When I was little, my parents told me and my sister to pick out a piece of jewelry.

Laid out in front of us were Mom's gold ring and her silver ring.

I chose the gold one. My sister chose the silver one.

After that, my parents took only me on a two-day trip.

That night, lying in the motel bed, I overheard them talking.

"This kid is just too greedy. How can she be so calculating? If only she were more like her little sister."

"Well, we can't afford to raise two kids anyway. The sooner we send her off, the sooner we can stop worrying."

I understood exactly what they meant.

I buried myself under the covers, shaking with terror, tears streaming down my face.

It was my sister who had told me she was allergic to silver. That touching it could kill her. That was the only reason I'd let her have the silver ring.

I kept that secret locked inside me for over a decade.

Until I enrolled at Westbrook University.

And in a classroom, I came face to face with her again.

……

The moment I walked in, I spotted Maureen Simmons in the crowd.

She'd grown up. Far prettier than she'd been as a child. Her clothes alone looked expensive.

She must have recognized me too, because she drifted over, unhurried.

Her voice was soft, dripping with rehearsed warmth.

"You're so pretty. You look just like a friend I had when I was little."

I looked at the makeup on her face, and a flash of memory hit me. She'd always loved sneaking into our mother's cheap cosmetics. And every time Mom found out, she'd swear up and down that I was the one who'd used them.

She pushed everything onto me. Every single time.

I didn't look up. I just asked quietly, "You mean the sister your family gave away?"

Her voice cut off mid-breath.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her freeze for a solid few seconds. The smile on her face locked in place, her eyes wide with shock, one hand still hanging in the air, not knowing where to land.

I ignored her and went back to my book.

I found out later that our birth family had done well for themselves. They weren't scraping by anymore, not like back then, when they could barely put food on the table.

Maureen took a long time to recover. Something dark flickered behind her eyes, there and gone in an instant.

After class, I headed for my rental apartment.

I barely made it a few steps before she blocked my path.

She leaned against the wall, her tone leaving no room for refusal.

"Hey, my parents found out we go to the same school. They want to invite you over for dinner. You're not going to say no, are you?"

I didn't even think about it. I shook my head.

"No thanks. I don't have time."

She closed the distance immediately, looping her arm through mine.

"It's just dinner. It's not like we're going to eat you alive."

I looked at that fake smile plastered across her face, and something cold turned over in my chest.

I knew exactly why she was so insistent. She wanted to show off. Flaunt the good life she had now. Flaunt how much our parents doted on her.

I wanted nothing to do with that family. Not anymore.

But she wouldn't let it go, so I agreed.

Might as well go and put it all to rest.

She led me to the front gate of campus, where a silver Maserati sat parked at the curb.

"Eighteenth birthday present," she said. "From Mom and Dad. Only cost them about a hundred grand."

I let out a flat "hm" and didn't say another word.

I pulled open the door, climbed in, and stayed silent the entire ride.

The engine hummed to life. I watched the scenery scroll past the window.

This road. I hadn't been down it in twelve years.

The day they sent me away, I'd been sitting in a beat-up three-wheeled cart, sobbing until my lungs gave out. They never once looked back.

Now I was riding in a car worth a hundred thousand dollars, and all I felt was numb.

The car pulled up in front of a villa.

The moment I stepped out, I saw them. Two faces that were both familiar and foreign at the same time.

They had aged. Their hair had gone gray in patches.

Their whole bearing had changed beyond recognition.

But as I looked at them, I felt nothing. Not a ripple. Not a stir.

They stared at me, frozen in place for a long time, murmuring under their breath.

"She really does look like... the resemblance is uncanny..."

Maureen walked over and looped her arm through her mother's, making introductions.

"Mom, Dad, this is the classmate I told you about. Doesn't she look just like her?"

Savannah Simmons snapped out of her daze and hurried toward me.

She took my hands, her voice warm with enthusiasm.

"Come in, come in. It's chilly out here."

I stepped inside the mansion. The lavish decor hit me all at once—vaulted ceilings, polished marble, crystal fixtures.

A far cry from the drafty shack we'd lived in all those years ago.

Savannah brought over an elegant gift box and held it out to me, smiling, a flicker of anticipation in her eyes.

"Sweetheart, it's our first time meeting, and I didn't know what to get you."

"Just a little welcome gift. I hope you'll like it."

I took the box and opened it right there.

Inside sat a solid gold ring. By its weight alone, it had to be worth several thousand dollars.

Were they really trying this again?

The same trick. The same script. All over again.

I handed the box back to her, smiling politely.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Simmons. I'm allergic to gold."

Savannah froze in place, her hand still hovering in midair. The anticipation on her face crumbled into bewilderment.

I glanced sideways at Maureen. The expression on her face was stiff, unnatural.

Amos stepped in quickly to smooth things over. "No problem at all. If gold doesn't work, we'll pick something else."

"Whatever you like, just say the word."

I shook my head.

