Madilyn, the fake daughter of the Monticello family, had invited me to explore the mountains, and that's when everything went wrong. The ground shook, and before I knew it, a landslide had buried us in thick mud. Panic surged through me as we both tried to free ourselves from the heavy earth dragging us down.
When Adrian heard what happened, he came to rescue us. But when he arrived, his eyes were only on Madilyn. I could barely move, my body was weak, and I watched in disbelief as he made his choice. Desperate to save Madilyn, he pushed me further into the mud.
"Brother, please help me!" I screamed, my hands clawing at the slick earth, trying to hold on to something or anything.
But he didn’t listen. "Enough, Aliyah! Maddy is your sister too! If I leave her behind, she’ll die!" His voice cut through me, filled with urgency, but no concern for me.
With those words, he turned his back on me, not once looking back as I sank deeper. He probably never realized how little time I had left—or maybe he just didn’t care.
*
As Adrian slowly walked away, supporting Madilyn, whom he had just saved from the landslide, I remained trapped, desperately struggling in the thick, suffocating mud. The more I fought, the deeper I sank, the earth pulling me down with an unrelenting grip. Mud filled my mouth, clogging my throat and nostrils, making it nearly impossible to breathe. The weight of it pressed on my chest, crushing not just my body but my will. Every movement seemed to drag me further into the ground’s merciless embrace. I tried to lift my hand, to signal for help, but my strength was slipping away. I was too exhausted to respond.
Despair flooded me as I realized I was sinking—both in the mud and into hopelessness.
Just yesterday, Madilyn had invited me on this ill-fated adventure. Neither of us could have predicted the sudden rainstorm or the landslide that would leave us trapped here.
Adrian was nearby. I knew that. Despite the argument we’d had the day before, I was the long-lost child the Monticello family had searched for, for eighteen years. I believed that his guilt, buried beneath his anger, would drive him to save me. Surely, he wouldn’t leave me behind.
When I saw him approaching, dressed in a bright-colored rescue suit, a flicker of hope sparked within me. But that hope was quickly extinguished.
When Adrian reached us, his sole focus was on Madilyn. Without a second thought, he began pulling her free from the mud. He saw me—but his attention never wavered from Madilyn.
“Brother, please! Save me first!” I yelled, my voice cracking with panic, my heart pounding as the mud pressed harder against me.
I locked eyes with him, my desperation laid bare, but all I saw in return was irritation.
“Just wait! Maddy is your sister too. Why are you being so selfish?” he snapped, his words hitting me like a punch to the gut.
Stunned, I stopped moving. I wasn’t being selfish. The mud was crushing me, and I could feel my life slipping away with every second. “Please, Brother, I’m dying… I can’t hold on…”
For the first time in my life, I begged him—begged for my life. But Adrian ignored me.
“Brother, don't let go. I’m almost out!” Madilyn’s voice rang out. With his help, she finally broke free of the mud.
As she escaped, I looked at Adrian, a tiny ember of hope flickering in my chest. But when he turned toward me, there was no warmth in his eyes—only cold disdain. He extended his hand, but reluctantly, as if the very thought of touching me repulsed him.
At that moment, memories of the day I was brought back to the Monticello family flooded my mind. That same look of disgust had been in his eyes when he sneered at me for growing up in the countryside. Despite sharing the same blood, Adrian had always made it clear—I was unworthy to be his sister.
Tears blurred my vision as I grabbed his hand, clinging to him with what little strength I had left, desperate to survive. But my grip must have been too tight because I accidentally pulled him down into the mud with me. Adrian stumbled, his body now covered in the yellow sludge, and Madilyn rushed to help him up.
“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled, his voice laced with fury.
“Brother, we need to call for the rescue team. If we stay here any longer, we’ll die too!” Madilyn urged, her voice tight with fear.
Adrian nodded, brushing the mud from his clothes. He turned to me, his expression cold and detached.
“You don’t have any strength left,” he said flatly, his eyes empty of sympathy. “Just wait here. The rescue team will come for you.”
His words sliced through me, each one sharper than the last.
“Brother, please… I can’t hold on much longer… I’m so scared…” My voice trembled with terror, but Adrian’s eyes only hardened.
“Enough, Aliyah! Stop pretending to be weak. Maddy is your sister too. Do you expect me to risk our lives for you?” His voice was harsh and final, as if he had already sentenced me to die.
