Before the adopted son, Luther Anderson, jumped into the ocean to end his life, he sent a text message in the family group chat.

[Oliver’s too good. I just can’t beat him. I’m done putting up a fight.]

Everyone mourned for him. I was called a murderer.

My entire family hated me for it.

My older sister, Samantha Anderson, who had once gifted me a piano, smashed my bones with a bat. “Since your musical talents overwhelmed his, I’m going to ruin your hands.”

My fiancee, Camila Reid, threw a knife at me. “He’s always been jealous of your handsome looks. He’s always been insecure about it. You should ruin your face to make it up to him.”

My parents sent me to a mental asylum instead.

“If Luther doesn’t come back home safe, you’ll spend the rest of your life here reflecting on your mistakes.

“You’ll only be released once you learn how to treat your brother well.”

After that, Luther suddenly showed up and claimed that he missed my parents. Hence, he made a grand appearance.

I also learned from the incident. I ignored my parents’ favoritism.

However, everyone started to panic. “Oliver, are you going to desert us?”

On the second day after Luther’s return, I was taken out of the mental asylum that I had spent two years locked up in.

Immediately after, Ruth said, “We’ve found Luther safe and sound, so we won’t punish you for forcing him to attempt suicide.

“He’s lost his memories and can’t recall anything from the past two years. He’s still on the road to recovery, so he can’t take any triggers. If you continue attempting to harm him, we’ll cut ties with you!”

I had been temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight, but I recovered my sight just in time to see Ruth’s disdainful expression.

However, I could not understand her words.

After two years of mental torture, I processed information a lot slower. My ears were constantly ringing as well.

Regardless, none of that mattered. I understood that Luther had returned, and that I was finally being released.

I forced myself to speak.

“Alright.”

I nodded. My throat was burning, and I could not even utter another word.

Not long after, I saw Luther in the living room. That same living room somehow felt a little unfamiliar to me.

He looked a lot better than he did two years ago. He was dressed in a bespoke suit, and a crowd surrounded him. He looked exactly like the sole heir of the wealthiest man in the city.

My parents held his hands happily as they cried and laughed.

“Don’t worry. When you were not around, we already taught Oliver a lesson. Luther, please don’t leave us again.”

Luther glanced at me tauntingly and said, “Mom, I’m back, aren’t I?

“Even though I wanted to end my life because of Oliver, he’s still your biological son. He deserves to inherit all your assets, and he deserves all your love.

“I’m just an adopted son who got switched at birth. I’m a lowlife compared to him…”

He tried to frame me again.

However, I no longer attempted to defend myself.

He was right. I was the biological son, and he was adopted.

However, being the biological son had not meant a single thing to my parents.

I did not know when it started.

Perhaps it was after I learned the piano for a year and won an award. Luther had thrown a tantrum.

“Oliver, why did you snatch the first prize away from me? Do you hate me because I stole your parents from you? Are you trying to force me to go back to the orphanage because you can’t stand me?”

When we were younger, Camila Reid had said that I looked handsome and kissed me on my cheek. Luther had punched me angrily. “I’ve always treated you as my older brother, but you snatched away the girl that I like… I don’t care if you scold me or hit me, but you can’t seduce Camila on purpose just to torture me…”

As the accusations from him stacked on, my entire family turned on me. Camila treated me coldly.

That life had been too torturous. Even breathing felt like a chore to me.

Hence, when my parents glared at me in warning, I said, “Alright, let him marry Camila, then.”

It was futile to force Camila to love me anymore, so I chose to give my blessings to them.

My parents seemed to be a little surprised. They were surprised that I would let Camila, whom I loved deeply, go that easily. In the past, I would have been angry and questioned them.

However, after a temporary moment of confusion, they answered coldly, “Don’t forget that Camila’s only willing to marry you because she hates you and wants you to suffer with her. After all, you got her younger brother in a coma.

“Since you’re so cruel, it’s not right for you to be so close to the Reid family. It’s the best-case scenario for Luther to marry her.”

I nodded calmly and suddenly asked, “If Luther marries Camila, does that mean I no longer have to be punished? You won’t stop me from leaving any longer, right?”

After a brief silence, Ruth, who had been quiet throughout, suddenly frowned.

“Where would you go? Where could you even go?”

Over the past two years, I had lost touch with the outside world.

However, I recalled Ruth once chatting happily with Camila. They had wanted to watch me hold my own piano concert in River City.

Times had changed. They would no longer attend my performance, and my mangled fingers would no longer play the piano.

However, I still wanted to visit the city. I wanted to make a toast and mourn my past with a glass of wine.

Before I could speak, Luther grabbed my shoulder and frowned. “Oliver, the wound on your face is not fully healed just yet. If the reporters find out, it’ll be bad press for Mom and Dad.

“Oliver, I know that you’re blaming me, but think about our parents! Please don’t leave, alright? You also don’t want others to think that our parents had tortured their own son, right?”

Upon hearing that, my parents came back to their senses. My disfigured face and mangled fingers would be a threat to their reputation.

It hurt more that it was the unvarnished truth.

