, images flashed through my mind. The warm apartment upstairs, Alex complaining about the heat and asking for a popsicle, and Howard in a T-shirt in the middle of winter.

Could it be that my mom took the money I gave her for my heating bill and used it to pay for Howard's place instead? The thought alone blurred my vision with tears.

Mom had always been a little biased, but it was always just small things. And as the older sister, I never made a fuss. But thinking of Ciara, sick from the cold, my heart felt as if it were pierced by needles.

I clenched my fists and stood up abruptly, tears still pooling in my eyes. "No. I'm going to Mom to clear things up!"

William tightened his grip on my hand. "I'll go with you."

Soon, we reached Howard's front door. I took a deep breath and knocked hard. The door opened almost immediately, and Howard froze for a moment when he saw both of us standing there.

I pushed my way inside. Mom and Selena were sitting on the couch. When they saw my red-rimmed eyes, their expressions stiffened.

My voice trembled despite my effort to stay calm. "Mom, the heating company said my place was never paid for. The two thousand dollars I gave you on the 13th… Where did it go?"

Mom instinctively avoided my gaze, forcing herself to sound composed. "What are you talking about? I paid it already! It must be an issue with the heating company's system!"

At that moment, Selena chimed in, her tone exaggerated with surprise, "Yeah, Vanessa, maybe there's a problem on their end? Or maybe Mom paid in person and the staff made a mistake?"

I swept my gaze around the room, my voice turning cold. "A mistake? Then, how is it that your place has heat when you didn't even pay?"

Selena's face stiffened. A flicker of panic crossed Mom's face, too.

After a pause, Selena lifted her chin stubbornly. "What are you implying, Vanessa? Your heating not working has nothing to do with us. We just paid our bill today. What's wrong with that?"

As she spoke, she nudged Howard with her elbow. He immediately echoed, "Yeah, yeah. We just paid."

Watching the two of them working together to lie, I let out a cold laugh.

"What a coincidence! Where's the payment record? The screenshot or the receipt. Show it to me!" I stared at Selena, pressing harder.

Selena froze, panic flashing in her eyes as she glanced at Mom. She stammered, "I-I can't find it under such short notice…"

William stood firmly behind me, his voice low and steady. "Can't find it? Or does it even exist at all?"

The room fell into dead silence. With the lie exposed, Mom's face shifted between pale and flushed.

After a few seconds, she finally snapped. She threw the remote onto the couch. As if she had suffered some great injustice, her voice rose sharply. "Fine! I didn't pay for you! So what?"

She glared at me, completely unapologetic, and shouted, "Your brother doesn't make much. He didn't have extra money these past few days. It's freezing, and Alex is still so young. What if my grandson gets sick?

"I just used your heating money for their place first. Do you really have to question me like this?

"You're the older sister. It's only right to help your brother. It's just a thousand-something dollars. Do you have to be so petty and stir up the whole family over this?

"Besides, you make good money. That amount is nothing to you. Just turn up the AC if you're cold. Why come here and make a scene?"

Her words cut into me like knives. I looked at her agitated expression, then at Howard and Selena. They were silent yet complicit, as if all of this were perfectly justified. The room spun around me.

My voice trembled, and my tears finally poured. "Mom, that was my money! And Ciara is your grandchild, too! She's only five years old. And she's at home right now with a fever from the cold.

"How can you say that? Does your concern for your grandson mean that my daughter deserves to freeze?"

Selena chimed in, pretending to mediate, "Oh, Vanessa, listen to yourself. We're all family. Helping us with a bill is not even that much. Why make such a big deal out of it? Worse case… we'll pay you back."

Howard muttered, "Yeah. You're overreacting, Vanessa. It's just over a thousand dollars. Not like it's ten thousand dollars."

My gaze swept across the three of them. In this warm room, I felt like I was plunged in icy water. The last thread tying me to them snapped under their words.

I wiped away my tears and looked at these three so-called "family members", my eyes now cold and bleak. "I gave Mom two thousand dollars. The heating bill is 1,870 dollars. Keep the rest. I just want the heating bill money."

Selena's eyes widened, clearly not expecting me to be this blunt.

"What? You don't want to pay it back?"

Her expression faltered. Having just said she'd pay me back, she had no choice but to reluctantly transfer the money to me.

Ignoring their dark expressions, I turned and walked out.

Back home, seeing Ciara's flushed face from the fever, the last trace of hesitation in me vanished. I calmly picked up my phone and canceled the monthly allowance I'd been sending Mom. Then, I contacted the bank and stopped the automatic credit card payments I'd been covering for Howard.

Since they saw me, the married daughter, as an outsider whose support was only natural and expected, with no right to ask for anything in return, then that bond wasn't worth keeping.

As for the money, I wouldn't give them another cent!