Chapter 1

I did not like Thanksgiving, and I never wanted to go home for it.

However, my mother called me crying and lied that she had late-stage cancer, insisting that I make a trip home.

Over dinner, she criticized me like there was no tomorrow. “I wouldn’t even get to see you if I didn’t tell you I was lying! It’s been years since you came home. Do you still consider us your family?”

Ethan Cole looked up lazily from his food. The smirk on his lips made my hair stand on end.

“I bet you did something so terrible that you can’t even face us anymore. Am I right?” he said purposely, his voice laced with insinuations.

Everyone knew we did not get along. We became stepsiblings after my mother’s remarriage.

At her wedding, Ethan had cut up my dress to embarrass me. His father punished him harshly for it, but that did not stop him. In fact, it only made things worse.

Whenever the adults’ backs were turned, he would torture me with pranks, mockery, and taunting. He had a tight grip on my weaknesses.

I was too weak to fight back. Besides, it was not easy for my mother to marry a man with a good income, so I did not want to disrupt her marriage.

I tolerated everything. For years, I lived in this house, walking on eggshells the entire time.

It was only after a certain… incident that I dared to defy Ethan.

“Shut up,” I said coolly. “Don’t ruin everyone’s appetites.”

I did not care about protecting his pride anymore.

My stepfather shot Ethan a warning look. “Would it kill you to shut your mouth for once?”

Credit where it was due, my mother was unreliable, bad at finances, and sometimes infuriatingly naive… but she was beautiful. Furthermore, she had a good eye for men who loved her deeply.

My biological father and my current stepfather were both good men — steady breadwinners, loyal, and gentle.

The atmosphere at the dinner table turned tense until Ethan’s girlfriend, Chloe, broke the silence with a sickly sweet smile.

“Come on, don’t be like that! Ethan, you’re always thinking of Summer. You even said her name in your sleep that time.”

Chloe winked at me. “Aren’t all siblings like that? You fight and tease each other, but after going through so much together, you’re closer than anyone else.”

My mother immediately clasped Chloe’s hand with genuine affection. “We’re really happy for you two! I can’t wait to attend your engagement party.”

Chloe lowered her head shyly. “Thank you, Mrs. Cole.”

However, Ethan rained on their parade. “We can talk about the engagement later. I’m flying to Hudson City to discuss a new project.”

My mother did not protest. She never held much authority in the family.

After that, she turned the topic back to me. “But Summer, you’re not getting any younger either. You’ve never had a proper relationship, right? When do you plan to settle down?”

Chloe’s gaze turned cold. She cut a small piece of cake and put it on my plate with a saccharine smile. “We were from the same college, right? I heard you had a first love you could never forget.”

“Summer! You had a boyfriend? Why didn’t you tell me?” my mother cried.

Chloe leaned in and whispered as though we were best friends. “Come on, don’t be so shy! It’s been forever. Can’t you tell us?”

“There’s nothing to say.” I lowered my head and took a bite of the cake, my voice barely audible… because I could not bear to say it.

My first love, the boy I had poured all my heart into…

Was none other than the man she was desperate to marry.

That was right. It was my stepbrother, Ethan.