"She's still the little sister you doted on since childhood."

Her brother let out a quiet laugh, his tone flat and indifferent.

"Anna lost a decent job, that's all. She can still scrub toilets and mop floors for a living. But Edna lost her legs. Compared to Edna, Anna's already living a blessed life."

That was how I learned the truth. All those years after being thrown out of the family. Every company that rejected my application. The six-by-six basement I'd been crammed into, living a life worse than death.

All of it was a gift from the brother I'd loved most.

From that moment on, I stopped hoping for their love. I stopped begging.

That year, to scrape together money for treatment, I delivered food during the day and worked as a waitress at a nightclub at night.

More than once, I was harassed. My clothes pulled loose, my lipstick smeared across my face.

But because of my brother's interference, not a single person who saw it helped me.

They joined in instead. Mocking me. Forcing drinks down my throat.

And the money I earned was a drop in the bucket.

In less than two months, I couldn't even afford my targeted therapy medication anymore.

So I stopped taking it.

In the end, the cancer spread until it reached late stage.

The doctor said that even if I had the money for surgery now, it was too late.

Edna tossed the keychain onto the ground. She clung to her brother's arm, pouting sweetly.

"Big brother, does she still hate me? Why else would she give me something so old and ugly?"

The atmosphere froze for a split second.

A few of the people there had grown up with us. They knew what that keychain meant to me.

Edna sensed the shift in the room and let her voice go small and wounded. "Did I say something wrong?"

"I'm sorry. I'll pick it up right now."

Her brother's brow furrowed. He pressed her back into the wheelchair.

His gaze swung toward me, his face dark as a thundercloud.

"You're right. Old, ugly things belong in the trash."

His eyes swept over my face, searching. He wanted to see me crumble after watching the rabbit keychain get discarded.

But my expression was ashen. Hollow.

And that made him even more displeased.

"Anna, those precious knees of yours have already hit the floor for countless people these past few days. You think they didn't lend you money because they couldn't?" He paused. "In Southport, whether someone gets something or loses everything comes down to a single word from me."

"Kneel and apologize now, and I'll still give you the money. But if you keep stalling, my patience runs out."

My empty heart seized, as though a fist had clamped around it and squeezed.

The pain sent heat rushing behind my eyes.

There was a time when someone bullied me and my brother made those same threats on my behalf. Back then, all of Southport said the same thing: cross anyone you want, but never cross the Maddox family's eldest daughter.

Because her brother would destroy you.

But now, for Edna's sake, every one of those weapons was aimed at me.

Under Edna's taunting gaze, I clenched the final payment slip inside my pocket.

My fingers tightened until they went white.

I'd once promised someone that I would fight the illness. That I would keep living.

But I couldn't do it.

So the least I could do was buy the plot beside his.

I couldn't leave him lying there alone.

Now I was five thousand dollars short.

"Transfer the money first. Then I'll apologize."

The words left my mouth.

My brother sent the five thousand. Then he let out a sharp, derisive laugh.

"Still playing hard to get? You think that'll make me feel sorry for you? Not a chance."

"Now. Get on your knees and bow to Edna."

I heard the cruelty threaded through his laughter.

But I felt nothing anymore.

Like a machine, I bent my knees. And knelt.

The room erupted in laughter. Every pair of eyes locked onto me.

"I heard you crippled our Edna just so you could win that championship."

"Can't even scrape together five thousand dollars. Pathetic!"

"Let's teach her a lesson for Edna!"

Someone shouted first, and then they were on me. Hands fisted in my hair, yanking my head back. Palms cracked across my face, one after another.

Blood and spit ran from the corner of my mouth.

These people all wanted to curry favor with my brother. Hurting me was just another way to please him.

And when my brother stood there watching without lifting a finger—

They only hit harder.

By the time they stopped, my face was so swollen my eyelids drooped and sagged. I was barely recognizable.

Only then did someone speak up.

"Enough. Stop hitting her."

It was my mother.

She cupped my face, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Why are you so selfish? Four years and you never once came to find us."

"Is it really so hard to admit what you did wrong?"

Listening to her accusations, something plucked at my heart. A small, dull ache.

"But Mom, you taught me never to admit to something I didn't do."

