Chapter 3

The afternoon they had left, the doorbell rang. A courier stood on the porch with a large envelope in his hand. "Adrian Lockwood?"

"That's me."

"Delivery from a university. I just need your signature."

My hand trembled as I took the pen and signed my name. The moment I closed the door, I leaned back against it and clutched the envelope to my chest.

The tears came before I could stop them.

I'd spent days telling myself that I'd made it in time. That my application had gone through. That Mom, Dad, and Julian hadn't managed to ruin this for me.

But I hadn't truly believed I was safe until now.

With shaking fingers, I carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside.

There it was. The name of the university I'd dreamed of attending. And beneath it, the words I'd been desperate to see.

It read, "Congratulations. We are pleased to offer you admission…"

I read the first line again and again. A laugh escaped through my tears. I'd done it.

I carefully slipped the acceptance letter back into its envelope and tucked it deep inside my backpack, where no one would find it.

Just then, my phone buzzed. A string of messages from Julian appeared on the screen. Three photos, one after another.

In the first two, he was posing on a beach in a pair of expensive new surf shorts, making sure the ocean and resort were perfectly framed behind him.

The last was a photo of him with Mom and Dad at an upscale seafood restaurant, the table covered with food.

Even through the screen, I could practically see the smug look on his face.

The first message read, "The seafood in Bellmere Bay is amazing. Too bad you'll never get to try any."

Another message popped up. "Mom and Dad said they're getting me the newest phone before college starts, too."

Then came one last message. "Have fun cleaning the house, Adrian. I guess some people are just born to serve."

I didn't bother replying. I opened Julian's profile, blocked him, and deleted the conversation. Then I blocked Mom and Dad's numbers too.

After that, I packed what little I owned. A few worn-out clothes, some basic necessities, and the backpack holding my acceptance letter.

There was nothing else in this house I wanted to take with me.

I couldn't stand being there for another second.

But before I left this city for good, there was one last thing I needed to do. And it was the most important thing of all.

After a two-hour bus ride, I finally reached the small country town where Grandma lived. Her house stood near the edge of town, old and weathered, with a vegetable garden stretching along one side of the yard.

I pushed open the creaking gate and stepped inside.

Grandma was sitting on a little folding stool by the garden, her reading glasses perched on her nose as she snapped the ends off a bowl of green beans.

"Grandma."

At the sound of my voice, she looked up. The instant she recognized me, her eyes lit up. "Adrian? Oh, sweetheart! What are you doing here?"

She immediately set the bowl aside and struggled to her feet.

I hurried across the yard before she could come any farther and wrapped my arms tightly around her frail body.

Grandma was the only person in the world who had ever made me feel truly loved.

When Julian and I were babies, Mom and Dad decided that taking care of two children was too much for them. And since Julian had always been the sickly one, he was the child they chose to keep.

I was barely a month old when they sent me away to live with Grandma.

She didn't have much, but she raised me herself, stretching every dollar she had to keep me fed, clothed, and cared for.

For the first five years of my life, she was the one who tucked me into bed at night, held me when I cried, and taught me what it felt like to have a home.

It wasn't until I was old enough to start school that Mom and Dad finally came back for me. Not because they missed me. They were simply afraid of what people would say if everyone found out they'd abandoned one of their twins and left his grandmother to raise him.

So, reluctantly, they took me back to the city.

"You're too thin," Grandma murmured. "Every time I see you, you're thinner than before."

She cupped my face in both hands, her eyes filled with concern. "Have your parents been giving you a hard time again?"

I shook my head. The sudden tightness in my throat made it difficult to speak. Instead, I reached into my backpack and carefully pulled out the acceptance letter.

"Grandma, I got into college. And not just anywhere. I got into one of the best universities in the country."

Grandma went still. She took the letter from me with trembling hands. Reading had never come easily to her, and most of the words on the page meant little to her. But she understood what I had just told her.

"Oh, Adrian…" Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

She wiped at her cheeks, but the tears kept coming as she nodded again and again. "I knew you could do it. I always knew you would. You're going to make something of yourself. And one day, sweetheart, you're going to have a good life of your own."

That afternoon, I sat with Grandma in the yard for a long time. When it was finally time for me to leave, she caught my hand and led me back inside.

She went to an old metal tin tucked away in a cabinet and pulled out a small bundle wrapped carefully in a faded handkerchief.

Then she pressed it into my hands.

Inside was a thick stack of bills in all different denominations. Fives, tens, twenties, even a few crumpled hundreds.

I stared at the money, then immediately tried to give it back. "Grandma, no. I can't take this."

She had saved every dollar herself, little by little, from selling vegetables and produce from her garden.

This wasn't spending money. It was everything she'd managed to put aside for emergencies and for the years ahead.

There was no way I could take it from her.

Grandma closed my fingers around the money and refused to let me give it back. "Take it. You're going away on your own. You need to have some money with you.

"I know your parents. They're not going to give you a cent for college if they can help it. I wish I could give you more, but this is all I've managed to save. Five thousand. Use it for tuition, books, whatever you need.

"And when you get to the city, you study hard. Build a life for yourself."

That broke me. The tears I'd been fighting spilled down my face, and I dropped to my knees beside her. I held both of her weathered hands tightly in mine.

"Grandma, I promise I'll work hard. And someday, when I'm making enough money, I'm coming back for you. I'll get you a nice place in the city, and you won't have to work another day."

Grandma reached down and stroked my hair, her own eyes wet with tears. I hugged her tightly one last time before I left.

From there, I went straight to the airport.