Chapter 1The Stepsister's Downfall

"You married her?!"

Lily couldn't accept it. Ethan had always loved her, so why did he suddenly marry someone he'd known for less than six months?!

In the past, she would've been thrilled for Ethan to marry someone else and cut ties with her completely. But now, watching her only lifeline, her eternal backup plan, disappear, she felt like her world was crumbling.

"You've always loved me. Divorce her! It's either me or her!"

Ethan's expression changed: "Lily, are you insane? I'm just your brother."

Originally, she might have succeeded, but unfortunately, I had entered the picture.

Lily's return home was sudden. She had previously smashed the family photo and cut ties, but barely a month later, here she was again, eyes downcast, looking as fragile as ever.

When she saw me sitting next to Ethan, she froze for a good while, clearly not expecting to see another woman by her brother's side.

I looked at her, also shocked. In just one month, life had taken such a toll on Lily that she looked like a different person.

The once pampered princess now had chilblains all over her hands, and she had lost a considerable amount of weight.

Ethan abruptly stood up from the sofa, his eyes behind the glasses dark with suppressed emotion.

"What happened to your hands?"

Lily tried to hide her hands in her sleeves, mumbling, "I've been cycling to the hospital lately..."

After cutting ties with the Harrison family, she had naturally returned the car.

She used to have gloves, but unfortunately, they had been stolen by some patient at the hospital. In the past, Lily wouldn't have even needed to mention it; someone would have automatically bought her a new pair.

But when she casually mentioned it to Jake, he immediately frowned, his lips curling into a contemptuous smile: "Once a princess, always a princess. You just can't handle the life of us poor folks, can you?"

"It's just a pair of gloves, and it's already making you think of the Harrison family. If that's the case, why don't you just go back?"

"My aunt gets up at five or six every morning to cycle to the market, and her hands haven't fallen off, have they?"

Lily immediately shut up, not daring to say another word. She looked at Jake's tense face in the warm orange light, her heart melting: "I know you're afraid I'll get tied up with the Harrison family again. You just don't want to let me go."

After her fallout with her family, her mother, Victoria, seemed to age several years overnight. Looking at the daughter she had doted on since childhood, she was the first to soften: "Lily, sweetie, if you're willing to come back, we'll give you back your car, your house, everything..."

"Stop, Mom." Lily's face immediately changed. She clutched her bag, looking both defiant and vulnerable at Victoria: "I told you, unless you accept Jake, I'm not coming back."

"You've already torn us apart once. This time, I won't let you control me. I can't change you, but I can die for him!"

She was prepared for Victoria's anger. Her mother had always been like this, making decisions about her life under the guise of having her best interests at heart. If it weren't for Jake, she didn't know how long she would have suffered in that gilded cage!

But instead of the expected scolding, Victoria's eyes were filled with disappointment and pain: "You're willing to cut ties with your own parents for a man?"

Lily, lost in thought, blurted out: "Adoptive parents."

Those few words had an earth-shattering effect. The entire Harrison mansion seemed to tremble.

That single word, "adoptive," negated all the years of care and nurturing Victoria and George had given her.

"Fine, fine." Victoria nodded repeatedly, her face gradually hardening into an impenetrable mask, cold and emotionless: "From now on, you have no parents, and no brother."

Lily left in tears, throwing herself into Jake's arms, while Ethan, who had rushed out, still held a tube of chilblain cream in his hand.

"Lily—"

"Shut up!" Jake roared angrily, "Lily's already like this, can't you just leave her alone? Are you trying to drive her to suicide?!"

Lily was cowering behind Jake, her doe-like eyes full of rejection and fear, as if she was facing not the brother she had grown up with, but some mortal enemy.

"Ethan Harrison, Lily treated you as family, but what did you treat her as? A pawn, something you could toss aside at will! She's already in this state, do you want to push her off a ledge before you're satisfied?"

Jake's brows were furrowed into a deep 'V' as he berated the dejected-looking man.

Ethan's hand holding the chilblain cream slowly dropped, disappearing into the shadows.

I saw the veins on the back of Ethan's hand standing out. When had such a dignified and aloof person ever been shouted at by some lowlife thug?

"Excuse me, Mr. Jake," I said, my eyes full of contempt. "This is the Harrison house. You're the ones who should leave."

I took the chilblain cream from Ethan's hand and tossed it at Lily's feet.

"Your brother just wanted to give you some medicine. There's no need to act like you're at death's door."

"You two claim to be madly in love, yet he can't even afford to buy you a pair of gloves. Is this really the life you want?"

"What's wrong with this life?" Lily retorted, her eyes red.

Jake let out a cold laugh, his eyes filled with naked disgust and an inexplicable sense of superiority as he looked at me.

"Our Lily isn't as delicate as someone like you!"

Someone like me?

I looked down at my designer coat, the lambskin boots on my feet, each strand of my hair polished to perfection.

Someone like me lives in a penthouse, not crammed into a tiny old apartment with five people, getting up at six every morning to fight for the bathroom.

Someone like me has a dozen cars to choose from, not braving the bitter wind to cycle for over an hour, then squeezing onto the subway like a frozen dog.

Someone like me has tasted all sorts of delicacies, not moved to tears over a bowl of plain porridge.

"Lily, don't regret it later," I said.

After Lily left with Jake, Ethan and I returned to the Harrison house. Victoria had already composed herself, back to her usual impeccable self.

"Ethan, Olivia just got back from abroad and isn't familiar with things here. Spend more time with her."

Victoria was very pleased with me as a match. My mother had barely been in the door for half an hour before Victoria took my hand and invited me to stay for dinner.

"Alright, Mom," Ethan nodded. When he turned to look at me, his eyes behind the glasses were filled with nothing but unfamiliar detachment. I suddenly reached out, gently brushing away a bit of fluff that had landed on his shoulder.

"Mr. Harrison, could you pick me up at City Hospital at 5 PM tomorrow? There's an art exhibition I'd like to attend with you."