Chapter 4

In all the years since I'd moved back, when had anything ever been equal?

Alistair dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Bennett... I know you've never liked me... but I really need this opportunity... Please..."

I let out a cold laugh.

"Fine. You can have it. But first, you have to get down on all fours and crawl around the room like a dog. Do that, and it's yours."

"You—"

Dad's face changed.

"That's ridiculous! Bennett! How can you treat your brother like that?"

I didn't back down.

"Why so worked up? That's exactly what Alistair told me back when he wouldn't let me into the house. So why the double standard?"

My parents went silent.

Back then, they had both tried to talk me down, saying Alistair was "a little mischievous, but he doesn't mean any harm." They said he was "just stubborn" and told me to do whatever he said.

I sighed and decided to let out every grievance I'd swallowed over the years.

"Dad, when you took us hiking, Alistair complained that he was being left out, so you just left me alone on the mountain. I walked for three hours with wolves howling around me before I made it home.

"How can anyone play favorites that badly?

"If you wanted me dead, you should've just said so. I'm worthless to you anyway.

"Mom, you never came to a single one of my parent-teacher conferences because you didn't want Alistair to feel left out. You only ever went to his. Kids in my class whispered that nobody wanted me. But I had a mother...

"I'm your biological son. What did I ever do to deserve being treated like this?"

By the time I finished, my cheeks were wet and cold. I'd thought they couldn't hurt me anymore.

Both of them looked shaken.

Tears still streaming down my face, I forced a smile.

"Fine. Let Alistair have what he wants. Give him the opportunity."

My parents looked up quickly, but before they could thank me, I added, "Consider it payback for bringing me into the world. After this, we're even."

Dad froze.

"What do you mean?"

I spelled it out for him.

"I mean you never raised me, so I don't owe you anything for that, and from now on, we have nothing to do with each other."

Mom panicked.

"No... no... I carried you for nine months. You're my own flesh and blood. How can you—"

I shrugged.

"Then Alistair doesn't get the opportunity."

My parents fell silent, and I watched the hesitation pass between them.

A moment later, Dad clenched his jaw.

"Deal!"

The moment he said it, Alistair flashed me a victorious smile.

My vision slowly blurred.

Once again, forced to choose between me and Alistair, my biological parents had chosen him.

Using my bloodstained sweater as proof, Alistair landed interview after interview with the media.

His agency seized the moment and lined up several TV roles for him.

My parents assumed what I'd said that night was just anger talking, and they kept trying to make it up to me, in ways big and small.

They deleted every post they'd made after the earthquake that same night.

They edited me into the family photo of the three of them that they'd been using as their profile picture.

On top of that, they dragged me to take a bunch of new family portraits, which they had enlarged and hung on their bedroom wall.