Chapter 3

I looked at them and let out a scornful laugh.

Chloe shoved me, furious. "Ryan, what is your problem? You scared my brother half to death, and you're laughing? I'm telling you — if anything happens to my brother, you and I are done."

The shove caught me off guard. I stumbled back, my shin cracking against the coffee table with a dull thud. Pain shot up my leg, and somehow that only made my laughing worse.

Chloe couldn't get through a sentence without calling him "my brother." She'd apparently forgotten I was her brother too. I couldn't even remember the last time she'd called me that. In this family, it seemed I'd been an outsider from the very start.

Something flickered across my mother's face — the closest thing to concern I'd get. She started to come check on me.

Then Derek let out a sharp cry. "My chest — it hurts!"

She spun around immediately, wrapping her arms around him. "Don't be scared, sweetheart, Mom will take you to the hospital."

Derek's eyes went red. "Mom, I'm fine. Go check on Ryan."

My mother didn't even glance my way. "Leave him. He's always been the healthy one — a little bump won't hurt him."

That line again.

Something in me broke. I swept everything off the table in one motion, sent them crashing to the floor.

"Why?" I shouted. "What did I ever do to deserve this? If you don't love me, why did you even have me?"

The room went dead silent. My parents froze.

Then Chloe's voice cut through, imperious as ever. "Ryan, have you lost your mind? How dare you talk to Mom and Dad like that!" She squared up like she meant to hit me.

My father caught her arm. "Chloe, don't. He's your brother."

For one second, something in me hesitated. Was he actually protecting me? For years, no matter what happened, I'd been the one who took the blame — I was used to it by now. Being shielded like this felt so foreign that I almost didn't believe it was real.

Chloe's voice softened. "But Dad, listen to how he's talking to you—"

My father's expression darkened. "Let him say what he needs to say. We've owed him this for a long time."

That was the moment the tears I'd been holding back finally spilled over. You finally remembered I exist.

The peace didn't last more than a few minutes.

Derek had gone back to his room to rest, but he came storming back out, eyes red from crying, and rounded on me.

"Did you touch my things?"

I stared at him, confused.

He kept going. "The pendant — the one I left on my desk. Where is it? Ryan, you're the only one who's been in my room."

He was crying harder now. "I know you feel like Mom and Dad pay more attention to me, but that doesn't give you the right to steal from me. Grandma left me that pendant. It matters to me."

He grabbed my arm, pleading. "Just give it back, please. I'll give you anything you want — anything but that pendant. And I'll make sure Mom and Dad start paying more attention to you too. Okay?"

His sudden shift in tone threw me off enough that I flinched back, and the motion nearly knocked him off his feet.

Of course, that was the exact moment our parents and Chloe came rushing in to see what the noise was. All they saw was Derek stumbling — and in their eyes, that made it my fault.

The slap landed before I even saw it coming. My mother's palm cracked across my face so hard my ears rang, everything around me blurring into a single smear of sound. I couldn't make out a word anyone was saying.