"Exactly. Only by suffering out there will Perry finally realize that money doesn't grow on trees," Priscilla said, her voice flat, as if she were discussing the most ordinary thing in the world.

"And as a thank you," she continued, "I'll look after your family's business interests. But we can't let Perry find out yet. Once my parents are back from abroad after the New Year, I'll fill them in."

Her words hit me like a punch. My breath hitched, and my heart nearly stopped.

A waitress came by to take my order, but I didn't dare make a sound. I just pointed randomly at the menu, my hand trembling, and gestured for her to leave quickly before Priscilla noticed me.

Matthew's voice was dripping with artificial sweetness. "Priscilla, isn't it exhausting? Telling Perry you're off doing haunted-house sleep tests when you're actually just taking the long way home every night? Why didn't you just go abroad with your parents in the first place?" he asked.

Another wave of shock crashed over me.

So the haunted-house gig Priscilla told me about was a lie too. While I was struggling, she was hiding from me and retreating to the comfort of our home every night.

Had I been the only one suffering through this hell for the last five years?

Priscilla sighed. "Perry is my brother. I couldn't bear to leave him alone in the country. Besides, even though the company moved overseas, we'll be bringing it back eventually."

She added, her voice tinged with a touch of melancholy, "The five-year punishment we set back then has flown by in the blink of an eye. Time really flies."

Did time really fly? I gave a bitter, silent chuckle.

For me, every single day of those five years had been torture.

Playing a corpse wasn't as easy as it sounded. At Matthew's instigation, I was always assigned to the filthiest, most grueling spots. Whether the wind howled or the rain poured, I had to remain perfectly still.

Over time, I'd developed a chronic chill in my bones. Back and leg pain had become part of my daily routine.

And to them, all of this was just a "punishment". How ridiculous!

"Matthew, you've worked hard these past five years too. Take this as a token of my appreciation."

The conversation at the table across from me continued as Priscilla handed Matthew an exquisite gift box.

He opened it and let out a delighted gasp. "Whoa, this watch is incredible!"

My heart plummeted to the depths of despair. That was the exact watch I had asked Mom and Dad to buy me five years ago.

They had refused at the time, telling me it was far too expensive. I hadn't been obsessed with it, so I eventually just let it go.

But looking back now, that watch was likely the catalyst for my five-year sentence.

But why? With a family fortune worth billions, why was I subjected to five years of misery just for wanting a watch?

Why could Matthew, whose family wasn't nearly as well-off as mine, get whatever he wanted with ease?

Was I spoiled? Was I disobedient?

I had been a well-behaved child my whole life, never once defying them. Why did I have to suffer like this?

My emotions finally broke loose, and I couldn't hold back anymore. I slammed my hand onto the table and shot to my feet.

Every head in the restaurant snapped toward me—including Priscilla's. She turned around, the color draining from her face instantly.

"Perry? What are you doing here?" she blurted.

"Did you have fun? Was lying to me for five years just some kind of sick amusement for you?" I shouted, my voice thick with despair.

I ripped off my cap and mask, lunging forward to grab her sleeve. "What did I do that was so extravagant? Why did you have to torture me like this?"

Panic flickered in Priscilla's eyes. She glanced around at the staring patrons, then gripped my arm, her expression stiff and awkward.

"People are watching," she whispered. "Let's take this outside."

"You're the one with something to hide!"

My eyes burned as I wrenched my hand from her grip and screamed at the top of my lungs. "You, Mom, and Dad—you all conspired to lie to me! You lied about us being bankrupt, lied about the debt, lied about those 'haunted-house sleep tests' you were supposedly doing!"

I choked on a sob. "But what's the actual truth? They're traveling the world, and you're going home to a warm bed every night. I was the only one truly suffering this whole damn time!"

I broke down completely, tears finally spilling over. "Priscilla, just tell me why. Please. Why does spending a grand on a phone matter so much when our family is worth billions?"

Priscilla's face darkened. "No wonder you asked me that earlier today. You overheard my call with Mom and Dad."

As she spoke, she reached for my wrist again. This time, she gripped me with bruising force, trying to drag me out of the restaurant.

Suddenly, a waiter hurried over and caught my other arm. "Sir, you haven't paid yet! The total is 5,000 dollars!"

Priscilla froze, her brow furrowing into a deep scowl. "How could you order such an expensive meal? Have you learned nothing about how hard it is to earn a living?"

Every diner in the room had their eyes pinned on me. Priscilla intentionally let the silence hang, letting the judgment of the crowd sink in. Only after my face had paled with embarrassment did she finally pull out her card and pay.

Once we were outside, Matthew piped up from behind us, stoking the fire. "Perry, your parents and sister only did this for your own good. It was to teach you a lesson. Don't be so ungrateful!"

"Stay the hell out of this!" I shouted. Blinded by searing, white-hot rage, I wrenched my arm free from Priscilla and slammed my fist into Matthew's face.

He let out a sharp cry, clutching his cheek.

The next instant, Priscilla's hand whipped across my face.

"Perry, enough!" she snapped. "Do you think we would have resorted to this if you weren't so vain and superficial?"

She loomed over me, her voice turning cold. "You think these five years have been hard on you? Do you have any idea what we've had to go through? And now you have the nerve to throw a punch at Matthew? Clearly, you haven't learned your lesson yet!"

I froze. Listening to her detached voice, I felt the last spark of life inside me finally flicker out.

After a long silence, I looked up at her, a mocking, hollow smile tugging at my lips. "So this isn't enough for you? Would it be enough if I just paid you all back with my life? Would that finally be enough?"

"Even now, you're just talking out of spite!"

