Chapter 3

[My daughter earned thirty dollars in overtime bonus today, and it’s perfect! I can use it to buy my son something extra for dinner!]

[My daughter has a fever, so she can’t clean my son's room today. Now I have to take care of her too. What a nuisance!]

[I secretly checked that ungrateful girl's savings account today. She actually managed to save fifty thousand dollars behind our backs! Perfect. My son needs money to get married!]

Every post came with screenshots of bank transfers. Whenever I sent Mom five hundred dollars, she would transfer four hundred and fifty dollars to my brother. When I sent her one thousand two hundred dollars, she transferred one thousand five hundred dollars to him. And if she came up short, she’d simply ask me for more.

For three years, I had worked tirelessly, trying to heal the wounds my brother's departure had left on our parents. Never did it cross my mind that the three of them had been working together the entire time to scam me out of my money.

I covered my mouth, terrified of crying out loud. With trembling hands, I saved screenshot after screenshot.

The next morning, I was jolted awake by a deafening crash. Before I could react, someone yanked me out of bed. I was dragged into the living room by a bald man covered in tattoos, only to see that my parents were already on their knees, trembling in fear.

The moment Mom saw me, she burst into tears. “Harper! Please help us!”

Dad pointed straight at me and said, “That’s my daughter! If you want money, get it from her! She’s the one with savings!”

I hadn’t even found my footing before a brutal kick slammed into my stomach, sending me crashing to the floor. Pain exploded through my body.

“Children pay their parents’ debts. That’s the way it works!”

Before I could process what was happening, the bald man grabbed my hair and smashed my head into the wall. Darkness flooded my vision, and warm liquid streamed down my face.

Mom kept screaming, “Stop! Please stop! We’ll pay you back! We promise!”

Dad begged as well. “Please let us go! If you kill my daughter, how’s she supposed to repay the money?”

Their cries echoed through the apartment.

I forced my eyes open, and that was when I noticed neither of them had moved an inch from where they were. My heart turned cold, and I struggled to pull out my phone.

Thinking I was about to transfer the money, a trace of excitement slipped into Mom’s voice. “Harper, send it directly to me!”

However, the moment she realized I was dialing 911, she lunged forward and snatched the phone from my hands. Clutching it to her chest, she shook her head frantically.

“No, sweetheart! You can’t call the police! These people have connections! Even if they’re arrested, they'll come back tomorrow! Your father and I won’t survive it!”

I stared at her. Her clothes were neat and unwrinkled, and not a single bruise marked her skin.

My throat felt parched, and I coughed, tasting blood.

“Dad. Mom. If I'm the one getting beaten half to death, what am I supposed to do?”

Even then, I wanted to give them one last chance, but the hesitation on their faces told me everything. At that moment, it felt like my heart had been ripped open. For my brother, Will Grey, my parents were willing to sacrifice even my life. If that was the case, I didn’t need to be tied to them anymore.

I looked up and noticed the bald man glancing at Dad before he raised his fist.

At the same time, Mom grabbed my arm. “Harper! Stop being stubborn! You’ll transfer the money tomorrow!”

As I watched the punch about to come down, I closed my eyes and nodded.

Finally, Mom let out a sigh of relief. “I knew it. My daughter has always been the sensible one.”

After the men left, I returned to my room alone and cleaned my wounds. Then, I opened the Reddit post again. Sure enough, Mom had updated it.

[Success! We hired someone to put on a show, and my daughter was scared out of her mind. She'll transfer the money tomorrow!]

The comments were filled with people sympathizing with the daughter and condemning the mother. However, Mom simply accused them of being jealous. She even posted screenshots of her conversation with Will.

[Son, the money issue is settled. Tomorrow we'll put down the payment on your house.]

[You guys are the best. But what if Harper figures it out?]

[Harper? Don’t worry. I just overheard her trying to borrow money from someone. She’s clueless.]

[Hahaha. Harper is way too easy to fool.]

Suddenly, I remembered something Will had said before he cut ties with the family.

“Most families favor sons over daughters, but somehow ours is the opposite! Why do you always have Mom’s and Dad’s attention? What about me?”

At the time, I thought he’d lost his mind as I believed our parents treated us fairly. Now, as I stared at the photos Mom had proudly posted of the custom-made comforter she’d ordered for Will, I reached down and touched the blanket on my own bed, which had been washed so many times the fabric had gone stiff.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. Then, I remembered the cloud storage for the security cameras around the house. I logged in, and the footage was all there, from my parents contacting the debt collectors, every moment of me being beaten, to even the transfer records showing the hush money they paid afterward. Everything had been recorded, so I downloaded and saved them all.

Back then, I had installed those cameras around the house because I was worried my parents might do something reckless in their grief. Only now did I realize they had never once been looking out for me.