Chapter 1

"You should move out. I'm getting married next month."

My brother said it calmly, casually handing me a fragrant pear.

He was so relaxed about it that I wondered if I'd misheard.

"Say that again?"

"You. Move out. I'm getting married, and my girlfriend doesn't want to live with her husband's family!"

He said it again, harder this time.

I bought this house with my own money. The down payment was two hundred thousand, and the monthly loan payments come straight out of my paycheck.

"Dean, this is my house. Why should I move out?"

I was shaking with anger.

He gave a contemptuous little laugh.

"Your house? How are you going to prove this is your house? The deed's in Mom and Dad's names. They both said so—this is my marital home."

He'd made me so angry I laughed.

"Dean Simmons, you'd better remember that bank records don't lie. Those transfer notes are going to be my evidence."

The second I held up my phone to show him,

his face changed in an instant, and he glared at me with a vicious look...

1

"Teresa Simmons, oh, Teresa Simmons. Who would've thought you'd spend every scrap of your scheming on guarding yourself against your own family?"

Dean's harsh scolding covered up his panic.

But very soon he composed himself again.

"Today your big brother's going to teach you a lesson—about how the thief inside the house is the hardest to guard against."

"I'll tell you the truth. Mom and Dad, to show their loyalty, already transferred the house into my girlfriend's name."

He even flashed a smug, taunting grin.

Growing up, I wore his hand-me-downs, ate the food he didn't like, and when he stole money from our parents, I was the one who got beaten.

Now that he's grown, his appetite has grown too. He's no longer content just making me take the fall for his little stunts.

Now he wants to steal the house I worked myself to death to buy.

I was about to pull out my phone and call my parents to get to the bottom of it,

when Dean smacked the phone right out of my hand.

"Mom and Dad said the only reason they had you was to trade you for a wife for me. If it weren't for me, a little girl like you would've been drowned in a cesspit the day you were born. One house to repay me for saving your life—how are you so stingy about it?"

"Besides, when we were kids, didn't you give me whatever I wanted? How'd you get so petty now?"

"Have I been treating you too nice lately, so you can't tell anymore who's in charge in this family? Hm?"

"You transferred my property to somebody else without my consent. That's against the law!"

My eyes were blazing, ready to split, but not a single tear fell.

It turns out that when you're angry enough, there are no tears.

"With your consent? Who do you think you are? We went through the proper channels—go check with the county recorder's office if you want."

"Never mind that I've got those transfer notes as evidence—let's just talk about the three thousand five hundred a month. Dean, it's not that I look down on you, but can you even make that payment?"

Dean was a gambler. He'd deliver food all day, cash it out first thing the next morning, then go play a couple rounds of cards and lose everything down to the underwear on his back.

Back then, my parents wouldn't let me go to college over eighteen hundred in tuition.

My mom tore up my acceptance letter.

She said girls just get corrupted by the twisted nonsense in books.

Later I caught the wave of the internet.

I became a minor influencer and made some money.

My dad said men these days can't be trusted—he was afraid that if I ever dated someone, the guy would be after my premarital assets.

So, he said, we'd buy a house and register it in his and my mom's names, so my family would always be a place I could fall back on.

These past few years I've been earning money, and my parents have treated me better and better. That's exactly why my dad managed to feed me that sweet lie.

Before, I just thought they loved me less than they loved my brother—at least they wouldn't scheme against me.

Looking back now, I was a complete and utter fool.

Just as Dean and I were locked in a standoff,

my parents came home.

"Mom, Dad, perfect timing. My girlfriend said flat out she will not live with her husband's family. If Teresa doesn't move out, she'll abort the baby in her belly. You two figure it out."

Dean sprawled down on the sofa, wearing the look of a man who'd already won...

"Dean Simmons! You little bastard! Is that any way to talk to your sister? Apologize to her!"

My mom shot him a fierce glare.

"Mom! Did you take the wrong pills? You want me to apologize to this money-losing brat?"

Dean stared at our mother's furious face in disbelief.

"Your sister streams until the middle of the night every single day for this family. Are you blind?"

"If she really cared about this family, with her looks she'd make way more as a borderline racy streamer than as a comedy streamer. Wearing a couple fewer clothes won't cost her a chunk of flesh. Go on, ask her if she's willing."

Dean curled his lip and swept a scornful look over me from head to toe.

"You animal! Was any of that even human talk?"

My dad couldn't take it anymore. He raised his hand and slapped Dean across the face.

Dean stared, stunned, at his enraged parents.

He froze for a second, then cursed and stormed out, slamming the door.

For the first time in my whole life, my parents had stood up for me.

A wave of warmth surged and rolled through my chest.

In that moment, I thought I was finally loved...

After Dean slammed the door and left, my mom and dad exchanged a glance,

and suddenly both dropped to their knees with a thud at my feet.

Their sudden move sent a buzzing jolt through my head, like an electric shock...