Chapter 1

My mother, a judge, wanted her intern-lawyer son to get his footing in the profession. So in the murder trial where I stood falsely accused, she threw fairness out the window and ruled in favor of the plaintiff's attorney: her own younger son.

I begged her to be impartial. It was my last chance to clear my name.

But she only snapped at me impatiently. "Your brother's just starting out. What's the harm in helping him? It's not a death sentence. A few years in prison won't kill you!"

Later, when the victim's furious family stabbed me to death in the street, my mother lost her mind overnight.

Chapter 1

After the victim's family stabbed me to death, some strange force seemed to pull my spirit straight to my mother's side.

My mother, Tricia Sullivan, was busy putting the finishing touches on a celebration dinner for her younger son, the intern lawyer Miles West, who had just been made a full associate. She hurried back and forth, making sure the staff got every last detail right.

All for a single job offer. She had booked the finest banquet hall in the city and invited every friend and relative she had, sparing no expense to make sure Miles looked good in front of everyone.

It was exactly the kind of celebration I had once hoped for when I got into a top university. All I had gotten instead was a brief two lines from her. "Well, at least the money I spent raising you wasn't wasted. Once you're successful, don't forget to pay me back."

Watching the party unfold, I could not help but envy him. My mother would never guess that Miles owed everything he had today to my death.

The dinner had barely started when her phone rang. She hung up on the unfamiliar number, again and again, until she finally lost patience and answered. "Can you scammers stop bothering me? I'm busy right now!"

There was a pause on the other end before a voice answered, "Is this Scott Durham's mother?"

Hearing my name, she froze for a second, then snapped, "What is it? Do you know that bastard?"

Once the caller had confirmation, he hurried to explain. "Ms. Sullivan, please don't misunderstand. I'm a doctor at the hospital. Scott Durham has passed away. His body is here with us, and we need you to come identify it."

She scoffed. "Is he paying you to call and lie to me because he's still sulking? Next time, tell him to come up with a better excuse. And don't waste my time with this."

The doctor sounded confused, but he kept his patience. "Ms. Sullivan, I understand this is hard to accept. We're very sorry for your loss. Your son was killed. We need your cooperation to proceed with the autopsy."

Out of patience now, she snapped, "He's in prison right now. How could he possibly be murdered? Don't feed me such a ridiculous story."

The doctor tried to say something else, but she cut him off. "If he wants to die, let him die. Today's his brother's big day, and I don't want to waste my temper on you people. Don't ruin my mood."

Then she hung up.

I had always known my mother did not love me, but I had never once lied to her face, let alone tried to scare her with some petty trick. I never imagined she would think I would fake my own death just to mess with her.

I could not help but think back on every little thing I had done, trying to earn her love. Looking at it now, all of it felt like a cruel joke.

Chapter 2

My mother's hatred of me was not without a reason. After she gave birth to me, my father disappeared without a word.

Half a year later, he came back with divorce papers in hand and admitted he had already found someone else.

My mother, still recovering physically from the birth, sank into postpartum depression and once even thought about ending her life.

Every time she looked at my face, so much like his, it dragged her back through all that pain. From the moment I was born, what she felt for me was mostly disgust, and I never once knew what a mother's love felt like.

If Miles's father had not come into her life and pulled her out of that darkness, she probably would not be alive today.

A few years later, she had Miles, and she cherished him like a treasure. My presence only made me feel more like a burden.

If she had not held onto some last thread of pity, she probably would have dumped me on the street a long time ago.

Over the years, I tried to make myself as invisible as possible at home, so I would not disturb the happiness of their little family of three. I was terrified of actually being thrown out.

But what child in this world does not want their mother's love?

For years, I did everything I could to be good and obedient. I stayed at the top of my class, doted on Miles like a proper older brother, and never fought him for anything. Whatever he wanted, I gave up to him without question.

After every meal, I cleared the table and washed the dishes. Every night after finishing my homework, I helped my mother with the housework, doing laundry and mopping floors. Even on weekends, while other kids played outside, I sat quietly at home reading, waiting for whatever she needed from me.

