Chapter 1
Evelyn's POV
I nearly died in the freezing ocean at my adopted sister Jane's birthday party.
When the yacht started tilting and alarms shrieked through the corridors, Dad grabbed Jane and bolted for the deck without looking back. Mom clutched Jane's ragdoll cat in her arms, following close behind under the bodyguards' protection.
They saved the cat.
But left their biological daughter to drown.
Three days later, I staggered home covered in wounds. The living room was decorated with scented candles and a three-tier birthday cake. Light piano music mingled with laughter—they were throwing Jane a makeup birthday party, celebrating how "the whole family" survived the disaster.
That was the scene when I pushed open the front door.
Mom—Eleanor—was stroking Jane's hair, a gesture she'd never once offered me. Dad—Arthur—raised his champagne glass to a room full of guests, beaming: "Thank God we all made it out alive."
Jane cradled that damned cat, tears brimming in her eyes. "It was terrifying. But Mom and Dad kept me safe."
I stood in the foyer, soaking wet, water still dripping from my hair. Beneath my torn life jacket, my skin was a patchwork of bruises and scabs. The cuts from glass shards on my face throbbed.
Suddenly, I wanted to laugh.
I REALLY wanted to laugh.
"Oh my God! Evelyn!" The butler's voice cracked.
The piano died. Every head whipped around.
They stared at me like I'd risen from the dead.
Mom moved toward me, then stopped. Her eyes swept over my soaked clothes, my bleeding face. Her hand dropped.
She thought I was dirty.
Just like when I'd first returned from my adoptive parents' home, reeking of that basement's mildew. She'd wrinkled her nose the same way, ordering the maids to bathe me.
"Evelyn... what happened..." Her voice shook. "We thought you were at the hospital with everyone else who got rescued..."
Everyone else?
I'd drifted in near-freezing water for an entire night. Clinging to floating debris, watching rescue boats' lights pass by again and again. I'd waved, screamed for help until my throat bled raw. Not a single vessel stopped.
Because the registered "Arthur family of three" had already been rescued in full.
Nobody knew there was a fourth person in the water.
Or rather, nobody CARED there was a fourth person.
"Yeah, Evelyn..." Jane's voice went soft. "It was complete chaos. Everyone was looking for their families... Maybe you ran somewhere else, so..."
She looked up at Dad, eyes wide and wounded. "It's all my fault for wanting a birthday party... That's why this happened... Evelyn must have been terrified..."
Just like that, she'd shifted all blame onto the "chaos" and my supposed "wandering off."
While painting herself as the thoughtful, caring sister.
Dad's face hardened.
"Exactly. Where the hell were you when everything went down? Your mother sent you to grab her wrap, and you just VANISHED? And when you finally got rescued, you couldn't even call to let us know you were alive? Do you have ANY idea how worried we were?"
I stared at him.
THEY had abandoned me. And now they were blaming ME?
"I called," my voice came out hoarse. "Used the last bit of battery I had."
Dad froze. He pulled out his phone, saw that missed call from the middle of the night. His face went red.
That was the distress call I'd dialed with frozen fingers while treading water.
But nobody answered.
Because at that moment, they'd been busy posting Jane's survival selfie online—her in dry clothes, nestled between Mom and Dad, that ragdoll cat in her arms. The caption read:
[Just lived through the scariest moment of my life �� Thank God Dad and Mom fought to protect me and Muffin, even my baby came through unharmed �� Grateful for the people who love me most in this world ❤️]
That post now had over twenty thousand likes.
The comments were flooded with "So heartwarming" "Parents' love is so great" "Jane is so lucky."
Meanwhile, I'd been in the ocean, clutching debris, watching my phone screen's light die, feeling my body temperature drain away degree by degree.
Mom grabbed a towel. "Evelyn, go take a hot shower and change. Don't catch cold—"
I stepped back.
She froze, towel in midair.
"No need," I said. "I'm fine. Don't let me interrupt your celebration."
I turned toward the stairs.
Behind me, Dad's voice dropped low: "She gets worse every day! Today is Jane's special day, and she picks THIS moment to show up looking like that? Trying to make us look bad on purpose?"
"Dad, don't be angry..." Jane's voice turned soothing. "Evelyn only came back to the family later... Maybe she's still not quite used to things..."
Came back later.
Right. I was the one who came back LATER.
Fifteen years ago, babies were switched at the hospital. I grew up walking on eggshells in my adoptive parents' home. Only when DNA results came back did Arthur and Eleanor remember they had a biological daughter.
But by then, Jane had lived in this house for fifteen years.
She'd claimed my room, my parents, my place.
I could only occupy the darkest guest room on the second floor. Like a lodger.
I pushed open my door, locked it, leaned against it.
Behind me came Mom's sighs, Dad's scolding, Jane's sobs, guests' hushed gossip.
I closed my eyes. Breathed deep. I told myself it was fine. I should have been used to this by now.
But tears still streamed down my face.
Because from this moment on, I knew—I had no parents.
Perhaps I never did.
I wiped my tears. Walked to my desk. Opened my laptop. In my inbox sat the acceptance letter from an overseas design institute. Professor Julian's email said "You're welcome to join us anytime."
I clicked reply, fingers trembling:
[I accept. Leaving next week.]
Send.
Piano music and laughter resumed outside my window.
I drew the curtains.
Finally, the world fell silent.