Silent sobs racked my body as I watched them walk away, supporting each other, without a single glance back.
I wasn’t pretending. I had been swapped at birth, raised in a family that never wanted me, in a home that only valued sons. My frail body had nearly killed me more than once.
I closed my eyes as I sank deeper into the earth, the weight of it crushing the last breath from my body.
Chapter 2Upon learning I had gone missing, Tristan mobilized the Blake family's elite rescue team, combing the mountains tirelessly for three long days. Despite their best efforts, there was still no trace of me. I could see the frustration written all over his face when he dialed Adrian’s number, his patience wearing thin.
“Adrian, where exactly did Aliyah go missing?” His voice was sharp, edged with urgency.
On the other end, Adrian let out a cold, dismissive laugh. “She grew up in the mountains, Tristan. She knows those places better than anyone. Don’t worry about her, she’ll be fine.”
Hearing his words, a surge of anger flickered in Tristan’s eyes, but he forced himself to stay calm, gripping the phone tighter.
“Let me remind you, Tristan—the one who grew up with you is Maddy, not Aliyah. Don’t forget your place,” Adrian continued, his tone dripping with disdain.
I watched as Tristan’s fist clenched involuntarily, his knuckles turning white, but he suppressed the fury threatening to boil over. When he spoke again, his voice was icy, simmering with barely contained rage. “I’m only asking—where exactly did Aliyah disappear?”
Despite the growing tension, Adrian remained indifferent, his next words almost mocking. “Maddy’s eighteenth birthday is coming up in two months. Maybe you should be focusing on that instead of wasting your time on someone insignificant. Do you really think Maddy would appreciate where your priorities lie?”
Listening to Adrian's cruel words, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. His indifference sent a sharp ache through my chest, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop the tears from welling up and spilling over. In Adrian’s eyes, I had never truly been family—just an outsider, a shadow to the sister he cherished. Perhaps that’s why I hadn’t gone to heaven yet—because I was still unreconciled with my death.
As the painful memories resurfaced, my heart ached. I thought about all the times I had been pushed aside, cast in Madilyn’s shadow.
I remembered watching Adrian as he gently comforted Madilyn during her blood test. She had always been terrified of needles, and Adrian had shielded her, covering her eyes as if protecting her from the smallest pain. That tenderness, that care—it was something I had never received.
From the moment I was brought home, the Monticellos believed I was their long-lost daughter because I resembled their mother. But Adrian never saw me that way. To him, my sun-kissed skin and hardened demeanor were proof I didn’t belong in their world of perfection.
He didn’t believe I was his sister. He couldn’t accept that I had been raised in poverty, in a life that had left me rough around the edges. So he dragged me in front of the entire family, demanding a DNA test to prove I wasn’t one of them.
When the results confirmed I was his sister, I had hoped for some acknowledgment, maybe even an apology. But instead, Adrian tore the results apart right in front of me. His face twisted with anger as he spat, “Aliyah, don’t think this piece of paper changes anything. You’ll never replace Maddy. You better know your place.”
Those words had cut deeper than anything else. I had come home to the family I was meant to belong to, only to find I would always be second to Madilyn. Even in my own home, I was told to stay in line.
Across from me, Tristan tossed his phone aside, his face a mask of barely contained rage. His sorrowful eyes glistened with unshed tears, and it pained me to see him like this. He had always been gentle and kind—the one person who treated me like I mattered.
Reaching out, I gently wiped away the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. I didn’t want him to be sad because of me. Tristan was like the sun—bright, warm, full of light. He was meant to shine, not be weighed down by the darkness of my existence.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure who I was apologizing to—Tristan, or myself.
Chapter 3Tristan had spent seven relentless days near the mountain, where the landslide had turned the once-familiar landscape into a graveyard of mud and rubble. At first, his expression was still full of hope, but as days passed by, the hope of finding me alive had long since faded. Despite that, Tristan didn’t want to stop—not until he found me, even if it meant recovering only my cold, lifeless body.
Every time his hands plunged into the mud, uncovering another body caked in dirt and suffocated by the weight of the earth, I could see the pain etched deeper in his expression. His mind tormented him with the thought of how I might have suffered, trapped beneath the suffocating ground, fighting for every breath until there was none left.
