Then the bombshell dropped: I was not Lloyd's real son.

Walter was.

My real parents? That remained a mystery.

In one fell swoop, I plummeted from paradise to purgatory.

The family I knew for almost twenty years? They locked me away in a loony bin scarier than any jail.

"I don't want the family to worry. Whatever you did to me, I'm over it," he said.

"If you promise not to upset Mom and Dad anymore, I'll start treating you like a real brother!"

Walter's smile was all sweetness and light, the picture of a good son and a forgiving soul.

Anyone watching would have to admit he was the perfect heir to the Lloyd family fortune.

All around, people looked at him with admiration, and even Dad gave a nod of approval.

"Absolutely, if you turn over a new leaf, you'll always be the Lloyd family's golden boy!"

Janet's face was all twisted up in a frown.

"I'm letting this slide because of Walter. Aren't you going to thank him? Mess with him again, and you'll have me to answer to!"

Five years ago, I would have been tripping over myself to set the record straight.

I never picked on Walter; he was the mastermind behind all the so-called bullying.

However, I was done playing the fool, trying to justify myself to people who could not have cared less.

"Sorry, I just came back to get my ID."

Instantly, I was met with a sea of scowling faces.

They all thought I was biting the hand that fed me.

"Why do you have to make a big deal out of nothing? Keep this up, and do you really want to end up back in the psych ward?"

"We raised you, so why can't you be good like Walter? Why do you always have to go against us?" Harriet was losing it, and I could not fathom why.

"However, I'm not your real son anymore, am I?"

I thought getting my ID and leaving was the logical next step.

Harriet froze, her hand falling away as she looked at me, as if she was seeing a stranger.

…

Janet let out a huff.

"You think you can just walk away from twenty-plus years of living it up with the Lloyds? You think you can ever make up for all that?"

I just kept my eyes on the ground.

I just did not get these people.

They could not stand me, and I was not even a Lloyd anymore. So why weren't they happy I was gone?

However, somehow, I was still there, stuck with the Lloyds for the time being.

My old room, the one that was once mine, was then Walter's.

Me? I was downgraded to the nanny's room, a place I never thought I would sleep in.

No complaints from me, though. I hit the sack early.

However, even on that soft bed, nightmares haunted me.

I was back in that mental hospital, reliving the daily torment.

Those monsters did not care about my screams, just ripped at my clothes.

I begged them, told them my family and my fiancée, Liliana, would make them pay.

However, fighting back just made them worse, more vicious.

They mocked me and said I was living in a fantasy.

Laughed at the idea that I still saw myself as Lloyd's golden boy.

They called me an idiot.

Because everything that happened to me was with the Lloyds' and Liliana's blessing!

I woke up from that nightmare, shivering all over.

…

I needed water, something to calm my nerves. That's when I saw Janet sneaking out, helmet in hand, ready for another midnight ride.

I pretended not to notice and kept pouring my drink.

However, Janet stopped and came over.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked.

"Like what?" I shot back.

Janet, the Lloyd's princess, always got her way. She'd got that thing for bikes, loved the rush, I guessed.

I thought back to her accident, how I used to chew her out for taking those risks, always telling her to be careful.

Every time I tried to warn Janet, she gave me that look like I was the most annoying person on the planet.

"Seriously? You're a big guy, and you're fussier than me? What do you even know about it? Riding bikes is all about the rush! You're not my brother, and even Walter doesn't bug me about it, so why do you?"

I knew she was fed up with my lectures, but I could not help myself. Every time she was about to take off, I would repeat my warnings, driven by worry.

However, all my nagging, all my care, just evaporated over those five years without a single sign that she heard my cries for help.

Janet's face turned stormy in an instant.

"You're not scared I'll speed and crash?"

I shook my head.

"I don't get it. Isn't the whole point of biking to chase the adrenaline?

"I'm fine, I'm heading to my room, alright?"

However, Janet was not having it. She blocked my path, and when I tried to sidestep her, she stopped me with an outstretched arm.

"Are you still hung up on being sent to the psych ward for five years? Do you really need to hold onto that anger? Did you ever stop to think that if you weren't such a bully to Walter, if you hadn't been so vile, we wouldn't have had to send you there?"

Her laugh was sharp as ice.

Every fight, she would throw my past, my bullying of Walter, right in my face.

She would just stand there, watching me unravel, lose it.

However, not this time. I just shook my head, calm as could be.

"I'm not mad, not at all."

Yet she seemed furious, her foot slamming into the table.

…

When I saw Liliana again, I thought I would be overwhelmed, that I would spill out all the pain I had carried for years. However, none of that happened, not even a ripple stirred in my heart.

She stood there with Walter, the picture-perfect couple, a tenderness in her eyes I had never seen before.

She saw me and frowned, almost instinctively.

Ever since I was little, I fancied Liliana's future husband, scribbling down my dream of marrying her among other dreams of becoming a scientist, a doctor.

Looking back, it feels like I was the one who kept bothering Liliana.

She never really gave me a straight answer.

People said she was only nice to me because of the Lloyd family.

Well, Liliana probably got what she wanted.

"Zack, I noticed your clothes were all dirty yesterday, so I picked out a few for you. Don't worry, I've only worn them once. You don't mind, do you?" Walter said, holding up his cast-offs like trophies.

All eyes were on us at that moment.

I was hit with a flashback of all the times I was awkwardly bested by Walter.

However, those embarrassments seemed like nothing after surviving five years in what felt like hell.

"Thanks a lot!" I said, taking them with a polite smile.

They would come in handy when I finally got away from the Lloyd family, maybe even fetch a little cash.

The once proud heir was then scraping by, and even the loyal servants were gossiping.

The Lloyd family did not look too happy, though.

"Zack, you're so pathetic!" Janet snapped, tossing the clothes from my hands to the floor.

"How can you wear someone's hand-me-downs? Don't you realize you're part of our Lloyd family?"