Chapter 5

“Apologize to your father. If you apologize now, your father and I won’t hold this failure against you.”

“But don’t get any ideas. You’re far too immature. Forget about the company or the inheritance. Still, since you are our biological daughter, we’ll at least make sure you don’t starve.”

I shook my head.

Slowly, I reached up and took off my worn coat. Then my sweater. My shirt. My pants.

When only my thin underwear remained, Mom cried out and rushed toward me. She grabbed my coat, wrapped it around me and hit my arms at the same time.

“Why are you acting like this? Are you trying to anger your father and me to death?”

“You made a mistake. Why is it so hard to just admit it?”

I was the one who had been hurt, yet she was the one crying.

I pulled off the coat she had put on me and turned to leave.

Suddenly, Audrey’s sharp voice rang out behind me. “The money in my bag is gone. Who took my money?”

Everyone looked at each other in shock.

Audrey reached into her bag and pulled out a cheap button, exactly the same as the one on my shirt.

Mom suddenly looked up at me.

Audrey dropped to her knees in front of me, tears streaming down her face. “This is the money I saved while working and pretending to be poor with Mom and Dad. I wanted to buy them a gift.”

“Althea, you stole my jewelry. You cut my dresses. I endured all of it. But why couldn’t you even spare these few hundred dollars?”

“This money was my love for Mom and Dad. You can’t steal that, too!”

Mom panicked and grabbed my wrist tightly. “Althea, hurry and give the money back to your sister!”

I shoved her away. “I didn’t steal it. This is my money.”

Mom staggered back and looked at me in disbelief.

Dad took a deep breath and gently comforted Audrey. “Audrey, don’t argue with your sister. How about this? I will give you a black card with no spending limit. You can buy whatever you want. Please forgive your sister, okay?”

I listened as they didn’t even look at me. Just like always, they had already decided I was guilty.

I couldn’t hold it in anymore and screamed. “I said I didn’t steal it! Why? Why do you never believe me?”

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and cried through my sobs, “This is my money. I saved it by picking up trash and selling scrap.”

“It’s the money I need to live. It’s the money I need to treat my illness.”

“I won’t give it to you.”

My outburst stunned everyone into silence.

Mom recovered first and scolded me sharply. “What nonsense are you talking about? What illness? Even if you’re lying, you shouldn’t say something like that!”

Dad clenched his jaw, barely holding back his anger.

“Audrey has always been kind and understanding. Even after everything you did to her, she never blamed you. She even apologized to you and tried to comfort you.”

“But every time you take something from her, you lie and say you didn’t do it. Are you trying the same trick again?”

“This time, we will not protect you. Give the money back.”

Audrey cried until her eyes were red and swollen.

I let out a bitter laugh. In that moment, I was completely done.

“Fine. I’ll do exactly what you want.”

I picked up my phone from the ground and dialed the police.

Under their stunned gazes, I spoke clearly, one word at a time. “Yes. I want to report myself. I stole five hundred dollars from my sister. Please come and arrest me.”