Chapter 3

The girl's long hair covered most of her face. What little I could see was smeared with blood and covered in wounds.

Yale struggled with all his strength, but after a single glance, he squeezed his eyes shut.

"I'm not looking! She's already dead. What's the point?"

So he did know how to be afraid.

Yet he was also the one who had done this to her.

This was the precious boy the entire Morgan family had spoiled rotten, someone who could take a life and still act like it meant nothing.

Mom lost it. She slapped me twice across the face, then pulled Yale behind her and shielded him with her body.

"Nora Shaw, you've gone too far! Your sister is already dead, and I'm her mother. Even I'm not making a scene, so why are you standing here tormenting your cousin?

"If you love your sister that much, why don't you die in her place?"

Laura stepped forward as well. The two of them stood on either side of Yale, keeping him firmly behind them as they watched me warily.

I'd already realized in my previous life that Mom didn't resent us just because we were daughters instead of the sons she'd wanted.

It was because Sophie and I were Shaws, while she was a Morgan.

It didn't matter that we had her blood in our veins or that she'd given birth to us herself. As long as our last name was Shaw, we would always be outsiders in her eyes.

We could never come before the Morgan family she had been born into.

Disappointed beyond words, I turned away with my phone in hand.

I still didn't know who the girl in the car was. I needed to get to the interview site without them knowing and make sure Sophie was safe.

The moment Laura realized I was leaving, her eyes widened.

"Don't let her go! She'll ruin everything!"

Mom reacted immediately. She grabbed a fistful of my hair from behind and yanked me backward so hard that pain tore across my scalp.

"You ungrateful little bitch! You think you can just walk away? We raised you all these years, and now you won't even listen?"

While I was struggling, Laura snatched the phone out of my hand.

"This was a car accident. The police and the insurance company will be here any minute. You're not going anywhere."

My scalp burned as I stared at Mom's vicious expression.

For the briefest moment, something like pain crossed her face when she saw the way I was looking at her.

"Nora, I still have you.

"But Yale is the only boy the Morgan family has."

What a wonderful mother she was, always thinking of the bigger picture.

The Morgan family came first in everything. Even the brutal death of her own daughter couldn't shake her loyalty to them in the slightest.

I said nothing and turned to leave anyway.

Before I could get far, Evelyn Morgan, my grandmother, arrived and blocked my path, her face dark with anger.

"Stop right there! Who gave you permission to hit the only boy in our Morgan family? Where do you get the nerve? Who do you think you are to lay a hand on Yale?"

I was trembling with anger.

"You don't even want to know what he did? You show up and immediately start blaming me?"

Her expression hardened as she pointed at me.

"You insolent girl. Now you're talking back to me too? I don't care what Yale did. You have no right to punish him."

My chest tightened with hurt and frustration.

"Why don't you take a look at what your precious Yale has done first?"