Chapter 4

The day I signed my first big contract at work, I stopped by the house in the afternoon to grab some documents. I thought about asking Aunt Linda if she’d like to celebrate with me over dinner.

As I approached their bedroom door, I overheard Aunt Linda speaking to Uncle Mark.

“What are we going to do? Cindy says if we don’t get Sierra out of the house soon, she’ll never let us see our grandson.”

“We just need to wait a little longer,” Uncle Mark replied.

“Wait for what? Cindy hasn’t even let Jason sleep in the bed these last few days!” Aunt Linda was panicking. “And what about the medicine? We’ve been giving it to Sierra for over three years, and she’s still perfectly healthy. When is she going to die?”

The hairs on my neck stood up.

What medicine?

Aunt Linda wanted me dead.

It suddenly made sense. Since moving back home, my health had deteriorated. I used to be so resilient, but now a simple breeze left me feeling feverish. I’d been suffering from nosebleeds and losing hair for no apparent reason.

“How can you not see it working?” Uncle Mark revealed another horrifying secret. “How do you think her parents died? We drugged them to death.”

A chill ran down my spine.

No wonder my parents’ conditions had suddenly worsened when they were previously stable.

Aunt Linda sighed. “Should we increase the dosage?”

Uncle Mark thought for a moment before nodding. “That might work. Her parents lasted a year before they died. It’s been three years for Sierra, so no one will suspect anything if she goes now.”

“We should’ve just had someone run her over years ago. Instead, we’ve dragged this out, and now she’s almost spent all her parents’ inheritance.”

“What are you worried about? It’s all going to be ours eventually.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My mind went blank. Uncle Mark’s kindness had all been an act. They’d been poisoning me this entire time. And my parents’ deaths—were they truly accidents?

I stumbled downstairs in a daze, passing through the living room, where Cindy was watching TV.

“Sierra,” she called out in an unusually friendly tone. “Come over here for a moment.”

I was still in shock, but I managed to respond, “Do you need something, Cindy?”

“I’ve been thinking,” she said, her voice sickly sweet. “It’s not right to kick you out now that you’ve just started working.”

What’s going on?

Before I could figure out her intentions, she continued, “We’re not really family, after all. Jason is already supporting the entire household. Since you’ve found a job, you should help out. I think it’s only fair for you to start paying $10,000 a month for living expenses. You’d have to pay even more if you were renting somewhere else.”

So, that’s her game.

I smiled coldly. “That’s perfectly fair, Cindy. But I guess you didn’t know this estate is actually mine.”

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