"Stop, Tristan. Please stop... I'm already dead..." My voice trembled, though I knew he couldn’t hear me. I reached out, trying to touch him, to soothe him, but my hand passed right through him. A bitter smile formed on my lips—how foolish of me to forget I was just a ghost now, unable to touch the living or stop Tristan from tearing himself apart in his desperate search.
Hours passed, and Tristan’s hands remained covered in dirt, his face streaked with a mixture of sweat, mud, and despair. Just when it seemed like his body would give out, his phone rang. He hesitated for a moment before accepting the call.
"Tristan, Maddy wants to see you. Can you come over?" Adrian’s voice was cold and indifferent on the other end of the line.
The moment I heard his words, I couldn’t help but clench my fists. Even now, with me buried somewhere beneath this rubble, Adrian's only concern was Madilyn.
If I hadn’t returned to the Monticello family, Tristan would have broken off his engagement with Madilyn. The Blake and Monticello families had always been close, and their engagement was an unspoken agreement arranged by their parents. Tristan, who excelled at everything, had no time to grow close to Maddy, despite their childhood friendship.
When Tristan first learned of the engagement, he had gone to the Monticello family to break it off. It was the same day I had returned home for the first time. The moment he saw me, he recognized me—not as his fiancée’s sister, but as the girl who had excelled in the city’s middle school exams. When he found out I was the rightful daughter of the Monticellos, he thought the engagement would naturally shift to me.
But I was wrong to believe my return would mean anything. Yes, I was their daughter by blood, but I was never truly one of them. They didn’t even consider changing my last name.
I remembered how, the day after I came home, Lauren had promised to take me to legally change my name. But when Madilyn fell ill with a fever, crying hysterically for her mother, Lauren abandoned our plans without hesitation. I stood in the living room, feeling small and insignificant, while Adrian passed by with a sneer.
"Serves you right," he spat. "Do you really think you deserve the Monticello name?"
Those words hadn’t hurt as much as they could have. After all, it was just a surname. I had survived worse. Life with the Smith family had been brutal—I was nothing more than a servant to them. I had barely escaped being married off to an old bachelor to pay for their son’s education. The Monticellos had saved me from that fate, and for a time, I had been grateful, even to Adrian, despite how he treated me.
But I soon realized he was as cruel as those who had raised me. The only person who had ever shown me kindness was Tristan. He visited the Monticello mansion not for Maddy, but for me. He brought me books, asked about my interests, and treated me like I mattered.
Of course, Adrian noticed. His hostility toward me grew with each visit. Unable to confront Tristan directly, he aimed all his anger at me.
"Aliyah, what are you trying to do with Tristan?" he once asked, his voice dripping with venom. "You know he’s going to marry Maddy, don’t you?"
That was the moment I learned Tristan and Maddy were engaged. At first, I had only seen him as a friend, but over time, I had fallen for him—the only person who made me feel seen. And now, I felt ashamed, like a thief, for harboring feelings for someone who wasn’t mine to love.
I tried to distance myself, but Tristan found me in the library a few days later. That was when he told me the truth—the engagement had been arranged, but not specifically for Maddy. It was just an understanding between the families, and now, with my return, everything had changed.
As Tristan’s call with Adrian ended abruptly, I heard Madilyn’s soft, tearful voice in the background. “Tristan, I don’t feel well. Can you come see me?”
“Maddy, calm down,” Adrian murmured, his voice full of the same gentle coaxing he always used with her.
And there it was again—that familiar, icy numbness spreading through me. I had been missing for days, buried beneath the earth, but Adrian’s only concern was for Madilyn, the daughter they had raised in my place.
I let out a bitter laugh as I watched Tristan shut off his phone without a word. Even now, he stayed by my side. Even when everyone else had moved on.
Chapter 4After three days of relentless efforts, Tristan finally found my body, but the sight was unbearable. My nose and mouth were clogged with soil, and the first signs of decay had already set in. Overcome with grief, Tristan collapsed beside my corpse, his hands trembling as he tenderly cleared away the dirt. His movements were slow, as though he feared even the gentlest touch might cause me to vanish completely.
I heard Tristan’s choked voice calling my name, his sorrow palpable. “Aliyah… Why did you try to please them? They owe you, not the other way around!”
