Chapter 1
“Harper, your brother is here to pick you up.” Amelia from next door called warmly, her face full of curiosity as she glanced outside.
It had been three years since Harper Sullivan was kicked out and moved to the slum. No one still remembered her by now.
Harper smiled bitterly to herself. She squinted, then unexpectedly caught sight of a tall, familiar figure.
It was Ethan Walker, the guy she had called brother for eighteen years.
Suddenly, Harper felt panic rising in her throat. Her voice caught, and though she tried to call out to him as she did three years ago, no sound
came out.
Memories flooded her mind.
Though she was the Walker family’s adopted daughter, Ethan had once been so good to her that he seemed willing to pluck stars from the sky for her. He never let her suffer the slightest injustice–until that incident.
After Olivia, he yelled at her harshly for the first time and even pushed her outside in the rain.
Both her brother and the man Harper loved most in life had chosen Olivia’s side.
Harper approached him with a mixture of detachment and calm. “Mr. Walker, may I ask what brings you here?”
Ethan frowned, standing beside a luxury car Before coming to the slum. he had pictured what Harper might look like now, but reality still caught him off guard.
So much had changed. She had changed.
Three years had passed. Her face was no longer full and round; the baby fat had faded. Years of hunger had left no extra flesh on her sharp, slender face. Her eyebrows were thin and curved. Chronic malnutrition had sapped the color from her skin, leaving it waxy and pale, dotted with freckles across her nose.
“How have you been all these years?” Ethan by the car didn’t answer her question. Instead, his face fell into shadow as he lightly fiddled with the buttons on his jacket, speaking more like an interrogator than a brother.
Harper’s dry, brittle hair, her frostbitten earlobes, and cheap clothes all testified to the hardships she’d endured,
Her hands dropped to tug nervously at the frayed cuffs of her old sweater. “I’m Fine.”
“Yeah,” Ethan sighed. “You’re still alive. Some people, though they died because of you.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
If those people could see how miserable she was now, they would probably think she deserved it–that she brought this on herself by crossing the wrong man.
She even caused the death of the woman he loved most. No wonder she was cast out and left in ruins.
“Mom’s been worried about you. She’s been sick a lot lately. You should come back and see her,” Ethan said.
Harper wanted to refuse, but instinctively asked with concern, “Ava? Is she okay?”
Back when Harper still carried the Walker name, she was arrogant and
wild, but Ava Walker had loved her dearly and spoiled her completely.
“She’s still alive, after all.” After saying this, Ethan looked at Harper, who kept her head down, expression blank. A surge of anger welled up inside. him. “Don’t pretend to be the victim here. You caused a death. What right do you have to feel wronged?
“Don’t think you can come back and live the good life. Harper, you’ll spend the rest of your life making amends for this,” he added.
With those harsh words, Ethan strode to his car, opened the door, and looked back down at her from above. “Get in. Otherwise, don’t regret it
later.”
Harper clenched the faded hem of her shirt, eyes full of inner struggle.
After a moment’s thought, she finally got into Ethan’s car.
About two hours later, the vehicle stopped outside the Walker residence.
The driver held an umbrella, opened the door, and escorted Harper under it. Ethan walked ahead with one hand in his pocket, entering the Walker mansion without hesitation.
Harper followed carefully behind. The air, the bricks, the flowers–they were all familiar. She had lived here for nineteen years. But stepping inside again felt like entering a different world.
Rain continued to pour, drumming noisily on the umbrella. The heavy footsteps mingled with the sound of the storm.
Harper kept her head down, unaware.