“Just stay at home. You have nowhere to go.

“We have enough means to take care of you. As long as you learn from your mistakes, you’re still our son.”

They thought that I would be delighted with their offer.

On the contrary, I was puzzled.

“Why? I’ve given everything to him. Why won’t you let me leave?

“I’m not fighting for anything. I just want to leave.”

My eyes were vacant as I kept repeating my question. However, they started to get impatient and glared at me.

“Why else would you leave? Do you think we’re dumb? You intend to leave in order to turn the public’s opinion on Luther.

“I won’t allow this! Go back to your room and reflect on your words. Don’t come out unless we say so.”

After they said that, they immediately left.

Luther leaned closer to me and flashed a smug and creepy smile at me.

“Oliver, just be good and stay at home. If you leave, my life would be very boring.”

Luther’s lies were painfully obvious.

He claimed that I had bullied him in school, but he did not even have a single wound on him.

He claimed that I had forced him to kill himself, but a day before he jumped into the ocean, he had sent me a text: Do you want to bet how insignificant you are to them?

However, when I showed my parents the evidence, they said that I was vicious. “You’ve already treated Luther so poorly, why are you still making up lies to frame him?

“Since you won’t listen to us, you should reflect on your own actions in the basement!”

I always thought that Luther only made up lies to frame me because he was afraid that my parents would favor me.

However, he did not seem to be satisfied.

“Why? Luther, I’ve already given you my parents, my older sister, and my fiancee!

“I don’t owe you anything! Why aren’t you willing to let me go?”

I had bottled up all the past hurt and grief.

It had been two years. I thought I had already lost my ability to advocate for myself.

However, Luther always knew how to hit me where it hurt the most.

“Are you saying that you don’t owe me anything? I’m telling you, from the moment you came back to this family, you owed me everything!

“If you hadn’t returned, I’d be the only son of this family! You turned my presence into a joke among the upper-class circle. Why would I let you go?”

“Even if you intend to leave, I’m not letting you. After all, our family dotes on me the most. Oliver, if you don’t witness my success, my victory would be hollow.”

I had experienced his two-faced nature all these years.

Whenever my parents were not around, he would always mock me like a bug he could squish to death.

Sometimes, I could not help but think, if back then, I did not get lost when I went out with Ruth and Camila, would my life have turned out differently?

Luther moved back into his bedroom, which was the most well decorated room in the house.

My small room was completely stuffed with random items.

My parents threw me a thin blanket.

“Luther said his life has been tough these past two years. He’s been having nightmares. You should sleep in front of his bedroom door to keep an eye on him.

“If it weren’t for you, he wouldn’t have suffered at all. This is how you’ll make it up to him.”

The sky had turned dark. I looked at the air mattress before Luther’s room. It was a huge contrast from the big, warm bed in his bedroom.

However, it was still far better than the cold basement.

It was going to be an eventful night.

Camila showed up.

She heard that Luther had returned, so she did not waste another second. She immediately flew back from overseas.

“Luther!”

She tearfully ran toward Luther. She hugged him tightly, just like how she hugged me in the past.

Camila’s voice trembled. She held Luther gingerly like a cherished treasure.

“Luther, you’re finally back. I thought you’d deserted me.

“Other than Nate, you’re the only family I have left in this world.

“Luther, let’s get married. I don’t want you to leave me again!”

Luther hugged Camila tightly and kissed her ferociously.

“I’m sorry, Camila. I made you worry.

“But Oliver never hurt me. He’s not like that.

“What happened two years ago must’ve been an accident. He didn’t mean it! Camila, forgive him. You love him, so you should marry him. I don’t deserve you…”

Camila interrupted him. She looked at me coldly and said without any hesitation, “He doesn’t deserve me. I was blind in the past.

“If it wasn’t for the sake of punishing him to avenge you and Nate, I wouldn’t have even laid my eyes on him. I’m utterly disgusted.”

I numbly watched them acting intimately. I was tired.

If they truly loved each other, they should be together.

It no longer had anything to do with me.

Camila and I were once neighbors.

Because my parents were busy with work, Ruth and Camila would bring me to the nearby park to play.

However, they were only children. They were no match against the human traffickers.

When I was one, I was kidnapped.

They only found me when I was eighteen.

By then, they had already adopted Luther to replace me.

They claimed that both families had suffered a lot because of my disappearance.

“Oliver, don’t blame us. When you were kidnapped, we were overwhelmed with sadness. Hence, we adopted Luther.

“From now on, both of you are my sons. Camila also said that she wants to marry you. Will you get engaged to her?”

I had nothing to complain about that arrangement.

Even though Luther always tried to trip me up, I did not pay much attention to him.

It was still a huge improvement over the horrific rural life that I had been experiencing.

However, I did not expect the performance from two years ago to ruin my peaceful life.

During that performance, Camila’s younger brother, Nate Reid, fell down almost ten feet from the stage.

There was a metal rod at the bottom of the stage. It pierced through Nate’s spine, and Nate became vegetative afterward.

Camila could not accept it, so she frantically pressed for the venue to look into the matter.

However, the findings were absurd.