"Sienna, get on your knees! Kowtow and apologize to Shannon!"
The man’s cold, harsh voice echoed through the spacious living room.
Sienna stood in the center of the living room, her long lashes lowered slightly.
She squeezed the audio recorder hidden in her pocket and looked at the man issuing commands from the sofa—her third older brother, Wyatt.
Sitting beside Wyatt was the Everett Family’s nominal "fake" heiress, Shannon.
And now, her own brother was demanding she kneel and kowtow to Shannon.
"Sienna! You deliberately pushed Shannon down the stairs. How could you be so vicious?! You’re worse than an animal!"
"I, Wyatt, have no sister like you!"
’Worse than an animal?’
Sienna’s eyelashes trembled as she suppressed the suffocating ache in her heart. "I didn’t..."
However, she had only managed to get out two words before Wyatt snatched a water glass from nearby and hurled it viciously at Sienna!
"You still dare to argue!"
CRASH!
The glass struck the top of Sienna’s foot, shattering instantly!
Sienna’s slender, pale foot swelled and turned red in an instant.
Shards of glass pierced her skin and gashed her delicate, snow-white calves, drawing bright red rivulets of blood on her porcelain-white flesh.
It was a jarring, shocking sight.
Yet, Sienna stood perfectly still, as if she couldn’t feel the pain.
This was not the first time her own brother had beaten and cursed her like this.
"Wyatt, please don’t hit my sister!" Shannon, at his side, quickly interjected, feigning a plea. "My sister didn’t push me down the stairs on purpose... Really, it has nothing to do with her. Please don’t blame her anymore. It was all my own fault for being careless..."
Wyatt’s heart ached for her instantly. "Shannon, why are you still defending her? My silly sister, just think about it. You’re a girl—if being pushed down the stairs leaves a scar on you, how ugly would that be!"
"But, Wyatt..."
"That’s enough. Be a good girl, Shannon. Don’t plead for her again! Let me see, were you hurt when you fell?"
"I’m fine, Wyatt, don’t worry..."
Watching this scene of a doting brother and a filial sister, Sienna was suddenly overcome with exhaustion.
Wyatt was worried about Shannon getting a scar because she was a girl and it would look ugly.
’But what about just now?’
’He hadn’t hesitated for a second, grabbing the glass and throwing it at her!’
’Her legs were covered in cuts from the shards and were still bleeding. Wouldn’t she get scars, too?’
’She was a girl, too—and his actual sister!’
She had been lost as a child, growing up in an orphanage before being adopted by her grandparents, and had lived with them ever since.
They had doted on her as she grew up.
She had never been treated like this in her life!
After checking on Shannon, Wyatt turned and saw a faint, mocking expression on Sienna’s exquisite, radiant face. He was instantly displeased. "What’s that look on your face!"
"Sienna, when we brought you back to the Everett Family two years ago, we told you that Shannon grew up here. Even if you’re not related by blood, you must treat her like your own sister!"
"As her older sister, you are supposed to give way to her, dote on her, and protect her!"
"But what have you done? How have you behaved these past two years?!"
Hearing this, a bitter smile spread across Sienna’s cherry-red lips.
Two years ago, when the Everetts found her, her grandparents had already passed away. Believing she finally had a family and would no longer have to live all alone in this world, she declined the invitation from her grandfather’s old friend, Grandpa Howard Forrester, and came to the Everett Family.
For the past two years, she had been cautious and yielding in every way.
No matter what it was, she always gave the best of it to Shannon.
As for herself, she humbly trailed behind Shannon, picking up the things Shannon didn’t want.
Sienna had thought that by doing this, she could slowly integrate into the family, win the acceptance of her parents and five older brothers, and be treated as a real family member.
But in the end, all they did was blindly favor Shannon. For her, their actual daughter, there was nothing but endless blame and verbal abuse!
Sienna had once overheard them saying with vicious disdain: ’If only Sienna had died out there back then, our family would be complete.’
’If only Sienna... had died out there back then...’
When she heard those words, a wrenching pain seized Sienna’s chest. It felt as if a giant hand were squeezing her heart, making it so painful she could hardly breathe.
’She didn’t understand what she had done wrong.’
’Why did her own family detest her so much?’
’Hating her enough to wish she had died out there!’
’If that was the case, why did they even bring her back to the Everett Family two years ago?!’
Sienna closed her eyes. Suddenly, her heart felt as still as stagnant water, overcome by an unprecedented calm.
’Forget it.’
’Let it be.’
’This family... she didn’t want it anymore.’
’These family members... she didn’t want any of them.’
For some reason, when Wyatt saw that Sienna seemed to have let something go, her expression was one of such release, as if she had broken free from a cocoon and been reborn.
An inexplicable panic flared in Wyatt’s heart.
He reached for a nearby disciplinary ruler and swung it at Sienna. "If you don’t kowtow and admit your mistake to Shannon right now, I’m going to teach you a lesson with the family rules!"
The next second, however, his wrist was caught firmly by a slender hand.
It was Sienna!
’She had actually... stopped him!’
"Sienna, you—!"
Wyatt was instantly furious. For the past two years, Sienna had been timid, subservient, and eager to please. She never made a sound when they cursed or hit her. And now she dared to fight back?
Looking at Wyatt’s astonished face, Sienna let out a derisive laugh, her own features radiant.
"I said, I did not push Shannon."
Wyatt didn’t believe her at all. "You still dare to argue at a time like this? I think you’re just asking for a beating!"
"Wyatt," Sienna said, her gaze cold and devoid of any emotion. "If I have proof that I didn’t push her, then—"
"—you and Shannon will get on your knees, kowtow, and apologize to me!"
"What did you say?!"
Wyatt almost thought he’d misheard. He was both furious and frantic.
"You’re actually telling me to kneel to you? You... you bastard!"
’He would never admit that such an animal was his sister!’
Shannon, who had been sitting on the sofa enjoying the show and eagerly awaiting Sienna’s beating, felt a flicker of doubt in her eyes when she heard Sienna’s words.
’Proof?’
’What proof could she possibly have?!’
Shannon sneered inwardly and stood up, feigning concern as she advised, "Wyatt, just let it go. Don’t be angry with my sister anymore."
"Shannon, you are not allowed to speak up for her!" Wyatt roared, veins bulging on his forehead. "I’d like to see just what proof she can produce!"
Sienna’s expression was utterly indifferent as she reached into her pocket and pulled something out.
Shannon glanced down, and when she saw what it was, her face instantly turned deathly pale.
’A... a voice recorder?!’
’How could this be!’
’How could Sienna have a voice recorder?!’
Sienna held up the voice recorder and pressed the play button, her face impassive.
After a burst of static, a deliberately weak female voice emerged from the recorder: "Sister, what do you think of this spot?"
Wyatt recognized it at once—it was Shannon’s voice.
Then, a woman’s voice, as elegant as the music of a forest spring, replied: "Shannon, what are you doing standing at the top of the stairs?"
Wyatt recognized this one, too. It was Sienna’s voice!
The next second, Wyatt heard Shannon, in that same weak voice, utter the most vicious words: "Sister, if I said you were the one who pushed me down the stairs, how do you think Wyatt would punish and curse you?"