“Your sister is timid. What if you scared her badly?”

“On your very first day back, you’re already bullying her? Apologize to your sister right now.”

I looked at my biological parents—whom I hadn’t seen in three years—and they felt almost unrecognizable to me.

“I won’t apologize. I didn’t bully her.”

My voice was firm. Seeing me refuse, my father grew furious.

“How dare you talk back the moment you return?”

“Enough, enough, it’s just a misunderstanding.”

My mother stepped in between us like a peacemaker.

I thought for a moment she was about to defend me, but instead, she reached for the silver bracelet in my hand, trying to take it away.

I clenched my fist tightly.

“This is mine.” My voice came out hoarse.

Her expression instantly darkened.

“Sophia, you were never such a petty child before. Sophie is a guest, and also your sister. Can’t you let her have a little? Do you have to cause chaos in this house to feel satisfied?”

Seeing that I didn’t yield, she completely lost patience.

“If you’re going to be this unreasonable, then you don’t deserve to wear this bracelet.”

She grabbed my wrist and pried open my fingers one by one, forcing the bracelet out of my hand.

The same bracelet she had given me at my coming-of-age ceremony now sat on Sophie’s wrist.

“Good girl, it looks perfect on Sophie,” my mother said with doting affection.

And as if that weren’t enough, she added,

“Your sister is just teasing you. From now on, whatever you see at home can be yours too. An older sister should always give way to her younger one.”

“Thank you, Mom.” Sophie’s voice was syrupy sweet.

Mom?

I looked at my mother, waiting for some kind of explanation.

But she ignored me completely, turning instead to kiss Sophie on the head.

“My sweet daughter.”

I was assigned to the guest room—because my old bedroom now belonged to Sophie.

“You’ll just have to make do here tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll free up another room for you.”

“What about my room?” I asked.

My mother’s tone was impatient.

“Your sister has gotten used to living there. As her elder, can’t you be more understanding?”

The plain white walls of the guest room reflected back my numb expression.

I didn’t sleep a single minute that night.

The next morning, I opened my door and went straight to my old bedroom—now Sophie’s room.

The door wasn’t locked. I pushed it open.

There she was, sitting at my vanity, using my expensive skincare products, with the pearl necklace my mother had once given me draped around her neck.

She didn’t look the least bit surprised. In fact, it was as if she had been waiting for me, a provocative smile tugging at her lips.

“Is there something you need, sister?”

“What do you really want?” My voice was flat, betraying no emotion.

“What do I want?” She lazily capped the serum bottle in her hand.

“Don’t you understand?”

She turned toward me, feigning confusion.

“After all this time, you still don’t see what I’m after?”

“I want everything you have—your room, your clothes, your parents, even your identity.”

She rose to her feet and stepped closer, chin tilted upward though she was half a head shorter, as if she were looking down on me.

“Really, you should be thanking me. While you were away all these years, I was the one keeping Uncle and Aunt happy. By now, they already see me as their real daughter.”

She paused, licking her lips.

“And you? A daughter who’s always abroad, who never cares about her family? To them, you’ve long since stopped being their child.”

Uncaring? Unfilial?

Hearing those words, I couldn’t help but find it laughable.

I had spent those three years abroad expanding the Bennett Group.

To say I was neglectful or unfilial—that was the cruelest slander imaginable.

Seeing that I didn’t react, Sophie grew irritated. Just as she was about to say something to provoke me further, her gaze suddenly flicked to the vase on the vanity.

She abruptly stood, grabbed the vase, and smashed it against her own forehead.

Bang!

With her scream, blood immediately began to stream down from the wound.

The incident happened so suddenly that I had no time to react. Instinctively, I reached out to support her.

Unexpectedly, she clutched my hand and flung herself to the ground, dragging me down with her.

Then, using every ounce of strength, she screamed:

“Help! Sister, why are you doing this? What did I do wrong? You were trying to hit me with the vase!”

“I was wrong, sister, don’t hit me! I’ll leave, I’ll leave right now!”

Hearing her shrieks, my parents rushed in immediately.

What they saw was this: the vase shattered on the floor, Sophie lying there with blood streaming from her forehead, and me on top of her—my hands positioned as if I were trying to strangle her.

Meanwhile, Sophie clutched my hands, feigning desperate resistance.

“Sophie!” My mother’s horrified scream tore through the room.

She shoved me violently aside and threw herself down beside Sophie.

“My daughter, my precious girl, are you alright? Don’t scare your mom!”

My father shook with rage, his eyes bloodshot as though he wanted to devour me alive.

