Chapter 2

The diary was a memoir I had written.

After escaping from the psychiatric hospital, my mind was blurred and dazed. I didn't want to go anywhere, so I holed myself up in Vanessa's apartment and poured everything into that diary.

Scott bent down and picked up the diary from the floor. The moment he flipped to the first page, his expression turned ugly.

"Scott's and Devin's attention shifted to Nicole ever since she moved into our house. Scott promised me that I would always be his closest sister and that bringing Nicole home was just to fulfill Dad's dying wish.

"Devin couldn't stand Nicole at first. He called her an uncultured, low-class, illegitimate daughter. But later, all it took was Nicole to shed a single tear and her claim that I had bullied her, and they would easily believe her words. They turned their backs on me and condemned me."

Reading up to this point, Scott lost all patience to continue. He tossed the diary into the trash can, gritted his teeth, and hissed, "Shirley has grown some nerve, hasn't she? First, she faked her death, and now she leaves a diary behind to drive a wedge between Nicole and us.

"Everyone knows that Shirley was the one who treated Nicole the worst. Would I ever have dared say a single harsh word to her if she hadn't gone too far?"

A look of deep disgust appeared on Devin's face at the mention of the past, and bitterness filled my heart.

There was a time when Scott would never have spoken a harsh word to me. Back then, he was famous in our social circle for doting on me, his little sister.

When I went on a diet during my teenage years, he would sit beside me with a bowl of oatmeal and coax me to eat. He would tell me that my body was perfect and that I didn't need to lose weight, and even if I did gain weight, Devin would still marry me anyway.

Sitting at our dinner table back then, Devin had laughed along and said, "He's right, Princess Shirley. You'll be the only one I'll ever love, no matter what you look like."

But I never changed. They were the ones who turned into unrecognizable, terrifying strangers, all because of Nicole's framing lies.

Whenever Scott came downstairs, Nicole would intentionally throw herself down the steps, clutch her bleeding forehead, and sob, "Save me, Scott! Shirley wants to kick me out of the house!"

To make sure that he wouldn't doubt her story, she left her wound unbandaged, limped over to the dining table to fix him a plate of food, and pitifully said, "I have no one left except you and Shirley, and I'll even be your maid, as long as you don't send me away."

When Devin got into a severe car crash and was hospitalized for a month, I cooked medicinal soups for him every single day and brought them to him myself.

But on the day he was discharged, Nicole stood outside his door on purpose, slapped herself hard across the face, and dropped onto the floor. Then, she whimpered, "Don't worry, Shirley. I'll keep your secret. I won't tell Devin that I was the one who made all those medicinal soups for him."

One calculated accusation after another, Scott and Devin slowly grew disappointed and lost all faith in me.

At last, when Nicole fell ill, they ignored my struggles and breakdowns, forcing me into the blood donation chair to give her my blood.

The sound of the doorbell interrupted my thoughts.

Scott beat Vanessa to the door and opened it to see Nicole standing outside. Her makeup was flawless, and anyone could tell she was well-cared-for at a glance.

My eyes fell on the amulet hanging around her neck, and I dug my nails deep into my palms.

I had dropped to my knees and prayed for that amulet when Devin was in a coma after his car crash, when the doctors said he might never wake up. He had never taken it off.

The first time he forced me to donate blood, I had collapsed from the emotional shock, yet he had never once thought about giving that amulet back to me. But when Nicole heard that I had donated blood and put on a look of guilt, he took it off and handed it over right before my eyes.

Both Devin and Scott looked stricken with worry the moment they saw Nicole.

"What are you doing here, Nicole?"

She bit her lip, and her eyes were red-rimmed as she said, "I'm here to beg for Shirley's forgiveness."

Vanessa stepped forward and sized her up from head to toe before ruthlessly saying, "You played the victim and framed Shirley when she was alive. Now that she's dead, who are you putting on this act for?"