Every time he walked away, the prison guard would breathe out and say, “Your brother doesn’t believe you.”

Disappointment kept coming, and I didn’t know when it slowly turned into hopelessness.

I felt like the whole world had left me behind; I once had a brother who cared about me, but now even he was gone.

When I saw that pearl necklace again, my mind completely collapsed.

I turned the box over in panic.

With the necklace breaking apart, the pearls dropped to the floor and scattered in a trail of clattering rolls.

Rosie stood frozen in surprise, unsure of what to do.

Jude’s face darkened immediately. “Rosie is giving you a gift out of kindness. She doesn’t even blame you anymore. What are you doing?”

I shook in the chair, my face as pale as paper.

He dragged me up roughly. “You think just because you’re out, you can throw tantrums? Hurry and pick up the pearls and say sorry to Rosie!”

Say sorry?

How could I ever say sorry?

I pushed my brother hard, ran out the door, and rushed into the freezing wind.

With the wind biting cold, I felt grief and shame tighten painfully in my chest.

I didn’t want to stay home.

If not for taking back my father’s things, I never would’ve returned with him.

I didn’t want to be blamed ever again.

I didn’t want to bear even a small wrong ever again.

My brother soon ran after me and caught my wrist.

He frowned deeply and scolded, “Where are you going? You spent three years in prison and still didn’t fix your attitude?”

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

I pulled my hand loose, my eyes turning red.

“Is she giving me that necklace out of kindness or spite? Jude, can you really not see it?”

“I’m your real sister. You already sent me in once, what more do you want from me?”

“It was for your own good!”

His voice turned cold. “Since you dared to steal, you must accept punishment. Otherwise, how will you ever change that bad habit?”

“Should I pretend nothing happened and let you keep going down the wrong path?”

Hearing him, I felt a deep, painful emptiness open inside my chest.

All my life, when had I ever taken anything?

Why would I take Rosie’s necklace? For what reason?

Why couldn’t he think it through?

Why couldn’t he trust me?

With tears streaming, the hurt and hopelessness from those three years came rushing back..

I let go of explaining, once more.

Looking at my short prison haircut, my brother lowered his voice as if giving up.

“Evie, everything I did was for you. You spent three years inside, but I’ve set up a future for you.”

“My company will be yours someday. I only wanted to give you a small punishment, nothing that would truly hurt you.”

“Come home with me. Don’t run around anymore.”

He took my hand and brought me back. I went with him like a machine, empty, saying nothing.

At the door’s opening, Rosie saw him come in with me, and a quick look of surprise crossed her eyes.

Even with all that, it seemed she never thought my brother would bring me home. But I only felt worn out.

I hid in the bedroom and didn’t come out again.

Late at night, Rosie rushed into my room. I opened my eyes on instinct, but she assumed I was asleep.

She moved her hand under my pillow and pushed something beneath it.

I kept quiet. I left it there.

She was so eager, I had barely come back, and she was already using the same trick again.

I wanted to see whether my brother would choose to trust me this time.

The next morning, just as expected, she cried while accusing me again, saying I had taken her necklace.

“Evie, if you want it, you can just tell me. I gave you the necklace yesterday; you were the one who didn’t want it.”

“Or do you just enjoy taking things?”

My brother’s face went dark, and he set his jaw as he looked at me.

“You really just can’t change, can you?”

With that shock, my heart fell heavily.

With his words, it felt as if my brother cut the last bit of family that tied us together.

I smiled bitterly. “Yeah, I can’t change….”

Before I could finish my words, my brother suddenly lifted his hand and slapped me hard.

From his gaze, anger and disappointment were clear. “How could I have a sister like you!”

I paused for a moment, then covered my cheek and let out a cold laugh. “I also wonder why I have a brother like you.”

“You…!”

His hand shook as he pointed at me, too furious to speak.

Before his second slap could fall, I dropped to my knees and bowed my head to the ground.

“Thank you for quitting school to raise me. From today on, I don’t have a brother.”

Rising to my feet, I retrieved my father’s things from beneath the bed and started to leave.

His face sank as he grabbed the photo and ring away.

“These were Dad’s things. You have no right to take them!”

Whatever. Then, let it go.

I nodded, accepting the outcome, and got ready to walk out.

He called after me, holding back his anger. “You’re a labor camp convict. What can you even do after leaving me? Starve to death?”

My steps kept moving. “Save your worry.”

After I left the house, I sat in the neighborhood the whole day.

This time, Jude didn’t follow me.

He must have been completely disappointed and sick of me, and didn’t want to bother anymore.

I had no money on me and needed a job that included food and a place to stay.

But once they heard I had been in prison, no company was willing to take me in.

With no other choice, I went to a construction site for work.

The foreman looked me over from head to toe, his frown growing tighter every moment.

“A woman? Our work is tough. Can you even handle it?”

