Chapter 2

"She hurt you back then, but now she's the one who brought you back. Call it even."

"From now on, nobody brings up what happened three years ago."

"And don't keep holding it over her, forcing her to live her whole life in guilt."

I kept my eyes lowered and said nothing.

My sister's eyes rimmed red in an instant.

She bit her lip, watching me warily.

"Bev, you still haven't forgiven me, have you?"

"If seeing me makes you miserable, then I'll leave today."

"I'll never come back again. You'll never have to see my face."

She turned as if to go.

Mom panicked at once and grabbed her.

"What nonsense is this!"

Dad's eyes snapped to me too, his brow furrowing.

"Beverly Fox, back then we were afraid that seeing her would remind you of what happened, so we drove her out of the house for three whole years."

"She had a home she couldn't return to. She endured three years out there all alone. That's suffering enough."

"You're all better now. What's left that can't be put behind us?"

Mom gripped Hilary Fox's hand tightly and pressed:

"Hurry up and tell your sister you don't blame her anymore."

Something inside my chest was being crushed, bit by bit.

I suddenly thought back to three years ago.

The night they threw my adopted sister out of the house, Mom held me and cried until dawn.

She said:

"I only kept her back then so you'd have a companion. I never imagined I'd be raising an ungrateful snake that would destroy my own flesh and blood."

"Beverly, I will never forgive her as long as I live."

Dad locked every kitchen knife away in a cabinet, and he said too:

"Dad needs you to live well. I swear I will never let you be hurt again as long as I live."

So a whole lifetime turned out to be only three years.

I lifted my head slowly.

Hilary stood there, eyes red, waiting for my answer.

Mom and Dad watched me too, tense.

As if the moment I refused to speak, this family could never truly be whole again.

I looked at them for a long time.

In the end, I dragged the corners of my mouth into a numb curve.

"Fine. I forgive you."

Hilary's tears spilled over at once.

Mom pulled her straight into her arms.

"I knew it!"

"You two are sisters, after all. What hurdle could ever be too big for that?"

Dad finally smiled too.

"That's more like it."

"From now on, our family starts fresh."

Our family.

I bowed my head, looking at the bruises still fading on my wrist, and said nothing.

Mom had already flung the closet open, delighted.

"Oh, that's right, today happens to be your sister's birthday."

"We were worried you weren't doing well, so we didn't dare tell you."

She picked out a dress and handed it to me, her tone light and breezy, as if nothing at all had just happened.

"Everything's fine now."

"Go get yourself ready."

"Tonight we'll all go celebrate your sister's birthday."

My whole body went rigid.

The color drained clean from my face.

Three years ago, the thing that destroyed my entire life was also a birthday party.

Back then, I'd only just been reunited with my parents.

After years lost and apart, I'd finally made it back to my birth parents. I'd gotten into my dream university, won a full-ride scholarship, and I even had a brilliant, top-of-his-class boyfriend that everyone envied.

I truly believed my life was only just beginning.

But the night of my sister's birthday, she secretly arranged to meet a man at a hotel, someone she'd been online dating for months, keeping it from everyone.

And the whole time she'd been talking to him online, she'd been using my photos.

The moment that man showed up, he was certain I was the one he'd been chatting with for months.

He dragged me into a room by force.

By the time everyone found me, all they saw was a wrecked, ravaged room, and me, broken and undone.