Chapter 1

I pressed a hand to my bleeding forehead and stared at the ER doctor standing beside my bed.

"Matthew Gould deliberately shoved me down the stairs from the second floor. That's attempted murder," I said coldly.

The nurse gasped. The doctor frowned deeply and immediately reached for his phone.

"Don't worry, kid. If this was an intentional assault, hospital policy requires us to report it to the police."

Before he could make the call, the door burst open.

My mom, Roslyn Gould, and my dad, Benson Sutton, rushed in, both out of breath.

Roslyn quickly grabbed the doctor's hand, her usually immaculate bun coming loose.

"It's a misunderstanding! Doctor, this is all a misunderstanding!" she blurted out. "They're just kids. They had a little disagreement, and he lost his footing. There's no need to involve the police."

Benson quickly forced a polished, easygoing smile and grabbed the doctor's lab coat. "That's right, Doctor. They're brothers. They bicker from time to time. How could it possibly be as serious as murder?"

He lowered his voice and added, "We'd rather not air our family's dirty laundry in public. There's no need to trouble the police."

I stared coldly at my so-called biological parents.

That morning, just as I was getting ready for school, their adopted son, Matthew Gould, had come up behind me without warning and kicked me hard. That sent me tumbling down the stairs from the second floor.

Now I was lying in a hospital bed with my head covered in blood, and all they cared about was shutting me up and sweeping the whole thing under the rug.

Benson turned to me. As he looked at my bloodied face, there wasn't a trace of concern in his eyes—only worry over Matthew's reputation. He strode to my bed and scolded me in a low voice.

"Aaron, why are you being so unreasonable? Matthew just has a hot temper, but he definitely didn't do it on purpose. You've only just come home. Do you really want to tear this family apart and send your own brother to prison?"

Roslyn drew herself up with the full authority of the head of the family, her tone stern.

"Enough! This ends here. You were hurt, and I'll make it up to you, but calling the police is out of the question! Don't you care about the Gould family's reputation at all? Matthew still has to make his way in our circles. If he ends up with a criminal record, it'll ruin his life."

"If his life gets ruined, what about mine?" I shot back coldly, pointing at the gash on my forehead that cut down to the bone. "If those stairs had been any higher today, or if I'd landed headfirst, you'd be standing in the morgue lecturing my corpse about the Gould family's reputation."