“You’re insane! How dare you lay hands on her?”

He roared, ripping off his belt without hesitation.

Without giving me a chance to explain, he swung it down hard.

Snap!

The belt lashed across my arm, the searing pain splitting my skin into a red welt.

“I’ll beat you to death, you wretched child!”

Snap!

Another strike across my back.

The pain drove me stumbling forward, nearly collapsing to my knees.

I clenched my teeth, enduring in silence.

I knew—explaining now was useless. They wouldn’t believe me. They didn’t want to believe me.

All they trusted was Sophie.

My silence seemed only to enrage him further.

“How could the Bennett family produce such a vicious creature—someone who would even harm her own sister?”

He brought the belt down again and again, each strike raising bloody welts across my body.

My mother clutched Sophie protectively, shouting through the chaos:

“Harder, darling! Teach her a real lesson! If you don’t beat some sense into her, who knows what she’ll do next!”

“Look at Sophie—she’s bleeding so much! If she dies, I won’t live either!”

Fueled by her cries, my father’s strikes grew even heavier.

My body was battered, my lips bleeding from how tightly I’d bitten them, but still I refused to fall.

Nestled in my mother’s arms, Sophie weakly murmured:

“Please, stop… I know my sister didn’t mean it.”

Her pitiful plea only stoked my father’s fury further.

He hurled the belt aside and pointed his finger at me, cursing:

“Look at Sophie—hurt like this, yet she’s still pleading for you. And you? You heartless beast, do you even have a shred of conscience left?”

Panting heavily, his chest heaved with rage.

“She can’t stay in this house any longer. She’ll be the death of Sophie.”

As if making a grave decision, he pulled out his phone and dialed.

“Hello? Mr. Dawson?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“About the marriage we discussed—my daughter’s marriage. I agree.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll have her married off.”

My phone and laptop were confiscated, and I was locked in the cold, pitch-black basement—just as icy as my heart.

They weren’t entirely devoid of humanity; they summoned the family doctor to treat my wounds.

He had watched me grow up.

“Miss… you—”

He wanted to say something but didn’t dare. After hastily tending to my injuries, he left.

As soon as he was gone, my parents entered with Sophie trailing behind them.

There wasn’t a trace of pity on their faces.

“Until you learn obedience, everything you own will be managed by Sophie,” my father ordered coldly.

My mother tossed a box in front of me.

“Your passport, ID, bank cards—everything. Hand them over.”

Sophie stood behind them. They couldn’t see it, but I could—the triumphant smile tugging at her lips.

I didn’t resist.

I knew resistance would only invite harsher cruelty.

One by one, I placed every document and card into the box.

Sophie gleefully snatched it up, opened my wallet, and pulled out all the cash, stuffing it into her own pocket right before my eyes.

“Thanks, sister.” Her voice dripped with mock sweetness.

“Good.” My mother nodded with satisfaction, then suddenly seemed to recall something. She pulled out a folder from her bag and tossed it at me.

“Oh, right. One more thing.”

I glanced down. It was a marriage contract.

The groom’s name was Robert Dawson.

A man in his fifties who had clawed his way to wealth through shady dealings—known throughout elite circles for his twisted abuse of women. His two previous wives, one had gone insane, the other had died.

“Sign it.” My mother threw a pen in front of me.

My heart turned to ice.

“Why?”

My voice cracked.

“Why?”

She chuckled as if I had told the funniest joke.

“Mr. Dawson’s projects will pave the way for Sophie’s future company. You marrying him is your final contribution to this family, to your sister. You should feel honored.”

For Sophie, I was to sacrifice my entire life.

So this was my biological mother.

“I won’t sign.”

Each word ground out between my teeth.

Her face instantly darkened.

At that moment, the old butler, Mark Thompson, walked past carrying a tea tray.

Mark!

He had known me since I was a child. Surely, he would help me.

I cast him a desperate look for help.

But my father caught it, sneering.

“Mark, I heard your grandson is applying to one of the top schools owned by our group.”

Mark’s body trembled. The color drained from his face.

“Sir, Madam—I saw nothing.”

His hands shook so badly he almost dropped the tray.

“I’ll be going now.” He turned and fled.

My last hope shattered.

“Sister, why are you so stubborn?” Sophie mocked, walking over gleefully. “Uncle and Aunt are doing this for your own good.”

She picked up a crystal trophy from the table—the one I had received three years ago when I secured my first multimillion-dollar investment. The inscription read Presented to Sophia Bennett.

“This is beautiful,” she mused, turning it in her hands.

“Such a shame—you’ll be married off soon.”