Chapter 2

I dropped Lily off at the neighbor's house.

Walking back downstairs, Liam stood with his hands in his pockets.

"Why are you living in this dump? Where's your place? I'm coming up to see."

I shook my head.

"There's no need for that."

Four years ago, he himself had said that his only sister was Celeste.

He'd also said that calling someone like me a sibling only disgusted him.

When I was expelled from the Sterling family, abandoned by Julian Blackwood, and had nowhere to go, I even thought of finding him, my biological brother.

One snowy night, I stood outside his company building all night, nearly frozen solid.

But in the end, all I got was him saying his biggest wish was that I had never been his sister.

"If you hadn't been born, Celeste wouldn't have been swapped, and wouldn't have suffered so much.

"Sister? That's laughable. The Sterlings don't want you, and now you're trying to cash in on our blood ties?

"I'd never acknowledge someone like you as my sister."

Only then did I realize that no matter how kind I was to him, he hated me because of Celeste.

Now, he still eyed me with a scrutinizing gaze, frowning.

"That child of yours, is she Julian's? Did you run away just to have his baby?"

I was silent for a moment.

"She's my child alone."

He scoffed, a corner of his mouth twisting.

"Sera, that kid is a spitting image of him. Do you take me for blind?

"You wouldn't actually think that if you secretly had his child, you could win him back? Are you sick or something...

"How pathetic, what an idiot..."

"I said, she's my child alone."

I cut him off.

"I never thought of going back to New York, nor did I ever think of using my child to compete with your sister for Julian. You can rest assured, and you don't need to be so nasty.

"Just like you said back then, apart from blood relation, we're strangers. I'm not interested in your life now, and I ask you not to meddle in mine."

He froze.

"If you have nothing else, please leave." I turned.

"Wait."

To my surprise, he suddenly grabbed me.

He opened his mouth, then closed it.

"You, you..."

I frowned.

"What?"

"Why... why did you leave back then...?"

I looked at him quietly.

"You were a pampered heiress who couldn't do anything. Were a few harsh words really enough to make you play the 'run away with a baby' card?

"If I hadn't run into you, how much longer would you have lived this kind of miserable life? And these four years..."

He paused.

"How... how did you survive?"