Chapter 3

The temperature in the basement dropped fast.

Winter nights were already freezing, and without heat, the basement quickly turned into an icebox.

I drifted back downstairs and looked at my body.

The blood had dried almost black, and my skin had turned gray.

Several cockroaches crawled out of a crack in the wall and across my face.

I tried to brush them away, but I couldn't touch anything.

Upstairs, laughter filled the house.

Arthur opened a vintage bottle of red wine he had saved for years to celebrate Christmas.

Lillian raised her glass and smiled shyly.

"Dad, Mom, Edward, here's to our family always being happy."

Family?

Right. They're the real family.

I'm just the extra one.

After several glasses of wine, Lillian suddenly set hers down and looked away.

"Mom, there's something I've always wanted."

Katherine set down her fork and looked at her lovingly.

"What do you want, Lillian? I'd give you the stars if I could."

Lillian bit her lip and said quietly, "I've had my eye on Chloe's diamond bracelet. It belonged to Grandma, and I've always loved it. But Chloe said Grandma left it to her and that she'd rather die than give it to me."

Katherine's expression darkened.

"What right does she have to keep that bracelet all to herself?"

Edward stood, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Wait here, Lillian. I'll get it for you. Everything Chloe has comes from us anyway."

I watched Edward stride upstairs toward my room, a bitter laugh rising inside me.

Grandma had placed that diamond bracelet on my wrist with her own hands just before she died.

Now Edward was going to take it from me just to please another woman.

Edward kicked my door open.

My room was almost empty. There was only a bed, a closet, and nothing else.

He yanked open the drawers and searched through everything.

At last, he found the bracelet in a box at the bottom of a drawer.

Then he found another velvet box.

It was the birthday present I had planned to give him the following month.

The cufflinks inside had cost me almost all my savings.

When I bought them, I still imagined Edward smiling at me like he used to, praising the gift before pulling me into a kiss.

I watched Edward open the box, and a tiny spark of hope stirred inside me.

He glanced at the cufflinks, then tossed the box into the trash.

"You expect me to wear this cheap trash?"

My heart would have broken if it could still beat.

I had paid for them with money I earned from working while I was still in school. After Lillian came home, my parents stopped giving me an allowance. I worked two part-time jobs until I'd saved 2,000 dollars, all because I wanted to see Edward smile at me again.

Now he threw them away like garbage.

Edward took the bracelet downstairs and fastened it around Lillian's wrist himself.

"It's beautiful. This bracelet should have been yours all along."

Lillian stroked the bracelet, her face lighting up.

"Thank you, Edward. I love it."

Katherine watched and nodded, satisfied.

"Amy, go check if that ungrateful girl in the basement has admitted she was wrong. If she's willing to beg Lillian for forgiveness, we'll let it go."