"That won't be necessary. I'm just here for dinner. Once we've eaten, I'll be on my way."

Savannah opened her mouth, then closed it again, the words dying on her lips.

Maureen, however, muttered something under her breath.

"What an act."

It was barely a whisper, but every syllable reached me.

Once we sat down, the table was covered with dishes.

Savannah fussed over me immediately. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I made a bit of everything. Does any of this look good to you?"

I scanned the spread. Braised pork belly. Sweet and sour fish. All the things I'd loved as a child.

Back then, we'd been too poor to afford them except during the holidays. And even then, I only got to pick at whatever scraps they left behind.

"Thank you, Mrs. Simmons, but I actually prefer spicy food."

Savannah acted as if she hadn't heard me and placed a thick cut of braised pork in my bowl herself.

"Eat up. You're too thin. You need to put some meat on those bones."

I stared at the best piece of pork sitting in my bowl. I didn't touch my chopsticks.

Savannah noticed and tilted her head, curious.

"Why aren't you eating? Is it not good?"

She picked up a piece for herself and tasted it.

"It's fine. Tastes just like it always did."

I set down my chopsticks and cut straight to the point.

"Let's skip the pleasantries. You didn't invite me here just for dinner, did you?"

The couple exchanged a glance, something complicated passing between them.

Amos spoke first. "You're overthinking it. There's no hidden agenda. We just wanted to have a meal with you."

I wasn't stupid. I could see what they were after.

But twelve years had passed. Some things couldn't be undone.

"I know you've figured out who I am. And I won't deny it. I was your daughter once."

"But I truly don't want you disrupting my life again."

"Consider this our last supper."

Savannah grabbed my hand, her grip desperate.

"Sunny, we—"

I pulled my hand free and cut her off.

"My name is Regina Fox. Not Sunny."

The name Sunny.

It had been buried the same day they sent me away.

Amos's expression turned cold, his patience finally snapping. "Is that how you talk to your parents?"

"Your mother got up at the crack of dawn to shop and cook for you, couldn't stop talking about you the whole time. Is this how you repay her?"

I laughed. A hollow, disbelieving laugh.

I swallowed the grievance churning inside me and looked at them both.

"And how have you repaid me?"

The two of them went silent. Neither had a word to say.

Maureen piped up from the side, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You pulled every string you could to transfer back here. We all know what you're really after."

"Playing the high-and-mighty victim now. Who's this performance for?"

Savannah hissed under her breath, "Maureen, that's enough!"

Maureen pouted, defiant. "Am I wrong? That's exactly what she's like!"

I couldn't be bothered to argue with them anymore. I stood up to leave.

"Stop right there!"

Amos called after me. He pulled a bank card from his wallet and tossed it onto the table in front of me.

"There's fifty thousand dollars on that card. Living expenses for your college years."

I didn't pick it up. I walked out of the mansion without looking back.

Everything behind me no longer had anything to do with me.

Savannah tried to follow, but Maureen held her back.

"Mom, can't you see what's going on?"

"She thinks it's not enough. What she wants is way more than that!"

Amos's face darkened. He let out a cold scoff.

"Sending her away was the best decision I ever made."

I heard every word.

I told myself not to care anymore. Not to let it hurt.

But the pain still twisted through my chest, sharp and raw, like something was clawing at me from the inside.

Was that really all I was to them? Something cheap and disposable?

All I wanted was to live my life in peace. Was that so wrong?

I went back to my apartment and collapsed onto the couch.

I just needed a moment. A moment to let the exhaustion and the hurt settle.

Then three masked men burst out of my bedroom.

They moved fast. The first one clamped his hand over my mouth before I could make a sound. The others grabbed my arms, rough and brutal, and started tearing at my clothes.

The third one held up a phone, grinning as he snapped photos.

The things coming out of his mouth were filthy.

When they were done taking pictures, they tried to force themselves on me.

My vision went red. I fought with everything I had.

Then I remembered the paring knife I kept hidden under the couch cushion.

I ripped it out and slashed wildly at them.

"Get out! Get the hell away from me!"

"I swear to God, I'll kill every last one of you!"

At first they laughed, amused, trying to grab the knife out of my hand.

But I was stronger than they expected. They couldn't get close. One of them caught a gash across his arm, and they finally scrambled out, cursing as they went.

I ran to the door and threw the deadbolt. Then I checked every corner of the apartment, every closet, every shadow.

Only when I was sure I was alone did I sink to the floor, half-dressed, shaking.

The tears came then. I couldn't hold them back anymore.

I called the police that same night. I thought it was over.

Until I opened my phone the next morning.

The campus forum was flooded with explicit photos of me. They were everywhere.

Half of them were real. The other half had been deliberately edited.

The comments section had hundreds of posts, every single one mocking me, tearing me apart.

One comment in particular had leaked all of my personal information. Name, age, major. Every detail, letter-perfect.

And tacked on at the end, casual as anything:

She's always been like this. Total slut.