Chapter 1

My sister, Andrea Rainier, had just come home with my ashes in her arms when Renee Austin kicked the door open.

She had swept her gaze across the empty room. Her voice was cold. “Where is Cameron? Tell him to get out here.”

Andrea shrank into the corner and held the box in her arms even tighter.

She smiled at Renee. “Cameron’s right here.”

Renee’s brow furrowed tightly.

Her eyes landed on the cheap wooden box, then shifted to Andrea’s innocent face.

She let out an impatient scoff and reached out to snatch it away.

“You idiot. Where’s he hiding? Did he make you hold this stupid box to mess with me?”

Andrea guarded the urn with all her strength. Tears were welling in her eyes.

“Cameron is right here. He is inside. Be gentle. You might hurt him.”

Renee looked as though she had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

She knocked Andrea’s hands away.

The wooden box hit the floor. Ashes scattered everywhere.

“Right. Does a menace like Cameron even know pain? When he set up Jacob, why didn’t he think about how much it would hurt him? Stop pretending to be crazy and tell him to come out.”

Andrea froze.

She stared blankly at the ashes on the floor.

Several seconds passed.

Then, she suddenly threw herself down and started gathering the ashes with her bare hands.

“Cameron, it’s okay. I’ll protect you.”

As she looked at Andrea’s filthy hands and tear-streaked face, the last bit of patience in Renee’s eyes vanished.

“Go on. Keep acting. An idiot and a vicious demon. You two really are family.”

She sneered and tipped her chin at the bodyguards.

“Search the place. Drag him out. He actually had the nerve to fake his death to trick me? I’ll make him kneel in front of Jacob and apologize.”

The bodyguards moved at once.

Furniture was shoved over roughly, and dishes shattered.

The house was thrown into chaos.

Andrea screamed in terror and tried to stop them, but they pushed her aside easily.

All she could do was curl up beside the ashes, trying to shield me with her tiny body.

I clenched my jaw and rushed up to Renee.

“I’m dead. You got what you wanted. Why won’t you leave me alone?”

She did not even glance at me.

I stared blankly at my hand in the air. My whole body froze in place.

That was right. I was already dead.

The bodyguards did not find me.

Renee’s fury reached its peak.

She walked up to Andrea and stared down at her.

“Where is your brother?”

Andrea sobbed as she took something from her arms and carefully held it out.

“Cameron’s locket. You can have it. Please don’t hit Cameron.”

It was the locket Renee had fastened around my neck herself all those years ago.

I had worn it from the day I came of age and had never taken it off.

At this moment, covered in dust, it lay in Andrea’s dirty palm.

Renee narrowed her eyes. She snatched it away.

As she stared at the locket, her chest heaved.

A second later, she hurled it to the floor with brutal force.

The locket shattered on impact. Pieces flew everywhere.

“He was even willing to use this for his little act. Looks like he really went all out.”

Her voice was hoarse. It was hard to tell whether it came from rage or something else.

“No. Cameron’s dead. Cameron’s gone.”

Andrea crawled over and tried to piece the locket back together.

Renee’s gaze locked onto Andrea’s face.

“She’s still talking nonsense. Lock her in the basement. As long as Cameron doesn’t show up, she doesn’t get to eat. I’d like to see how long he can keep hiding.”

The bodyguards grabbed Andrea, who was crying so hard she could barely breathe, and threw her into the basement.

Andrea lay on the floor. For a long while, she could not get back up.

I walked over and took a look. My eyes turned wet instantly.

To get my ashes back, Andrea had gone to beg the people at the underground casino.

Of course, those people would not have let her take them away without paying a price.

For three whole days and nights, when she finally walked out of that place, her legs had been trembling.

However, she had not cried. She had simply smiled and held my ashes close.

She had said, “Cameron, I’ll protect you from now on.”

At this moment, as I watched her open her palm, I saw that the broken pieces of the locket had cut into her hand.

She only smiled.

“It’s Cameron’s favorite locket. I’ll give it to Cameron when he comes back.”

She was shivering from the cold, but she still tucked the locket pieces inside her shirt and held them against her chest.

I could not hold it in any longer. I broke down and sobbed.

After our parents died in a car crash when I was eighteen, the trauma had frozen Andrea’s intelligence forever at the age of eight.

We had only each other.

I never imagined she would go this far for me.

I looked at Andrea.

I did not want anything anymore.

I only wanted my little sister to live.