"Ethan Harper, take a good look at your sister. This is happening because you wasted money. She's being sent away to make up for what you spent."
Ethan froze. Then his whole body started shaking.
He didn't like me. But he never wanted me gone.
As Rita started dragging me toward the van, Ethan couldn't hold it in anymore.
He broke down crying, tears and snot smearing across his face.
"Mom, I'm sorry. I won't waste money anymore. Please don't send her away, okay?"
Seeing her defiant son finally apologize, Mom allowed herself a satisfied smile.
I looked at her, hope flickering in my chest. He apologized. Did that mean I could go home now?
But her smile vanished as quickly as it came.
Her expression turned cold.
"No. Actions have consequences. You wanted to play big shot? Without a real lesson, you'll never understand how hard money is to earn. How immature you've been."
But Mom, I'm not the one who did anything wrong.
I said it out loud. She didn't flinch.
"You're his sister. You failed to keep him in line. How is that not your fault too?"
I clung to the van door with everything I had, terrified of being taken somewhere I'd never come back from.
Thud.
Ethan threw away his pride. Face flushed red, he dropped to his knees before Mom.
"Mom, I'll give you all my allowance. Please don't send my sister away."
He pressed his forehead to the floor, kowtowing again and again. Before long, the skin on his forehead had broken open.
This time, Mom couldn't hold back her expression. She laughed.
To me, that laugh looked twisted beyond recognition.
"Ethan, it's good that you know you were wrong. But only a real lesson will make you remember it—so you never dare make that mistake again."
"Rita, take his sister away."
I couldn't hold on anymore. I was dragged into the car.
The moment we got in, Rita stuffed a rag into my mouth.
I tried to struggle, but she slapped me across the face, impatient.
"Your own mother doesn't want you. Move again and I'll throw you out of this car—let you live as a little beggar!"
I didn't want to be a dirty beggar. I didn't dare move.
"Lily! Lily!"
I looked back. Ethan was chasing the car like a madman, running so hard one of his shoes flew off, but he didn't stop.
Not until he tripped and fell, and couldn't keep up anymore.
Rita didn't actually take me far. She pulled me toward a building that had been half-demolished before construction stopped.