Chapter 2

The words had barely landed.

Reg and Violet, always fierce when it came to their darling daughter, came rushing over. They looked at me standing on the stairs, then at Evangeline lying on the floor, and their eyes went red on the spot.

"Amber, what have you done?"

"Didn't you say you couldn't wait for Evangeline to come home, because your dream was always to have a sister close to your own age?"

"You've known her less than a day. Why would you do something this vicious?"

I felt wronged.

In all my years, I had never been accused like this.

Reg and Violet weren't my parents, but because Evangeline had been taken before she was even a year old, they had raised me almost as their own daughter, doting on me all along.

To be blamed like this, without a single question asked, was a first.

"Me?"

"This was clearly her—"

Evangeline choked out a few sobs.

"Don't blame her. I lost my footing on my own. She was only showing me the staircase!"

"It really is my fault. I shouldn't have opened my mouth, going on about wanting to see her room, wanting to share a room with her."

"But I truly didn't mean any harm. I honestly want us to be sisters. I never once thought of her as an enemy."

I rolled my eyes.

"Enough with the act."

"I was standing right here watching. You walked down those stairs yourself and lay down yourself. No one pushed you!"

Evangeline nodded over and over.

"Yes, yes, that's right, I walked down and lay down on my own."

"Look, if you don't believe me, I'm perfectly fine, not a mark on me."

"As long as you don't throw me out as some troublemaker who tears families apart, I'll take anything."

With that, Evangeline struggled to her feet, then made a show of pushing up her sleeve to prove she was fine. But the moment the sleeve went up, the ugly bruising along her arm made Reg and Violet jump.

"You call that fine?"

"Quick, call an ambulance!"

Three:

Evangeline backed away a few steps.

Baring her teeth, she said,

"Mom, Dad, I really am fine. These bruises are nothing. Compared to what I went through growing up, this doesn't hurt at all!"

"Let's not go to the hospital. If word gets out that I got hurt and went to the hospital the day I came home, people will think she's jealous of me, afraid I'll steal her share of your love!"

"I don't want my coming home to throw the whole family into chaos!"

Reg and Violet, of course, ached for her.

They instinctively believed their own flesh and blood, certain I was the one waging some spiteful war. Not only did they insist on the hospital, they were even shouting about calling the police.

"No need for the hospital. I can heal her injury right now."

With that, I picked up the vase nearby, pulled out the flowers, wet the handkerchief, then took hold of Evangeline's arm and scrubbed hard at the wound.

In no time.

The purple bruising vanished, leaving skin that was a little dark, but without a single injury on it.

Reg and Violet exchanged a glance, their faces a little awkward.

They weren't fools. They understood well enough that this whole performance came from Evangeline getting my identity wrong, so Violet forced a few laughs and turned to explain to her.

"Evangeline, you may have misunderstood something."

"Amber isn't the fake heiress who took your place. She's..."

Evangeline nodded, her face a picture of hurt.

"I know. I was too foolish. I only wanted Mom and Dad to love me a little more!"

"But I should have seen it sooner. She's a star in the sky, and I'm only a raindrop. I shouldn't have lost sight of my place. I shouldn't have done these foolish things."

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me!"

Evangeline finished and started to kneel and kowtow to me again.

I sighed.

"Evangeline, your parents were so caught up in their reunion with you that they never introduced me, so you got my identity wrong."

"You shouldn't be calling me your sister. I'm your father's sister, not yours."

"I may be a few months younger than you, but by the family line, you should be calling me aunt."