Chapter 2The Angel's Lie

When I arrived at my parents’ house, the living room was in shambles.

A collection of aunts and cousins were gathered, pointing at me the moment I walked in.

Ethan followed close behind me. My mother’s red-rimmed eyes locked onto him.

“Ethan! How could you do this to Lily’s memory? You promised you would take care of her for the rest of your life!”

My aunt immediately chimed in. “Exactly! Lily’s not even cold in her grave, and you two are getting married? What will people say? Think of this family’s reputation!”

Ethan looked at the floor, his voice steady.

“Ma’am, Mr. Hale… marrying Chloe is what Lily wanted. It was her last wish.”

“Before she passed, she said she hoped I could take her place, and take care of her sister for the rest of my life.”

And with that single sentence, he nailed me to the cross of selfishness all over again.

See? It wasn’t him who had a change of heart, nor was it me who stole him away.

It was me, the charity case, the broken thing that needed to be “taken care of,” stepping into the spot that rightfully belonged to my sister.

Everyone looked at me with a mixture of pity and disgust, as if I were some parasite, shamelessly living off the scraps of a dead girl’s legacy.

Crack.

The sound of the slap was sharp and clean.

My mother, trembling from head to toe, pointed at me. “Chloe! Your sister was thinking of you even as she was dying, and what about you? Do you deserve it? You’re a murderer!”

My cheek burned.

I licked the coppery taste of blood from the corner of my mouth and finally lifted my head, my gaze calm as I looked at the twisted faces of my “family.”

“She was a thief,” I said, my voice even and clear.

The room fell instantly silent.

My father shot to his feet, staring at me in disbelief. “What… what did you just say?”

“I said, Lily was a thief.”

I repeated the words, a smile spreading across my lips.

“She stole my diary, found out I was in love with Ethan, and then she put on the dress I bought, used the lines I practiced in the mirror, and went to tell him she was in love with him.”

“She stole the award certificate that should have been mine—first place in the National Science Scholar competition—and used my name and my work to get into the early admissions program at Johns Hopkins.”

“She stole my life. She stole everything from me. Did you know that?”

I turned to my parents.

“Did you know that the research paper she submitted—every data point, every single equation—was the result of dozens of sleepless nights I spent in the lab?”

“All you knew was how proud you were when she won, how you could boast about her to all our relatives.”

“Did you know I was dragged into the dean’s office and accused of plagiarism? That I was nearly expelled?”

“You didn’t know.”

I looked at their stunned, speechless faces, and I laughed until tears streamed down my cheeks.

“All you ever knew was your precious younger daughter. So innocent, so kind, so fragile. A perfect little angel.”

“And me? I was born healthier, stronger. So I deserved to be ignored. I deserved to be her stepping stone. I deserved to give up everything for her. Even… my life.”

Ten years.

This was the first time I had ever said the words out loud.

Everyone was frozen, including Ethan. His brow was furrowed, and for the first time, a flicker of confusion crossed his face.

My mother, after the initial shock, turned deathly pale. She looked like she was remembering something, her lips trembling as she failed to form a single word.

I took a deep breath and looked directly at Ethan.

“Why do you think, even on her deathbed, she was so obsessed with you ‘taking care’ of me?”

“Because she was guilty.”

“She was afraid I would tell you the truth. She was terrified that after she was gone, you would find out from someone, anyone, what kind of person the girl you loved for all those years truly was.”

In the silent living room, only my cold voice remained.

That, and the sound of my mother’s choked, breaking sobs.

I suddenly remembered that last afternoon in the hospital, just before Lily died.

Everyone else was gone. It was just the two of us in the sterile room.

She had gripped my hand, her voice as thin as thread.

“Chloe, don’t save me.”

“I’m begging you. Don’t donate your marrow.”

Ethan was silent for a long time.

Finally, he spoke, his voice raspy. “Lily… she wouldn’t lie to me.”

The answer I expected.

“The wedding is in three days,” I announced to the room.

“Come or don’t. I don’t care.”

I turned and walked out, not sparing any of them a final glance.