"I wished I stopped you from going..." he sobbed.
The rescue team quickly notified Lauren, who arrived almost immediately. Her face turned pale at the sight of my decayed body, and she nearly retched from the stench and horror. Paul, her husband, gently patted her back, trying to shield her from the painful reality.
“Don’t look, honey. She’s gone. Let’s just find a cemetery and lay her to rest,” Paul said softly, though his tone was cold.
Lauren nodded, her face carefully controlled, hiding any hint of guilt. After all, she had been the one who insisted that I join the ill-fated expedition in the first place.
Madilyn and I had been competing for a spot in a physics competition. For me, winning first place meant securing admission to a prestigious university, a dream I had worked tirelessly towards. My academic record, especially in science, was outstanding, while Madilyn’s performance was just above average. Even without me stepping aside, she had no chance of being selected.
But Lauren had other plans. She insisted that I compete under Madilyn’s name to ensure her daughter would get the spot. I firmly refused. This competition was too significant to me.
My professor had emphasized that my grades were among the best in the province and encouraged me to seize this rare opportunity that could open countless doors.
Then, with tears in her eyes, Madilyn clung to Lauren, playing the wounded sister. “She doesn’t want me to succeed,” she sobbed. “If she won’t help me, I’ll leave and go back to the Smith family.”
Enraged, Lauren slapped me hard across the face. The sting echoed in my ears, reviving painful memories of my time with the Smith family. When I looked up, Lauren’s voice cut through the haze, cold and seething.
“You ungrateful brat,” Lauren spat. “Maddy is your sister. You should be grateful she can take your spot.”
Grateful? My heart sank. Grateful for what—being used again? It was painfully clear—my biological family was no different from the Smiths. They saw me as nothing more than a tool to exploit.
I had sacrificed so much since childhood, always giving in, always compromising. But this time, my future was at stake. For the first time, I stood up to my biological mother.
“Give me back my ID and household registration,” I said, my voice steady but resolute. “I’m leaving.”
Lauren’s face went pale, not from fear of losing me but from the thought of losing the attention and prestige my accomplishments had brought them.
“Aliyah,” Lauren’s voice softened as she approached, her eyes brimming with false tears. “If you hadn’t upset me, I wouldn’t have reacted this way.”
I stared at her, feeling numb. Upset her? I was just trying to protect what was mine. How could that be upsetting?
I realized Lauren had never seen me as a daughter, never cared for me beyond what I could provide. Despite our blood ties, I had always been an outsider in my own home.
When Adrian arrived, he immediately sensed the tension and instinctively blamed me for being unreasonable.
My head buzzed, my thoughts spinning, but I didn’t respond. My silence only fueled Adrian’s anger. Without warning, he shoved me hard, sending me crashing into the corner of a table. A sharp pain shot through my back, and a cold sweat broke out on my skin.
“Maddy just wanted something from you, but you’re acting like a spoiled brat, threatening to leave. Tsk. You’re nothing but a miserly pauper,” Adrian sneered, his words dripping with disdain.
Each word felt like a blow, eroding what was left of my resolve. All I wanted was to escape, to break free from the toxic grasp of the people I once considered family. But the upcoming competition loomed over me, and without my ID, I couldn’t even register.
Seeing my distress, Lauren finally relented, pulling me to my feet with a forced smile that lacked warmth. “Alright, let’s not bring this up again. Maddy just signed up for an expedition activity,” Lauren said. “Why don’t you accompany her? It’ll be good for both of you.”
Madilyn naturally invited me as a gesture of reconciliation, leaving me with no choice but to agree.
“Don’t come near her!”
Tristan’s sudden shout cut through my memories, dragging me back to the harsh reality.
“Leave Aliyah alone!” he yelled, blocking the Monticello family from approaching my lifeless body. “You’re not worthy to touch her!”
As I floated, watching the scene unfold, I was struck by the cold indifference of my family. Lauren’s shock and desperation were palpable as she tried to convince Adrian to come and persuade Tristan to hand over my body. Her voice was laced with urgency, and I could sense her fear of what this scandal might do to their reputation.
“Son, can you come here and convince Tristan to hand over Aliyah's corpse?” Lauren pleaded into her phone.
Adrian’s response was a harsh denial. “What? Aliyah is dead?