Chapter 1

My parents adopted Spencer Sterling as my foster brother, and from that day on, I became invisible in my own home.

The money for Spencer to go to a top school came from me dropping out and working.

My parents sold my beloved puppy just to buy Spencer the limited-edition sneakers he wanted.

Later, Spencer ended up with uremia.

My parents begged me, "Stella, you're his elder sister. You have to save him."

I was dragged into the operating room and forced to give up a kidney.

I didn't survive the surgery. Complications took my life.

They hugged the healthy Spencer and coldly signed my death certificate. "Guess raising her wasn't a total waste."

Just then, a group of men dressed in black stormed into the hospital room, led by a lawyer whose face was set in stone.

The lawyer said, "Unfortunately, Ms. Stella Cooper is the sole heir to Global Group.

"According to Mr. Cooper's will, all of her assets, including her organs, are now under our full control."

My parents and Spencer instantly turned ashen.

*****

I lay on the cold operating table, and the overhead lights were so bright that I couldn't even open my eyes.

The anesthesia was slowly pulling me under, and my body felt weightless, like a leaf drifting down.

All I could hear was my mom, Helen Foster, crying tears of joy.

She said, "Doctor, that's wonderful! Spencer is going to survive. Please, use the best techniques you have. This is my son's only hope."

No one cared about me.

It felt like I wasn't even a real person about to be harvested for my organs, but just a slab of meat for them to carve up however they pleased.

Just a few hours ago, my dad, Frank Foster, and my mom, Helen Foster, each took an arm and dragged me into this hospital.

I cried and struggled, "I'm not donating. That's my kidney, not yours!"

Helen slapped me hard across the face, her voice sharp and cutting.

She said, "Stella, we gave you your life. Now we're asking you to give up a kidney to save your brother. What's so hard about that? You ungrateful brat!"

I covered my face and let out a cold, hollow laugh. "You say you gave me my life? Then who was the one who dragged me out of that orphanage, huh?

"If I'd known this was how it'd end, I'd rather have been left to rot in that dump nobody wanted me in."

"How dare you!" Frank's hands closed around my throat, pinning me to the wall, his eyes wild with rage.

He said, "Spencer is the only legacy the Foster family has. If he dies, we're finished. Listen, you're giving up that kidney today, whether you like it or not!"

Choking, I finally gave up.

Yeah, Spencer was their heir, the center of their world, and the one they truly cared about.

So what was I?

Just a replacement they grabbed from the orphanage on a whim, a spare part, and a stepping stone for Spencer's future.

Spencer was a year younger than I was. After they took me in, they shelled out cash to "adopt" him, bringing him home as their special boy.

From the day he joined our family, I became invisible in my own home.

All the good food, all the fun stuff, he got it all.

And me? I was always the one overlooked, always the one thrown under the bus.

The money for Spencer to get into a top school? I dropped out at sixteen, busted my ass scrubbing dishes in restaurants and hauling bricks at construction sites. Every cent was earned by me, one by one.

My hands were cracked and calloused from freezing water and rough gravel. They were so messed up that I barely recognized them as mine.

When Spencer wanted those limited-edition sneakers, my parents didn't hesitate for a second. They just turned around and sold Dotty, the dog I'd loved and cared for five years, like it was nothing.

That day, I hugged Dotty's empty dog bed, sobbing until I was gasping for air.

But Helen just jabbed her finger in my face and snapped, "What are you bawling about? It's just a dog. Your brother's future matters a hell of a lot more."

Yeah, to them, even a dog was more important than me.

Now that Spencer'd gotten uremia, he needed a transplant.

Naturally, their eyes landed on me.

Because my blood type matched, and because I was the one they could summon and dismiss at will, always on standby, always disposable.

A few nurses pinned me down on the hospital bed, and a cold needle pierced the back of my hand with icy precision.

Through my vision swimming with tears, I saw Spencer standing just a short distance away.

He was dressed in a spotless hospital gown, not a trace of guilt on his face, but just that look that said he wished I'd hurry up and get it over with already.

"Dad, Mom, hurry up. I need this kidney so I can go on my graduation trip with my friends," he whined.

This was the brother I was sacrificing my life for.

A cold-blooded, spoiled monster.

With the last ounce of strength I had left before the anesthesia knocked me out for good, I gazed out the window at the dull gray sky.

If I got another shot at life, I hoped I'd never cross paths with them again. Never.