Chapter 5

Before I could speak, Victoria rushed into the room. She bypassed me completely, throwing her arms around Zach. "Oh my god, Zach! Were you terrified?"

I turned my head away.

Twenty years of being her son, twenty years of calling her mother. Even without blood, I thought there was some affection.

But she didn't care about my burns or my trauma. She only cared about the monster who tried to kill me.

Chloe was busy whispering comforts to Zach.

The three of them looked like a perfect, happy family.

"Ethan, since you're fine, let's drop this. Zach can't handle any more stress."

I clutched my phone, my knuckles turning white. "Drop this? I almost died, and you want me to just drop it because I'm 'fine'?"

"Chloe, look at the security footage! See for yourself if he did it on purpose!"

I thrust my phone in front of her, my finger tapping on the video.

*Smack!*

"Enough!"

Chloe slapped the phone out of my hand.

Her high heel came down hard, crushing the screen of my phone into pieces. Her eyes were icy. "I don't need to watch it. No matter what the camera shows, Zach didn't mean it."

"Ethan, you didn't use to be this petty. When are you going to stop this?"

I looked up at her, my heart completely turning to stone.

Petty?

If Zach was hurt, Chloe would tear the world apart to get revenge for him. But when it was me, she didn't even want to see the proof.

Zach took a deep breath and suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me. "Ethan, please, I beg you. Don't make things hard for me. Aren't we brothers?"

"I just wanted a family. I just wanted someone to love me. I've been alone for so long."

Victoria's eyes welled with tears as she comforted him, while Chloe pulled Zach back to his feet.

It was laughable.

Victoria and the woman I loved were both shielding him.

What else did Zach want from me?

"My life was so miserable before this. Watching you live in luxury made me hate you. I couldn't help it. It was my fault," Zach sobbed.

"If my existence makes you this unhappy, I'll leave. I'll go back to the gutter and never bother you again."

The last bit of hesitation in Chloe's eyes vanished. Her voice carried no warmth. "Take Ethan and make him experience everything Zach had to go through."

Zach looked up, our eyes meeting.

*Is this what you wanted?*

*Did you almost kill yourself just to put on this show?*

My silence was deafening.

Zach stiffened, quickly looking away.

Our ten years of brotherhood died right then and there.

On that very day, I decided to let go of the two women I had loved most.

...

For the next three days, I was subjected to Chloe's version of "penance."

I was dragged to a shoe factory, forced to squat in front of mountains of foul-smelling leather, polishing shoe after shoe until I felt like vomiting, but I wasn't allowed to stop.

On the second day, her bodyguards took me to a convenience store in the slums.

I was forced to stock shelves and work the register for over sixteen hours straight. My legs swelled so badly that every step felt like dragging lead blocks.

The moment I sat down to rest for a minute, Chloe's cold calls and Victoria's screaming texts would flood my screen.

By the third day, my legs were so swollen I couldn't even stand.

The injury in my lower abdomen had flared up, throbbing with a sickening heat.

Only then did Chloe order them to stop. She had me thrown into the slums, into the dilapidated apartment where Zach used to live.

I thought it would be a decent place.

Instead, it was a damp, moldy, rat-infested basement.

Zach really hated me.

But when he was struggling, I was the one who skipped meals to save money from my strict allowance to help him pay rent.

I was the one who used my first business profit to pay off his student loans and fund his first startup.

The room was tiny, the walls peeling, the air thick with mildew.

The betrayal cut deeper than any physical wound.

Back then, during summer break, I was worried Zach wouldn't have money, so I hired him as Chloe's assistant, paying him three thousand dollars a day.

I made up business trips just so Chloe and I could take him to travel all over Europe with us.

And this was how he repaid me.

I wiped the sweat and tears from my face.

My SnapChat buzzed with a friend request.

*"Hi Ethan. I'm Beatrice. I'm your biological mother."*

A lump formed in my throat. I typed a long message.

*Why did you take so long? How did they mix us up? Why...*

But before I could hit send, a deafening roar shook the building.

I looked out the window. A massive demolition excavator was tearing down the building next door, and it was heading straight for my unit.

The walls began to crack, and dust rained down.

Without thinking, I quickly sent my location to Beatrice.

*"Come get me."*

As the excavator's metal claw reached the window, my phone rang. It was Chloe.

I tried to scramble out of the window, accidentally hitting accept on her call.

"Ethan, everything is settled. I talked to Victoria. You can stay in the family."

"Zach and his kid won't threaten your position. Just be good, and I'll come pick you up."

"Ethan? Hello?... "

I didn't hesitate. I jumped out of the second-story window.

My phone slipped from my grip, the screen still showing the active call as it smashed onto the concrete