Chapter 3

My brothers spent less and less time with me. However, Sophia’s name came up more and more often in their conversations.

Little by little, all their love and attention shifted to her.

They bought her a small apartment near the company and took turns visiting her every day.

No matter how busy Damon was, the moment Sophia called, he would drop everything to go to her.

Matt flew overseas just to pick out a sapphire to be set in a crown for her birthday.

Chris booked out an entire amusement park to fulfill her childhood dream of being a princess.

My brothers said, “Sophia’s had such a hard life. We want her to experience what it’s like to be a princess.”

However, when Damon got a call from Sophia, I had just collapsed at the villa.

The butler was trying to tell him about my condition, but he didn’t even react. Instead, he snapped impatiently.

“If she’s not feeling well, take her to the hospital! I’m not a doctor. What do you want me to do? Sophia’s scared because of a nightmare. I’m going to be with her.”

He used to drop everything if I so much as had a headache.

When Matt was preparing Sophia’s birthday gift, he forgot that the day before hers was my birthday.

I called him, only for him to say, “You’ve always had big birthday parties. Skipping one year won’t matter. Sophia’s never had a birthday party. We want to make this one special for her.”

Though he had once told me, “Ava is our princess. Every birthday celebration is a tribute to her growing up.”

Chris once promised he’d rent an amusement park for my eighteenth birthday. However, after our parents passed, that promise was never fulfilled.

Yet, he’d done it for someone else.

The first time my brothers brought Sophia to the villa, I was lying weakly in bed, suffering the aftereffects of saving them. The maid was helping me take my medicine.

Sophia looked at me strangely and said to my brothers, “Rich girls really live differently. Like princesses, just lying there with people waiting on them. When I was sick, I still had to work to support myself.”

There was a flash of embarrassment on my brothers’ faces. After she left, they dismissed most of the housekeepers and caretakers, even the nutritionist who managed my health.

“Sophia’s right, Ava. You’re too spoiled. You’re not even seriously ill. You lie around all day and let people serve you.”

“Exactly. You’re grown up now. You need to start taking care of yourself and stop relying on others so much. Learn from Sophia. Look at how independent and capable she is.”

So, I was forced to clean my room, do household chores, and even cook clumsily on my own.

My soft hands blistered from the hot oil, but not one of them showed me any sympathy.

Chris frowned in disgust.

“Sophia was already cooking by the time she was six. You’re twenty-three and you’ve never stepped into a kitchen.”

Matt gave me a scornful look. “No wonder Sophia says you’re spoiled. We really did coddle you too much.”

Their attitudes grew colder by the day. They even forced me to be independent, like Sophia.

However, ever since that surgery, my body’s been incredibly weak. I couldn’t handle heavy labor.

I worked myself to the point of coughing blood, yet Damon would just cover his nose in disgust and say, “Where’d you even get that blood? You’re going all out just to fake illness, aren’t you? Is it because we’re close to Sophia? You hate her that much that you’ll compete over everything?”

Matt didn’t even look at me, busy texting Sophia.

“No wonder she said you’re manipulative. If she hadn’t exposed you, we’d still be fooled by your act.”

Chris outright locked me in my room.

“Stop pretending. Why can’t you be more like Sophia? If you were half as good as her, we wouldn’t hate you this much. Reflect on yourself. Don’t come out until you’ve figured it out!”

But, without part of my liver, I can’t overexert myself. Without a kidney, I have to eat carefully. Living with a mechanical heart, I’ll be sickly for life. I’d never be like Sophia!

I had tried so hard just to stay alive. Damon, Matt, Chris, can’t you stop hating me?