"Why won't you believe me?"

I stared at her face.

Searching for even the smallest trace of partiality toward me.

She crushed that last shred of hope instead.

"Enough! Anna, are you saying Edna framed you?"

"I thought a few years of hardship would set you straight, but you've only gotten worse. You're still trying to drive a wedge between Edna and me."

"I watched Edna grow up. Don't you think I know what kind of person she is?"

"She would never do something like that!"

I looked into her furious eyes.

The corner of my mouth twitched. I dragged myself off the ground.

"If none of you believe me, then why put on this act of calling me back?"

"What do you want me to do—sing praises to your pure and noble motherly love?"

The words barely left my mouth before she slapped me hard across the face. Blood welled fresh at the corner of my lip.

She looked at me with wounded eyes.

As though she were the one who'd been wronged.

But I couldn't feel sorry for her.

A year ago, one word from her could have made my brother lift the blacklist. I could have had a real job. I wouldn't have had to work nightclub shifts where men groped me in the dark.

But the moment Edna cried on the other end of the phone—

My mother forgot everything.

"If you'd been honest about what you did back then, maybe I could have kept you in this family. You're the one who severed that bond with your own hands!"

"And now you're standing here playing the victim. Who is this performance for?"

My brother's hatred for me ran bone-deep.

I heard my own voice, distant, as if talking to myself.

"Would you only stop tormenting me if I were dead?"

He stared at me, jaw tight, and let out a cold laugh.

"Anna, do you actually think you're Edna? Edna is my sister. Whether you live or die has nothing to do with me."

I laughed too.

"You're right. When I die, don't bother mourning. You stopped being my brother a long time ago."

Something in those words struck a nerve. His hand shot out and closed around my throat.

"Anna, do you really think I won't do it?"

My mother gasped and started toward us.

But Edna wheeled herself forward first, cutting her off.

"Stop it, Logan! You're going to kill her!"

She was shouting at my brother, but her hands grabbed at me.

In the next instant, she toppled out of her wheelchair, taking it down with her. Her gown snagged and tore, leaving her half-exposed on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I was only trying to save you. I didn't realize you still resented me for taking Mom and Logan away from you."

"But look at me. I'm like this now. I'll never stand again. I'm no threat to you anymore. Why would you still humiliate me?"

Edna clutched the torn hem of her dress, her shoulders trembling with the fragile helplessness of someone who'd suffered the world's greatest injustice.

The sight stung my brother's eyes.

His grip on my throat tightened savagely.

"Anna, you're asking to die!"

Darkness rushed in like a tide, but I didn't struggle.

I almost felt relieved.

Just when I thought I would die right there, my brother released me without warning.

My forehead cracked against the edge of the coffee table. Blood seeped out in a warm, steady stream.

Mom rushed to Edna's side, fussing over her.

She didn't spare me a single glance.

"It was supposed to be a nice birthday. Why did it turn into this? Why did you invite her in the first place!"

Her voice dripped with resentment.

My brother draped his suit jacket over Edna's shoulders and looked at me with undisguised revulsion.

"Anna, you truly disgust me this time."

"Someone get her out of here. She is never to set foot in this house again!"

I was dragged out of the Maddox estate in a daze.

With trembling fingers, I wired five thousand dollars to the cemetery manager.

Then I sent the last five hundred and eighty-six dollars I had left.

A week ago, I'd stopped buying painkillers altogether, saving every cent so someone could collect my body.

When it was done, I used the last of my strength to climb onto the Southbridge railing.

I closed my eyes. Cold wind screamed past my ears.

This time I didn't fight it. I let myself fall into the river.

News that someone had jumped from Southbridge dominated the headlines almost immediately.

By the time it reached the Maddox estate, one of the guests was already laughing.

"Logan, don't tell me your sister's gotten addicted to jumping off things. Think she'll go for a third round? Are we taking bets again?"

My brother laughed, careless and unbothered.

"Anna's terrified of water. There's no way she'd actually jump again. She's probably racking her brain right now, figuring out how to beg us to let her back in."

"Why is everyone standing around? It's Edna's birthday. Everyone whose name was called, get up and do the group dance!"

Just then, a servant rushed in, pale-faced and shaking.