Living In The Shadow Of The Freud Family

We have a family group chat meant for the core members only. It's named "the Coppola family". The ones in the group are my father, my mother, my oldest brother, Fabio Coppola; my second brother, Luca Coppola, and my little sister, Francesca Coppola. Oh, that's not all. Fabio's bloodhound, Fido; Luca's ragdoll, Neve; and Francesca's fancy rat, Pico, are members of the group chat too. I'm the only one who's not included in that group. There's once when I ask Francesca, "Can you add me into the group?" She's in the middle of feeding Pico at that time. Without bothering to glance at me, she replies, "That group is meant for insiders only. Wouldn't you feel awkward if you were to join the group, Valentina?" I just look at Pico, who keeps screeching in Francesca's arms. It has a special nickname and the right to speak up in the family group. To think that I, the Coppolas' biological daughter, am nothing compared to a fancy rat.

Our family is planning a ski trip at a luxury resort. However, my mother gives my snow-view room to my adoptive sister and makes me, her biological daughter, stay in the storage room. I'm about to protest when my father and brother accuse me of being selfish. "We've always given Madie the best of everything; she won't be able to sleep in any other room." "Madie is our family—she's the one who's lived with us this whole time. We're a family, so we have to stay together." I'm the one who shares their blood, yet they consider me an outsider. If that's the case, they can go on vacation without me. I board a cruise and travel the world for a month without ever going home. That's when they panic.

By day, Elian is a timid, shy stepson of a wealthy family—someone who doesn’t even have the courage to steal a glance at his crush. By night, behind a silver mask, he is a top cam star, showered with lavish gifts by tens of thousands of fans online. On the night of his final stream, just as Elian smiles and bids his fans farewell, a chilling comment flashes across his screen: “Check your closet. Your gift is waiting.” Trembling, Elian pushes open the closet door, only to find no surprise—just his ruthless stepbrother, Jasper, clutching his underwear with the cruelty of a predator in his eyes. Holding Elian’s most fatal secret in his hands, Jasper pushes torment to the absolute limit. Enduring one suffocating night after another, Elian holds back his tears through the agony, pretending the monster above him is his only glimmer of affection: his crush, Lucius. On campus, Lucius hands Elian a hair tie, his voice deep and warm: “I keep it with me because my clumsy crush always forgets theirs.” Elian thinks he has finally found his salvation. But he never expects that this very token of affection will be ripped away by his stepbrother—turned into a cruel prop to bind and humiliate him live on camera! Yet, what plunges Elian into even deeper desperation is when the untouchable prince, Lucius, strips away his disguise. With crimson eyes, sharp fangs, and his breath cold against Elian’s neck, he whispers: “Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Lucius Valerius—the next Vampire King, and your true Master.” However, Jasper and Lucius are not the only ones harboring secret longings for Elian. Try as he might to deny it, Elian gradually realizes that his stepfather Caleb has long coveted him, never content with merely a fleeting taste. An abusive stepbrother, a hypocritical stepfather, and a possessive Vampire King... Trapped in a web of obsession, control, and dark desire—how will he survive when everyone around him turns into a monster desperate to lock him away?

I was the long-lost daughter of the wealthiest family. On my first day back, I was handed a two-hundred-million-dollar trust fund. But that very night, I found out our entire family was doomed to end badly. We were mere cannon fodder in someone else’s story. My father was the overbearing tycoon who would be publicly humiliated and driven into bankruptcy by the male lead. My mother was the harsh, spiteful mother-in-law who made the female lead’s life miserable. My brother was the devoted second male lead who willingly played the fool and got cheated on. My adoptive sister was the tragic “first love” supporting character, destined for a miserable end. Me: “Wow. Just great.”

The year my parents "divorced," I was twelve. My twin sister, Lily Reed, and I were split up between them. Lily left for California with our mother, Rachel Reed. I moved with our father, Grant Reed, into a moldy basement in Newark. Dad got hooked on gambling and buried himself in debt. Every day after school I washed dishes at a restaurant, and even my free school lunch had to be split into two meals. Six years later, Lily sent me a link out of nowhere. "Here's an eighteenth birthday present for you, sis." It was a paid livestreaming platform for the rich. The hottest stream on the homepage was called "Raised Poor vs. Raised Rich: Which Child Turns Out Better?" The screen was split in two. On the left, I sat in the leaky basement, doing homework by a broken desk lamp. On the right, my parents sat with their arms around Lily on the couch of a mansion in Alpine, cutting into a birthday cake. [The sister still has no idea, right? Her parents never divorced.] [The gambling debts and debt collectors are fake too. It's all for the show.] Lily looked into the camera and smiled sweetly. "See, sis?" "This is our real home."

The day we moved into our new house and my adopted sister took my bedroom, I decided to leave. That morning, Mom posted the floor plan in our family group chat. There were three bedrooms. One for my parents. One for my older brother. And the largest, sunniest room was labeled Sophie’s Room. My name was nowhere on the plan. Ten years earlier, Sophie’s father had drowned while trying to save my brother. Since then, my family had treated every sacrifice as something I owed her. When I asked where I was supposed to sleep, Mom barely hesitated. “You’ll leave for graduate school soon. Giving you a bedroom would be a waste.” Then she turned back to Sophie and helped her choose pink curtains. My brother carried in her new furniture. My boyfriend of three years built her bookshelf. I sat on a moving box and finally understood. They had not forgotten me. They had decided that Sophie deserved my room, my family, and even the man who was supposed to love me. Since they had already decided there was no place for me in this family, I decided to leave them exactly what they wanted. I opened the classified research contract on my phone and signed it. Ten years. No visits home. In ten days, I would disappear from their lives for good.