Chapter 3

3.

It all came to a head on my eighteenth birthday.

Tessa fell down the grand staircase.

I reached out to help her, but she turned it into an assault.

She sat on the floor, looking up at me with a face full of tears.

Her voice wasn't loud, but in the sudden silence of the party, it was crystal clear.

"Addy… why did you push me? Did I… do something wrong again?"

My brain went numb.

"I didn't!" My voice shook as I saw my parents and Caleb rushing over.

"Dad, Mom, I didn't touch her! She fell on her own!"

Tessa's tears fell in perfect rows. Her voice was weak but distinct.

"I'm sorry… Addy, I know you hate me because Mom and Dad love me… I shouldn't have come here and taken what's yours…"

She started sobbing uncontrollably.

"I miss my real mom… Just let me leave. I don't want to make Addy any angrier."

"Addison! How could you!"

My mother scooped Tessa up, pressing a hand to a small cut on Tessa's forehead. She glared at me.

"Look at what you've done to her! And you're still lying!"

"Mom! Believe me for once!" I cried, reaching for her. "She did it to herself!"

"Enough!"

My father's face was livid.

"Because of a little jealousy, you'd do this to your sister? You're vicious, Addison!"

Caleb stepped forward and shoved me aside, his eyes cold.

"Addison, have you had enough? Look at the occasion. You don't deserve to be her sister!"

The guests were silent, their stares like needles.

I was alone, freezing in my own home.

That's when Xavier stepped to my side and took my hand.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sterling," he said, his voice steady and powerful. "I believe Addy."

Tessa's sobbing hitched for a second.

My father's eyes narrowed. My mother's hand stopped moving.

I looked at him, tears blurring my vision.

Back then, he was the only one who believed me.

That was the moment something inside me died.

After that, I became a ghost. I buried myself in my studies, building a wall between me and the rest of them.

I thought if I got into a good college far away, everything would be okay.

I never imagined that even my escape―the one thing I worked my soul off for―would be stolen.

They took my future just to make Tessa feel better.

And even Xavier, the man I trusted most, stood with them, telling me to be sensible.