- 4.
The next morning, I woke up to a racket.
Chad stood next to my bed, yelling.
“You trashed the house to make it look real?
You’re such a drama queen!”
“This is all over the news! You’re
embarrassing us!”
Brittany stood behind him, fake crying.
“Chad, don’t yell at Lizzie. She just hates
<
Before I could say anything, Chad slapped
- me.
“Dad’s not here, so I’ll teach you a lesson!”
My face stung.
“I’m your sister. You didn’t even ask what
happened!”
He frowned, then Brittany jumped in.
“Lizzie, if you just apologize, Chad won’t be
mad.”
“Why are you blaming Chad?”
She sniffed, her eyes red.
“If there were real thugs you wouldn’t be safe
“If there were real thugs, you wouldn’t be safe
here. I know you hate me, but it’s okay. I can
leave…”
Brittany got Chad all riled up.
He grabbed her, “Don’t go anywhere! I’ll send
her overseas! She’s never coming back!”
Brittany leaned on him, sobbing.
“Don’t fight because of me. It hurts my
heart…”
Chad turned to me, his eyes filled with
disgust.
“Why can’t you stand Brittany? She’s sweet
and kind! As your sister, you should be glad
she makes me happy!”
“Apologize to Brittany now!”
He yanked me off the bed.
My leg screamed in agony.
I collapsed on the floor, a ringing in my ears.
Chad’s face darkened.
“Get up!”
“Apologize to Brittany!”
I sneered at him, and my anger boiled over.
“You’re treating Brittany better than me,
you’re own sister! Do you hate me or
something?!”
く
Chad stared down at me, a smirk on his face.
“Sister?”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Lizzie, you’ve always been better than me.
I’m the older brother, but you always had
Dad’s attention.”
“You took Dad’s attention, his respect, his
faith in me!”
His voice was cold.
“How can I see you as a sister?”
“Brittany’s sweet. She cares about my
feelings.
“You look down on me! You mock me all the
time!”
“Why did you go work at Caldwell Co.? Why
did you try to stop my project?”
“My buddy likes you. Why didn’t you agree to
marry him? Percy doesn’t love you!”
His words cut deep.
I worked so hard to be a good sister, but he
hated me.
I looked into the real estate project he had
been working on and found the land was
contaminated.
If he went ahead with the project, it would
ruin him.
く
All he did was tell me to leave his business.
His buddy was a violent guy, who was
divorced twice.
He planned to marry me and get resources
for my brother, even if I did not like it.
Chad wanted me to just shut up and marry
someone he liked, but I was not going to do
that.
Chad wanted me dead.
“If you hate me so much, I don’t want you as
a brother anymore.”
“We’re done. No more family!”
I said coldly.
く
- 4.
Dad’s secretary walked in.
“Mr. Caldwell is back. He’s with your mother.
Please come to the room.”
They wheeled me to the room.
Mom lay in bed, trying to smile.
Dad sat next to her, his face dark.
He glanced at my leg.
“This is how you protect your mother and
sister?”
Chad pointed at me, complaining.
“Lizzie is acting crazy! She’s jealous of
<
Brittany. She’s making up stories about home
intruders!”
“Enough!”
Mom cut him off.
“You made the big mistake!”
“You didn’t care about your family! Chad, I’m
so disappointed in you!”
Chad could not be bothered about what was
going on.
He said he would rather watch a meteor
shower than help his family.
Mom was hurt.
<
Chad said, “What a coincidence, after I left,
someone broke into the house?”
“Mom, Lizzie is lying!”
I could not believe him.
I grabbed Mom’s hand, trying to calm her
down.
Mom was pale and looked like she would
have a panic attack.
“I wasted my time raising you!”
Mom said.
Chad got mad.
“Mom! I would help you!”
“I’m telling you, if you’re around, I’m out of
here!”
I wanted to get as far away from him as
possible.
Chad thought his parents would pick him, no
matter what he did.
Mom and Dad wanted to pick me.
Mom closed her eyes and said, “I am so
disappointed.”
Dad spoke up, “We are done here, you are
out of the family.”
Chad turned white.
“Dad…”
“Leave!”
Chad grabbed Brittany and left.
“Caldwell Co.? You will come begging for
me!”
Everyone stayed quiet.
I told Mom, “I will fix all of this.”
“Lizzie, I can’t believe how much you have
grown.”