I thought that if I kept this up, she would slowly come to accept me, maybe even love me.

I was wrong.

For as long as I could remember, the thing she said to me most often was, "You're just like your father, always putting on an act. God knows what kind of rot you're hiding under that pretty face."

Little by little, Miles seemed to catch on that our mother disliked me, and he found every way he could to make my life harder.

I did not want to upset her, so I put up with him. But my patience never earned me any mercy. It only made him bolder.

He would tell the kids at school I was some bastard nobody's child, so no one would play with me. Sometimes he would wait until I fell asleep, then tear up my homework, just so I would get punished by the teacher the next day. He even lied to our mother and told her I was the one bullying him.

Every time she got angry and hit me for it, he would duck behind her and shoot me a smug little look, as if to say she would only ever love one son in this life, and I was nothing but the backdrop to make him shine.

Before long, petty tricks were not enough for Miles anymore.

He went to my stepfather and told him I resented him for stealing our mother's love, and that I had deliberately hit him, when the truth was he had hurt himself falling off his bike.

That was enough to turn my once-tolerant stepfather against me too. He would point in my face and snap, "The rot runs in the family, doesn't it?" and threaten to send me to an orphanage if I ever laid a hand on his son again.

I tried to explain everything to my mother once. She did not just refuse to believe me. She accused me of slandering Miles.

I got down on my knees and begged her to believe me, but she just kicked me down. "Scott, don't push your luck. Isn't it enough that you get food and a roof over your head? Don't you know you're an outsider in this house?

"If I'd known you'd cause me this much trouble, I never should have brought a curse like you into this world."

After that, knowing my place as an outsider, I never dared say much of anything again. I just wanted to grow up as fast as I could.

What I never expected was that even after I grew up, I still could not escape Miles's clutches.

Chapter 3

A month earlier, I had been falsely accused of involvement in a murder and thrown in a holding cell while the police investigated.

Frantic, I called my mother, a judge, hoping she could clear my name and prove my innocence.

She brushed me off. "Let the police handle the truth. What good would it do to call me?"

In the month I waited for the trial, she never once came to visit.

Then, the night before the hearing, a guard told me she had come to see me. I was thrilled, thinking she had finally started to care.

When I saw her, she was holding a container of food she had made just for me. "Scott, you've had it rough in here, haven't you? Look how thin you've gotten."

I had not expected to ever taste her cooking again, and I could not help but cry.

Her expression turned strange. After a long hesitation, she said carefully, "Scott, the lawyer representing the plaintiff this time is your brother."

I froze. "Mom, what are you trying to say?"

She lowered her voice, looking uneasy. "Miles's still an intern. If he can win this case, he'll finally have a real foothold in the profession.

"And I've already looked into it. You'd only be charged as an accessory. It wouldn't be a long sentence."

My fork froze in midair, my mouth still full of the food she had brought. The silence that followed was suffocating.

She dropped her gaze, looking a little guilty. "Just do this for your brother, as a favor to me. Can you do that?"

I could not understand it. She had spent her whole career upholding the law, clearing wrongful convictions for strangers, yet here she was, ready to throw the law out the window the moment it was her own son on trial.

I usually went along with whatever she wanted, no matter what. But this was my innocence on the line, and I was not willing to bend on that.

I clenched the hem of my shirt. "Mom, is Miles the only son you've ever cared about? Are you really willing to sacrifice me for him? You have the power to prove I'm innocent. This is my whole future we're talking about."

Her patience vanished. "What innocence? You did this. All I'm asking is for you to confess and help your brother out while you're at it. If you won't, then forget it."

She snatched the bowl and fork out of my hands. "I'm the judge presiding over tomorrow's hearing. I came here to tell you how it's going to be, not to ask your permission. This isn't up for discussion."

Then she turned and walked out, leaving me sitting there alone, not knowing what to do.

I had never once talked back to her, not since I was a child. If she told me to go east, I never dared go west.

Maybe in her world, that was simply how things worked. Sacrificing myself for Miles was just something I was supposed to do. The one time I refused was the one time I became the problem.

She could never have imagined that her decision would not just cost me my innocence. It would cost me my life.