Chapter 1

When my adopted sister framed me for triggering her allergy for the ninth time, my three older brothers believed her.

To teach me a lesson, they shoved me into a narrow, airtight root cellar.

I banged desperately against the heavy cellar door, begging them to let me out.

Julian, the cold and calculating CEO, wrapped a thick chain around the door handles and locked it tight.

"You knew Maya was deathly allergic to shellfish, yet you deliberately fed it to her! Your childish pranks were bad enough, but now you're trying to take a life? Stay in there and think about what you've done!"

Carter, a rising pop star, and Leo, a prodigy painter, sneered in disgust.

"You're venomous to the core, and you still have the nerve to play the victim? Sit in the dark until you learn some remorse!"

With that, they scooped up my trembling sister and rushed her to the hospital.

Deep inside the cellar, the oxygen slowly ran out.

Every breath burned like fire until my lungs gave out, and I died in the suffocating dark.

Three days later, when they finally brought Maya home, they remembered me.

Little did they know, I had already suffocated to death in that pitch-black hole.

I suffocated to death in that cellar.

When I opened my eyes again, my spirit was floating inside the dining room of our family estate.

My three brothers were seated around the table, having lunch with Maya, who had just been discharged.

Julian and Carter were busy cutting her steak and pouring her juice.

"Thank God we got you to the ER in time," Julian breathed, his eyes soft with relief. "A few minutes later, and you might not have made it."

Leo pushed a plate of tender roast toward her, his voice dripping with affection. "The doctor said you're still weak. You need to eat, Maya. Lots of protein."

He placed the finest cuts of meat onto her plate.

My usual chair had already been removed from the table.

They chatted and laughed for over an hour, completely forgetting that I was still locked beneath the ground.

Finally, the housekeeper couldn't help but step forward, wringing her hands nervously. "Mr. Vance, Miss Alyssa... she's been locked in the cellar for three days now. There hasn't been a sound from down there..."

Julian's face hardened instantly. "Today is Maya's homecoming. Why are you bringing up that jinx?"

The housekeeper opened her mouth to plead, but the icy glares from Carter and Leo shut her up.

"That little brat made that seafood chowder on purpose, knowing damn well Maya couldn't touch it," Carter snarled.

"And here I thought she was finally accepting Maya into this family," Leo scoffed. "Turns out it was all a premeditated attack!"

Maya shrank back, putting on a frightened, timid expression.

"Because of me, Alyssa got punished... She's been down there all alone for so long. Is she going to hate me when she comes out?"

Julian's expression softened as he looked at her. "Don't be scared, Maya. We've spoiled her for too long and never disciplined her properly. Once she learns her lesson, she won't dare lay a finger on you again."

He pulled out his phone, habitually refreshing his SnapChat chat with me. The last exchange was still from three days ago.

Over those seventy-two hours, not a single text or missed call had come from my end. His anger flared up again.

"Ungrateful brat. It's been three days, and she hasn't even sent a single text to check on Maya!"

Maya gently laid her hand over Julian's, her voice thick with tears. "Please don't let Alyssa misunderstand... I just wanted to be her sister. I never wanted to take anything from her."

Julian quickly set his phone aside, stroking Maya's head tenderly. "You're too kind, Maya. Unlike her. She's nothing but an ungrateful parasite."

Carter thought of me, his eyes full of contempt. "Exactly. Trying to harm family just out of petty jealousy? She's rotten to the bone!"

Leo nodded vigorously in agreement. "She stays in there until she falls to her knees and begs Maya for forgiveness. If she doesn't, I'll kick her out of this house myself!"

I stood beside them as a ghost, listening to their harsh words, and found it bitterly funny.

No matter what I did, no one could see or hear me.

Our parents died when we were young, and my three brothers had dedicated their lives to raising me.

One day, I mentioned that I was lonely and wished I had a sister my own age. So, my brothers went to an orphanage and adopted Maya for me.

I poured my heart into welcoming her, treating her like blood. But in front of our brothers, she framed me again and again, driving a wedge between us until they looked at me with nothing but disgust.

And this time was no different. They tossed me into the damp, narrow cellar without giving me a single chance to explain.

I had struggled. I had pounded on the door until my knuckles bled, gasping for the dwindling air, begging them to spare me.

Yet their faces remained cold as stone.

"What are you screaming for? You brought this on yourself!" they had shouted through the wood. "If it weren't for you, Maya wouldn't be fighting for her life in the hospital! We've been far too soft on you, letting you bully her like this. Rot in there!"

Carter had wrapped the iron chain around the latch himself, and Leo had dragged heavy wooden crates against the door, extinguishing my very last chance of survival.

Now, looking at Maya's smug, tearful act, I let out a mocking laugh.

Brothers, the sister who loved you more than life itself has already been killed by your own hands.