Annoyance flashed through Priscilla's eyes. She signaled her driver and shoved me into the back seat.

I let out a hollow laugh. "Are we going home now? Which home, exactly?"

She didn't even spare me a glance. Instead, she pulled out her phone and called our parents.

"You can come back now. Yeah, Perry found out. No, I didn't tell him! He overheard it himself."

A loud thud echoed as Priscilla hurled her phone onto the floorboard in frustration. When she turned to me, her eyes were filled with nothing but raw irritation.

"You actually have the nerve to cry? I've had to suffer right alongside you for five years, and I'm the one getting blamed for it in the end."

She snapped, "What exactly are you crying about? Stop acting like you're some kind of victim!"

I couldn't find the words. I just sat there and let her berate me the whole way until we pulled up to our old estate.

I hadn't set foot in this house for five years. As she shoved me through the doors, all I felt was a sense of crushing unfamiliarity.

The excruciating, twisting pain in my stomach surged again. Unable to hold it back, I doubled over and coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

As I frantically tried to wipe it away, Priscilla caught sight of it. She just let out a cold snort.

"Nice touch with the props. You really think that's going to make me feel guilty? Save the performance for Mom and Dad. Those cheap tricks don't work on me."

My parents didn't waste any time. They were back at the house early the following morning.

Priscilla was in a foul mood after getting an earful from them, and she'd taken it out on me by forcing me to stay awake and sit on the couch all night.

Between the sleep deprivation and the gnawing pain in my stomach, I was drenched in a cold sweat, feeling like a hollowed-out shell of a person.

But when my parents walked through the door, I bolted upright instinctively.

In my mind, they had been dead for five years. Seeing them home in the flesh, perfectly fine, felt like a surreal fever dream.

"Perry, do you realize what you did wrong yet?"

Dad's cold, clipped question snapped me back to reality.

I froze in place, my voice catching in a raspy whisper. "What exactly did I do wrong?"

Dad's expression darkened. "Don't tell me five years haven't been enough to teach you how hard it is to make a living. We faked our deaths and moved abroad just to make you realize the truth. There will come a day when you won't be able to earn a thing, and every last penny will be gone."

Then, his tone softened. "It's just as well that you finally understand. At least now we don't have to stay away from home anymore."

A wave of icy numbness washed over me, and my voice began to tremble with suppressed rage. "So, in the end, I was just a burden to you?"

I poured out everything I'd been holding in. "I don't understand. Our family has more money than we could spend in several lifetimes, and I wasn't even spending recklessly. Why did I have to be punished like this? Do you have any idea how it felt? These five years, I—"

"Perry, just admit you were wrong!"

Mom rushed over and grabbed my hand, tears welling in her eyes. "To teach you this lesson, your dad hasn't even been able to come home to visit your grandma's grave for five years. You've had it hard, but so have we!

"Stop sulking. If you just admit you were wrong, this punishment ends right now, and we can go back to being a family—"

"I didn't do anything wrong!" I roared, wrenching my hand out of her grasp. "You're the ones who are wrong! Your whole way of thinking is twisted! I have absolutely nothing to apologize for!"

The words had barely left my mouth when Priscilla's hand struck my face in a stinging slap.

"Is that how you talk to Mom and Dad?" she barked. "Perry, what right do you have to feel like a victim? What right do you have to throw a tantrum? You think these five years were a walk in the park for me? If I didn't care about you, I would have gone abroad with Mom and Dad long ago!"

My mind went blank, a buzzing filling my ears. Whatever she said next was just muffled noise.

I stood there for a long time before finally nodding in resignation.

"Give me back the 130 grand I gave you," I said, my voice devoid of emotion.

I had traded my life for that money.

She shot me a look of pure disdain and made a quick call.

A moment later, someone walked in carrying the bag of cash.

I wiped my tears away, grabbed the bag, and turned to leave without another word.

Mom started to say something as she watched me walk away, but Dad held her back. "Let him go. Let's see how long he lasts on his own!"

I closed the door behind me and carried the money back to the run-down neighborhood where I'd spent the last five years.

I was just about to put my key in the lock when a hand grabbed my wrist.

"Hey, young man. This place has been sold. You can't go in there anymore," the man said.

"Sold to the Lennoxes, I assume?" I asked, not even bothering to look up.

He blinked in surprise. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

I let out a self-mocking laugh and walked away with my bag of money. I hadn't gone more than a few steps before the agonizing pain in my stomach flared up again.

I dragged myself to the nearest hospital.

While waiting for my results, I went to pay the bill. But moments after I handed over the cash, security guards tackled me to the ground.

My head was spinning, and I didn't even have the strength to fight back. Through a haze of shock, I caught snippets of them talking about "counterfeit bills" and "calling the police."

Before long, the police arrived.

The lead officer frowned and asked, "Young man, this money is all fake. Where did you get it?"

I stared at him in disbelief, frantically pulling the contract out of my pocket and shoving it toward him. "I didn't know! I earned it! I signed up for a clinical trial!"

I shouted in a panic, "This has nothing to do with me!"

He scanned the document, his frown deepening with every line. "You've been conned. This company is a front for a criminal syndicate. Did they draw your blood?"

His words chilled me to the bone. I managed a slow, stiff nod.

The officer let out a heavy, pitying sigh. "The drugs were fine, but the needles they used…"

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

A sickening dread pooled in my gut.

Just then, a doctor came out with my test results and handed them to the officer.

"It's a Stage 3 blood-borne infection," the doctor said. "These swindlers are getting too brazen!"

My body finally gave out. I vomited a mouthful of black blood and collapsed, the world fading around me. The last thing I heard before I closed my eyes was the officer's frantic shout.

"Contact his family! Hurry!"