Chapter 3

My mom was always strong and cared deeply about her dignity. Reputation meant everything to her.

She raised the two of us all by herself after Dad left, never once bowing her head, no matter how rough life got.

She'd always say, "Once Christian grows up, gets married, and makes something of himself, our good days will finally come."

I knew she placed all her hopes on Christian.

Me? I was just her daughter. Nothing more.

Then Christian exploded, kicking over the coffee table, shouting, "You're at it again, huh? Always trying to break people up! Wasn't it enough that you drove Dad to his death? You want me dead too?"

Before he could even finish, a sharp slap cracked across his face.

Mom was trembling, tears streaming down. "I'm your mother! How could you say that to me? It wasn't me who killed him—he ran off with that mistress and crashed the damn car. I just… I just didn't want this family to fall apart."

Christian curled his lip, hatred flashing in his eyes. "If you'd agreed to the divorce earlier, would Dad have run off? Would he have died in that car crash?

"You're a heartless woman! You don't have a clue what love is!"

Honestly, the last thing I wanted was to see my brother and Lucas actually break up.

So all I could do was keep trying to talk Mom down.

"Mom, Christian's still a kid, okay? He says stupid things when he's mad. Don't take it to heart," I said. "He finally found the love of his life. You should be happy for him.

"Love doesn't care about gender, Mom. You've got to stop being so old-fashioned."

But instead of calming down, she turned all her anger on me. Her eyes burned with irritation. "I'll handle my son myself! Since when do you get to stick your nose in?"

She'd never liked me much. Ever since we were little, she acted like I was always stealing Christian's spotlight.

"My son will marry a nice girl someday and take care of me," she used to say. "Not like you—just some worthless girl who'll marry off and belong to another family."

Funny thing was, she never imagined her precious son would end up becoming a gay.

I was too stunned to even argue back. Christian just stood there grinning, watching the show like it was comedy hour.

"Who do you think you are?" he sneered. "You really think people will believe whatever crap you say? Don't forget—I'm the only son in this house."

He really hit that word "son" hard. I laughed under my breath. Sure, he was the son—one who liked bending over for another man.

Mom, though, still thought there was hope for him. Her voice softened as she turned to him, trying to bargain.

"Even though you really like men, fine," she said. "Let's compromise a little, huh? Just marry Scarlett first, get your marriage certificate, have a baby or two. After that, whatever you two do, I won't interfere."

But Christian wasn't hearing a word. His voice shot up an octave, full of fire. "I love Lucas for real. I'm not marrying any dirty woman you try to throw at me. We're going to Italy next week to get married!"

Before his words even finished echoing through the house, my phone started buzzing.

I glanced at the screen—it was Lucas.

I turned a little, hiding my phone so Mom and Christian wouldn't see.

"Who's texting you now?" Mom snapped.

Christian laughed, all fake-sweet venom. "Probably some idiot guy who's blind enough to think she's worth his time."

I escaped to the balcony and unlocked my phone.

Lucas: [Hey Victoria, free this weekend? Let's hang out.]

And right under that, a picture—of him naked from the waist down.

I froze. Never in a million years did I think Lucas, after getting caught cheating with my brother, would still come after me.

He even sent me a video later. [Victoria, dating both brother and sister—that's real excitement, don't you think? Wanna try?]

Disgust didn't even begin to cover it. How blind had I been to ever like this trash?

But when I thought of my brother, that clueless idiot who actually believed Lucas loved him... something ugly twisted inside me.

You thought he loved you? Fine. Let's see how much.

I smiled coldly, posted the filthy things Lucas sent me to my Moments feed, added the caption: [My crush sent me a private pic—guess that means he's in love.]

I set the post to "Visible to Christian only."

And right on cue—three seconds later—he came charging at me with a knife in his hand.