I pushed out a friendly smile.

“Let me give it a try, big brother. I may look thin, but I’m really strong.”

He still appeared unwilling until I actually got to work, quick and efficient.

It was only after that that he nodded and agreed to keep me. “Food and lodging included, one hundred a day.”

“But the project is short. It’ll end in a month.”

Happily, I nodded. That was enough.

In a month, Louie would be released, and I would have a place to go.

Just like this, I worked at the construction site for over twenty days.

When my brother showed up again, he was so stunned he almost didn’t recognize me.

My hair had grown into a rough patch, my whole body covered in dirt, gray shaking off with every step.

He stood far away watching, his eyes turning wet.

After a long pause, he hurried over and grabbed my wrist.

“Why are you here? Evie, do you know how long I’ve been searching for you?”

“Come on, come home with me. You can’t keep doing this kind of work!”

I pulled his hand, picked up another stack of bricks, acting like I didn’t know him.

With his lips pressed into a thin line, he stopped trying to persuade me. He went to talk to the foreman instead. I didn’t know what he said.

Right then, the foreman walked over with an unpleasant look. “Evie, why didn’t you say you were sent in for stealing? We can’t keep someone like that on the site. You’re dismissed!”

“No pay either. Hurry up and go!”

I panicked and pleaded for him to give me another chance.

“I was locked up by mistake. I didn’t steal, and I won’t steal. Please let me stay!”

“That man is your real brother, isn’t he? He would accuse you of no reason?”

With a mocking tone, the foreman cut me off. “We can’t keep someone dishonest. Go, go, go!”

Then, annoyed, he pushed me aside.

I lost my footing and staggered backward, only to be caught strongly by Jude.

Smiling proudly at the corners of his lips, he handed me the phone with a shove. “See? You can’t make it anywhere you go. The only place you can return to is me.”

“Evie, we’re real siblings. The path I set for you is the best one!”

While he talked, he brushed my messy, dirt-covered hair.

His hand came away gray with dust, but he didn’t care at all; instead, he gladly held my hand. “Come on, go home with me. Don’t make me lose you again.”

I stayed still.

Upon turning back in confusion, he saw my gaze, cold and without emotion.

“Jude, what do I have to do for you to stop holding on to me?”

He didn’t think he had done anything wrong. His smile faded with displeasure.

“What do you mean by letting you go? Haven’t I treated you well?”

“I’ve been searching for you for more than twenty days. Do you know how much money I lost not running the company?”

He pulled me hard without asking. “Go home with me!”

He pushed me into the car and dragged me back once again.

On the way, he picked up a phone call.

After dropping me at home, he hurried to the company, telling Rosie to keep me from slipping away.

Once he left, Rosie’s face shifted immediately. “Bitch! Brother actually brought you back again? Even now, he still cares about you?”

I held back the urge to hit her and finally asked the question I had held in for three years.

“Why did you set me up for stealing? I treated you pretty well all these years, didn’t I?”

She let out a cold laugh, her gaze turned cold. “Who told you to tell brother not to spend money on me?”

“He already said the company will be yours later, not mine.”

“You had a brother backing you up, but you wouldn’t let him spend even a bit on me. Why did you get everything?”

I curled my fingers.

“As for how he earned his money, he hadn’t gone to college. Everyone in the company looked down on him, so he pushed himself even more.”

“About those old scumbag, they forced him to drink at every event. He had to vomit until he was shaking and then keep drinking. He even vomited blood.”

“But you? Every time you speak, you ask for hundreds of thousands, millions. What brother wouldn’t feel pained? I only told him not to spend so much on you. What’s wrong with it?”

“So what? He doesn’t make money for me anyway.”

While admiring her freshly done nails, Rosie remained entirely unconcerned.

“If he drinks himself to death, the company wouldn’t be mine. Only if you’re gone will I maybe get something.”

I watched her in disbelief, my whole body going cold. I had thought she framed me because she wanted my brother’s care.

I never imagined that the only thing she valued… was money.

“You really are ungrateful.”

I clenched my teeth and headed toward the bedroom.

Behind me, she smirked. “I framed you once. I can do it a second time, a third time.”

“Just wait, Evie. I’ll drive you out again!”

My steps stopped.

I turned back and looked at her for a long moment, then switched off my phone’s recording.

“No need. I’ll leave on my own.”

I sent the recording to Jude.

With that lesson learned, I stopped letting Rosie frame me over and over.

I had switched on the recorder the moment we got home.

She didn’t know, thinking I was only talking in anger, and she walked off, smirking to her room.

My phone started buzzing nonstop.

Messages from Jude, one after another, urgent, panicked. I glanced once, then ignored them.

Instead, I pulled my father’s belongings from under the bed, slid them into my pocket, and walked out of the house.

Louie would be released soon. I was going to pick him up.