Chapter 2

2

She knows Jake's the one who can get things done.

His method is simple and brutal.

He just called me and said, "Name your price. How much do you want for it?"

"Fifty million dollars. You think you can swing that?"

There was silence on the other end. Then he hung up.

The next day, I got a message from the design association that I was disqualified from the competition.

Like a bucket of ice water dumped on my head.

I was completely numb.

Three months of work, sacrificing sleep, stressing over every detail.

It was all just worthless now.

Jake did this because he hates me.

When I was seven, Dad took me and Lily back to his hometown for the summer. There was a huge flood, and Dad saved me. But when he went back for Lily, he never came back up.

Ever since, they've blamed me for not taking care of Lily, for killing two people at once.

"Why are you still alive, but Dad and Lily are gone?"

"Why couldn't it have been you?"

These words played in a loop in my head.

Every time they felt like a blade through my heart.

In eighth grade, my stepdad moved in with Lily.

Lily had a way about her, just like my little sister. Mom and Jake showered her with all the love they had for my sister.

Turns out, Lily's got anemia and a rare blood type: O negative.

And guess what? So do I.

Mom declared that as long as Lily was healthy, she could have as much of my blood as she needed.

At first, I actually wanted to help Lily.

Ever since the accident with my dad and sister, Mom and Jake were cold to me.

But when I donated blood, they'd buy me milk, bread, chocolate.

Over time, as my blood donations increased, they got used to it, started to think it was my duty, like I was repaying some kind of debt.

In my junior year, Lily needed blood. I got hit by a car on my way to the hospital. I limped into the hospital half an hour late.

The moment I walked in, Mom went ballistic, yelling and hitting me.

My stepdad had to pull her off.

"Stop! We need to get her blood into Lily."

From that day on, I knew. My sole purpose was that my blood was useful to Lily.

Lily was savvy, too. She saw how Mom and Jake treated me, and figured I had no status in the house. I was a nobody.

My blood belonged to her.

Everything I had was hers.

Anything she wanted, I had to give.

Otherwise, she'd start crying, gasping for air.

And I'd get a slap and a mouthful of hateful words.

"Are you that evil? Don't you want this family to be happy? Have you not hurt us enough?""

"Your dad never should have saved you."

It was suffocating. My home was a cage, and I was trapped.