Chapter 1
The year the Cooper family went bankrupt, I had just received a full scholarship to the design department at Westbridge University.
I hadn't had time to enjoy my acceptance letter when my brother, Ryan Cooper, got into a car accident.
He suffered a spinal injury and was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Our parents died young, and after the company was liquidated, we were left with a staggering 4 million dollars in debt.
I dropped out of college.
The day I signed all the debt agreements, I had just turned nineteen.
For four years, I worked four jobs a day, didn't clock out until 2 a.m., and was back up at six to make special meals for Ryan's rehab.
One time, debt collectors cornered me in an alley and kicked me so hard I coughed up blood. I couldn't afford the hospital, so I patched myself up and showed up for work like nothing happened the next day.
I got so skinny my period stopped for three months, but I never set foot in a clinic.
Every dollar I managed to save went straight to Ryan's imported pain relief injections and nursing pads.
Then everything changed one night.
I was working in the kitchen at the Grand Crest Restaurant. From the service window, I could see straight into the VIP hallway on the second floor.
A man stepped out of a private room to take a call.
He was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, walking with steady, confident steps, his tall, upright figure impossible to miss.
The moment he turned his head, I nearly dropped the tray I was holding.
It was Ryan.
The same Ryan I carried from bed to wheelchair every day, fed, bathed, and emptied his catheter bag was standing perfectly steady on the marble floor with those supposedly "permanently paralyzed" legs.
I was frozen at the service window, holding a thirty-pound metal tray, my fingers tightening around it slowly.
He hung up, turned, and pushed open the private room door, letting a wave of laughter spill out.
"Ryan, you've been faking it for four years. Impressive," someone said.
It was Eric Turner, Ryan's childhood friend. I recognized his voice. Over the past four years, I'd asked him for money three times, and he shot me down every time.
Ryan's voice drifted out from behind the private room door, sounding a little lazy and amused. "What can I do? Claire's too hot-headed. If I don't teach her a lesson, she'll never learn to go easy on Emily.
"Emily was adopted, and she's never felt secure. Claire exposed her in front of the whole family, made her run out crying, and she almost got hurt. If I don't defend Emily, how can she stay in the Cooper family?"
Someone chimed in, "So you pulled off a fake bankruptcy and a fake car crash?"
"The bankruptcy was real," Ryan said, sounding carefree. "But I transferred all the money out first. The crash was real, but the injuries were all for show. My attending doctor was a buddy from school. He cooked up all the medical reports for me."
Everyone at the table cracked up.
"What about Claire? She didn't know this at all?" someone asked.
"Her?" Ryan snorted. "That girl's quite simple. She'll believe anything I tell her. Told her to drop out, she dropped out. Told her to take on the debt, she did it. Four years, and she's been loyal like a puppy."
I stood behind the service window, the edge of the tray digging into my palm.
It hurt. But it was nothing compared to the ache in my heart.
Eric's voice dropped a little. "Ryan, I get what you're saying, but you know what kind of hell Claire's been through these past four years. Last month, she came to me asking for two hundred bucks, said you'd run out of painkillers.
"I couldn't bring myself to lend her the money, so she ended up waiting outside my office all day, from noon till it got dark. Eventually, the security guards had to pull her away."
Ryan paused for a couple seconds. "I know. But Emily's sharp. If I show Claire any mercy, she'll pick up on it instantly. She finally agreed to come back from overseas, and I can't risk screwing things up now."
Eric didn't say anything else.
Someone else said, "So when are you planning to wrap things up? You can't keep stringing Claire along forever, can you?"
"Soon," Ryan said, setting his glass down with a crisp sound. "Emily's birthday is the day after tomorrow. Once she's happy after the party, I'll have the doctor announce my 'miraculous recovery.' Then Claire will reclaim her place as the Cooper family's heiress.
"As for all the hardship she's been through these past four years, let it be a lesson. She won't dare give Emily any attitude again."
Someone hesitated. "Ryan, aren't you worried Claire will turn on you if she ever finds out the truth?"
Ryan's laughter spilled out from behind the door, full of confidence, like he owned the place.
He said, "Turn on me? I'm her brother. I'm all she's got.
"That girl thinks I'm everything. Even if she finds out someday, she'll have a meltdown, but she'll still come back.
"But Emily? We're not related. She could leave anytime she wants. I gotta make her feel safe."
I bowed my head.
A drop landed on the tray. I couldn't tell if it was sweat or something else.
It had been four years, over fourteen hundred days and nights.
All this time, I thought I was saving my brother.
In the end, all I was doing was paying for the price of exposing a lie.