Chapter 3

Austin hissed under his breath, then forced a fake smile at Mr. Davis.

"She’s my sister. We just had a little misunderstanding. I have a bit of a temper, but this is a family matter. We don’t need to trouble you."

Hailey quickly jumped in to back him up. "Yes, exactly! They’re just siblings having a fight. It's totally fine. We're so sorry to make you walk all the way up here."

I stared at Hailey. For a moment, she felt like a complete stranger.

"Whether it's a sibling fight or not, the door doesn't lie."

I pointed at the shattered lock. "Broken is broken. It has nothing to do with who we are. Mr. Davis, I need an official incident report. I'll need it for the property insurance tomorrow."

Mr. Davis inspected the door, then looked up. "Mr. Miller, you'll need to pay for the damages."

Austin’s face turned incredibly ugly. He clearly hadn't expected me to embarrass him like this.

He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, snatched a few hundred-dollar bills, and slammed them onto the console table by the entryway.

"Is a thousand bucks enough? Take it and fix the damn door. Stop making a scene."

Hailey let out a sigh of relief. She quickly grabbed the cash and tried to shove it into my hand.

"Chloe, here’s the money. Let’s just drop it, okay? You guys are brother and sister. Don't let a stupid door ruin your relationship."

I looked at the bills but didn't reach out.

Hailey’s hand froze in mid-air, her expression turning incredibly awkward.

"Chloe, what the hell do you actually want?" Austin snapped, completely out of patience.

Only then did I slowly take the money. It was about two hundred dollars more than the actual repair cost.

"This is enough," I said, pocketing the cash. "But let me warn you, Austin. I'm taking your thousand dollars this time. If you ever kick my door again, it won't be this cheap."

Austin’s face twitched. "You..."

"Austin, I’m going to say this one last time."

I stood up straight, staring directly into his eyes. "My mother left me this condo. My name is the only one on the deed.”

“You and I might share a last name, but we are not family. The next time you touch my property, I won't be calling security. I will call the police and file charges."

Austin’s fists clenched and unclenched. His lips parted, but in the end, he could only squeeze out, "Fine, Chloe. You think you're so tough."

He spun on his heel and stormed out. Hailey scrambled to follow him.

Mr. Davis watched them leave, then looked back at me, hesitant.

"Thanks for your help tonight, Mr. Davis. I'll stop by the leasing office tomorrow to file the paperwork," I said.

"No trouble at all, Miss Miller," Mr. Davis waved his hand.

"We'll head down now. Get some rest. Your door won't lock tonight, so please stay safe."

After they left, I dragged a heavy armchair to block the door before going back to my bedroom.

After that night, life went back to normal.

I got a brand-new smart lock installed. The leasing office gave me the incident report, and I took it to the local police precinct to file a report.

When the officer heard it was my half-brother who did it, he tried to play the "family mediator" card.

But before I could even reject the mediation, the officer noted, "Well, since you have an eyewitness and a formal report from building security, if he does this again, it’ll be a repeat offense. You can press charges directly."

I nodded, keeping that piece of information locked in my mind.

As for Hailey, she stopped texting me entirely.

Her Instagram, however, was updated constantly. More flowers from Austin, fancy dinners at high-end restaurants, always captioned with "Spoiled by my favorite person."

I muted her account. Not because I was mad, but because it made me sick.

A week later, just as I stepped out of my office building after work, I saw Hailey standing by the curb.

She was dressed in a thin white button-down, her hair messy and whipping around in the wind.

Her eyes were red and swollen, and her makeup was completely ruined from crying.

"Chloe," she called out, her voice raspy.

I didn't walk over. I just stood there, waiting for her to come to me.

She stumbled over to me, tears instantly spilling over again.

"What do I do, Chloe? Austin really is cheating on me."