Chapter 1

I was Mom's favorite. The one she spoiled rotten.

On her deathbed, she lay propped up against the hospital pillows, surrounded by my older sister, my brother, and a room full of relatives. With trembling hands, she pressed a bank card into mine.

"Quinn, you're the one I worry about most. There's a million dollars in this account — everything your father and I saved over a lifetime. I'm leaving it all to you."

I stared at that card, my face drained of color. I couldn't bring myself to take it. It felt less like a gift and more like a death sentence.

The next second, in front of everyone, I slapped her hand away.

"Drop the act," I said, my voice cold with disgust. "You think I want anything from you?"

"You hand me an empty card and expect me to fall for it? Save the performance."

The card hit the floor.

Mom scrambled, dragging her frail body to the edge of the bed, reaching down to pick it up. She dusted it off, blowing on it like it was something precious, then looked up at me with frightened eyes.

"Quinn, what's wrong with you?"

"Is it not enough? Honey, this is everything I have. Please don't be angry with me…"

My brother Liam was the first to snap. He crossed the room in two steps and slapped me across the face.

"Quinn! Have you lost your mind?!"

"That's our mother. She has given you everything since the day you were born — treated you like you were made of glass. Grace and I together don't add up to half the love she's shown you. And this is how you repay her?"

From across the room, my sister Grace stood with her arms crossed, watching with a cold smile.

"Quinn, don't play the victim when you're the one who won."

"Everyone in this family knows Mom's world revolves around you. Every time she came to visit me, she'd leave with something — my son's school supplies, my husband's briefcase, my jewelry. And she'd bring it all straight to you, like some kind of offering." She rolled her eyes. "She wants to give you the money? Fine. Take it. I'm not going to fight over it."

"Honestly, after all these years of watching her play favorites, I'm used to it."

I stared at Grace's sneering face.

She wasn't wrong.

Every time Mom visited Grace's place, she'd find something — an expensive pen set, a designer bag, a gold necklace — and carry it back to me like a prize. Grace never talked back to our parents, so she just swallowed the resentment and aimed it at me, greeting me with barely concealed hostility every time we were in the same room.

I kept my expression flat.

"Fine," I said. "If you all think it's such a valuable gift, then you can have it. I don't want it."

Grace looked up, surprised.

Liam's throat moved. He watched me carefully. "Quinn, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Before I could answer, Mom grabbed my sleeve.

She tilted her head back, tears streaming down her face.

"Quinn… do you not love me anymore?"

"Please don't push me away. I don't have much time left. Don't do this to me…"

She was crying so hard, this frail old woman working herself into a state over me, and the whole room shifted. Nobody could watch it without feeling something.

"Quinn." Aunt Patricia had reached her limit. "Today I'm going to say what needs to be said — for your mother's sake."

"When you were three years old, your mother went out to run errands and left Liam home to watch you. He ran off to play, and you fell. You could have been seriously hurt. Not a scratch on you — but when your mother came home, she punished Liam so severely that people thought she'd gone too far."

"When you were twelve, your sister got married. The groom's family gave a substantial dowry contribution — over two hundred thousand dollars. Your mother held onto every cent of it. Didn't let Grace take a single dollar back to her new home. Said she was saving it for your future wedding. Grace started her marriage with nothing but a few sets of bedsheets."

"I truly don't understand what got into my sister-in-law. She put that ungrateful child on a pedestal and neglected two perfectly good kids in the process."

The room went quiet after that. Liam exhaled slowly, his jaw tight. Grace's eyes glistened — not quite tears, but close.

Mom sat red-eyed and silent, crying without making a sound.

I let out a short, humorless laugh and looked at her.

"So I'm supposed to thank you for all of that?"