Chapter 1

Today, I watched my younger brother Derek hold up the closing folder for his new condo, tilting its glossy cover until sunlight flashed in my eyes.

Mom stood beside him, beaming at him with a doting smile.

I froze.

When I was little, I never understood why Mom always said she loved us equally when her attention only ever landed on Derek.

Even as adults, I was barely scraping by, but all she could hear was Derek complaining he "couldn't network without a decent place." Without blinking, she set him up in a luxury condo.

It wasn't until this moment that everything finally clicked.

I didn't want to force myself to accept it anymore.

I dug out every transfer receipt from the past few years and slapped them down on the coffee table, one by one.

"Mom, the money for this condo came from what I was paying into the 'family fund,' didn't it?"

"You promised you'd treat us fairly. What is this?"

Mom glanced at the receipts, her brow furrowing in displeasure.

"What are you trying to say? I raised you to be independent and successful, and now you're throwing it back in my face?"

"Besides, you've always been able to take care of yourself. But Derek is different. He's the baby of the family, and he's more sensitive. How is he supposed to feel confident without a decent place of his own?"

"You're his older sister. You're supposed to help him. Isn't that what family is for?"

Derek sat with his legs crossed, toying with the brand-new keys, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Sis, you gave that money to the family willingly. How Mom uses it is up to her. Who are you to say anything?"

"We're family. Why are you being so petty about it? That's just selfish."

The two of them tag-teamed me until I couldn't get a word out.

I glanced at the receipts spread across the table again.

That was sixty thousand dollars I'd saved over three full years of delivering food and washing dishes at restaurants after work.

Even now, there was a solid gold necklace sitting in my purse.

Mom had been dropping hints on the phone for weeks about how badly she needed a nice gold necklace for her neighborhood gatherings.

So I'd quietly spent an entire month's salary on it, planning to surprise her.

But now, there was no point.

I didn't argue. I didn't make a scene. I just turned and walked out the door.

Then I walked into the jewelry store downstairs.

I took the gold necklace out of my purse and had the jeweler reshape it into a gold charm tag for a dog collar.

Back at my apartment, I crouched beside my dog, Lucky, threaded the gold tag onto his old collar, and fastened it around his fluffy neck.

He immediately leaned closer and eagerly licked my palm.

The first time I saw this dog, he was crouched by a dumpster, pawing through someone else's leftovers.

Looking at him, I thought of myself as a kid, eating whatever scraps Derek left behind.

So I brought him home.

"Lucky," I scratched under his chin, "from now on, every penny Mommy has is yours."