I’d laughed bitterly.
Just to spite me, even when they went to a hotel, they used my number for the booking.
That was the moment I knew—any relationship that required no effort or investment was doomed from the start.
Looking back now, it all feels impossibly far away.
“Sis, don’t be mad at Ethan. That’s just how he is,” Sophia Brooks said softly, her expression gentle but laced with false concern.
“You disappeared for five years without contacting us. Mom and Dad were so worried. Where on earth did you go?”
She spoke like a saint, but the undertone was pure malice.
“You don’t know the awful things people have been saying. Some claim you ran off with another man.”
Sophia covered her mouth with a dainty laugh. “But I know you wouldn’t—after all, you’ve always loved Ethan too much to accept another man…”
I chuckled along with her.
“How do you know I wouldn’t? Don’t act like you know me so well.”
I was smiling, but my tone was cold and distant.
“And stop calling me ‘sis.’ I’m an only child—my parents never gave me a sister.”
Her smile froze instantly, and the color drained slightly from her face.
I hadn’t held back one bit.
Everyone in our circle knew I—Lily Anderson—was the true Brooks heiress.