Chapter 1

I was fifteen when my mom died on a rainy night, chasing after my sister who'd run off to elope.

Outside the emergency room, I stared daggers at my sister—standing there in a mud-stained wedding dress, soaked to the bone.

She'd abandoned us for some lowlife, and now she had the nerve to show her face here.

I completely lost control. I rushed at her and slapped her hard across the face.

"You killed Mom! If you hadn't been so desperate to run off with that man, Mom never would've chased after you! She wouldn't be dead!"

My sister's head snapped to the side from the blow, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. But she didn't make a sound.

She just lowered her head into the dust and knelt even straighter.

From that moment on, I decided the sister who'd once cherished me had died along with Mom.

"Sign here. Don't hold up the line."

The crematorium worker slapped the cold form down on the table.

I gripped the pen, my hand shaking like I had Parkinson's.

Not from grief. From rage.

Charlotte,who also happened to be my older sister,was kneeling in front of the iron door of the cremation furnace at that very moment.

Her once-white wedding dress now looked like a dirty rag, covered in mud and dried blood.

That scumbag Jake stood behind her, the tattoo on his neck writhing as he puffed on his cigarette.

He looked thoroughly annoyed, his foot tapping impatiently against the floor.

"Hey, kid, hurry it up."

Jake flicked his cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it viciously under his boot.

"Your sister's got business to take care of with me."

I snapped my head up and glared at this disgusting pair.

"What business? Your wedding?"

I spoke through gritted teeth, each word like a stone spat from between my jaws.

"Mom just died and you two are going home to sleep together?"

Charlotte's body trembled.

She lifted her head—that face that was usually so gentle now deathly pale, her forehead covered in scabs from kowtowing.

"Emma..."

Her voice was hoarse, like her throat was full of sand.

"Don't call me that!"

I screamed, cutting her off.

"Murderer! You have no right to say my name!"

"If you hadn't insisted on running off with this thug today, how would Mom have chased after you in the rain? How would she have been hit by that truck?"

"Charlotte, you should be the one lying in there!"

Tears spilled from Charlotte's eyes. She opened her mouth as if to explain.

But Jake suddenly stepped forward, grabbed her by the hair, and shoved her head down.

"Shut up."

Jake said coldly.

"Enough with the talking."

Charlotte actually shut up.

She obediently lowered her head, like a dog with a broken spine.

Watching this made my stomach turn.

Was this the same sister who'd promised to protect me for the rest of my life?

She'd thrown away her dignity for a man.

She'd traded Mom's life for a man.

I scrawled my name on the form: Emma.

The pen tip tore through the paper.

"Get out."

I threw the form at them and pointed at the door.

"Take your wild man and get out of my sight."

"As of today, I have no sister, and don't you dare tell anyone you know me."

Charlotte's whole body stiffened.

She looked at me deeply, her eyes containing too many emotions I couldn't understand: despair, pain, and a trace of eerie relief.

Jake yanked her arm and dragged her out like a dead dog.

The rain kept falling.

I watched their figures disappear into the curtain of rain, then turned and hugged Mom's urn.

"Mom, did you see?"

"That woman is gone."

"From now on, it's just you and me."