Chapter 1: The Broken Plates
The first thing my stepsister did was smash an entire stack of expensive porcelain plates onto the kitchen floor.
The second thing she did was scream that I had pushed her.
And the third thing my stepmother did was slap me so hard that I tasted blood.
“HOW DARE YOU HURT MY DAUGHTER!””
The sound echoed through our enormous kitchen.
I stood frozen, one hand pressed against my burning cheek, surrounded by shattered porcelain.
My name is Aaliyah Carter. I'm seventeen years old, and until that afternoon, I still believed my father would eventually recognize when someone was lying to him.
I was wrong.
Because within ten minutes, my father would threaten to throw me out of the house.
And the only person who could prove what really happened was my ten-year-old little brother, Noah.
He was upstairs.
And he had something on his tablet that my stepmother would do almost anything to destroy.
But that afternoon, I didn't know any of that.
All I knew was that I was standing in a kitchen full of broken plates while three people looked at me as if I were a stranger.
My father, Damon Carter, stood near the doorway, his black work shirt still buttoned at the collar.
His eyes moved from the broken porcelain to Sienna, my nineteen-year-old stepsister, who was sitting on the floor.
Then he looked at me.
“What happened?””
Before I could answer, Brielle rushed toward him.
“Damon, thank God you're home. Aaliyah attacked Sienna!””
“That's not true!”” I cried.
Sienna immediately covered her face.
“She pushed me, Dad. I told her I didn't want to fight, but she wouldn't stop.””
I stared at her.
“You literally threw the plates yourself!””
Sienna lowered her hands just enough to look at me.
For half a second, her crying stopped.
Then she made her voice tremble again.
“See? She's still threatening me.””
Brielle wrapped an arm around her daughter.
“Don't worry, sweetheart. You're safe now.””
I looked at my father.
“Dad, please. Just look at the plates. They fell away from me. I wasn't even near her.””
He sighed.
“Aaliyah, I don't want another argument.””
“It's not an argument! She's lying!””
Brielle turned toward him with tears in her eyes.
“Damon, I have tried so hard with this girl. I've treated her like my own daughter, but she keeps making Sienna miserable.””
I almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because I couldn't believe she could say that while the side of my face was still burning from her slap.
“You slapped me,” I whispered.
Brielle looked offended.
“I was protecting my daughter.””
“You didn't even ask what happened!””
“Because I saw enough.””
My father rubbed his forehead.
“Enough. Both of you.””
Then he pointed toward the hallway.
“Aaliyah, go upstairs.””
I didn't move.
“Dad, why am I the one being sent away?””
“Because I said so.””
“But I didn't do anything!””
His jaw tightened.
“Do you want to make this worse?””
I looked at him for a long moment.
Six years earlier, he would have picked me up after a bad day and carried me to the couch.
Now he couldn't even be bothered to ask whether my cheek hurt.
Sienna stood up slowly, leaning against Brielle.
“Dad, I think she needs help.””
I turned toward her.
“You're nineteen years old. Stop acting like a five-year-old!””
“Don't speak to my daughter that way!”” Brielle snapped.
“Then tell her to stop lying!””
My father slammed his palm against the kitchen island.
“GO TO YOUR ROOM!””
The crystal chandelier above us trembled slightly.
I flinched.
Then I walked away.
Not because I believed I was guilty.
Because I understood that nobody in that room intended to hear the truth.
As I reached the staircase, I heard Brielle speaking quietly.
“Damon, we need to discuss her future here.””
I stopped.
“What future?”” my father asked.
“She cannot keep living under this roof if she's going to behave like this.””
There was a pause.
Then my father answered.
“Let's talk about it tonight.””
My stomach twisted.
I continued upstairs before they noticed me listening.
My bedroom was the smallest one in the house, tucked at the end of the hallway.
It had once been a storage room.
Brielle had called it a temporary arrangement when she moved my bedroom furniture out of the larger room six years earlier.
Apparently, temporary meant forever.
I closed the door and leaned against it.
My cheek throbbed.
When I looked in the mirror, a red handprint was already forming along my jaw.
I pressed a cold washcloth against it.
Then someone knocked softly.
“Aaliyah?””
I looked up.
Noah slipped into the room and shut the door behind him.
He was wearing his favorite blue dinosaur pajamas, even though it was only late afternoon.
His eyes immediately went to my face.
“Did Mom hit you?””
I swallowed.
“I'm okay, buddy.””
“She hit you really hard.””
“It's nothing.””
He shook his head.
“It isn't nothing.””
I sat on the edge of my bed.
“What are you doing up here? You should be downstairs.””
“I heard everything.””
My heart sank.
“Noah…”
“I saw Sienna, too.””
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?””
He hesitated.
Then he glanced toward the door.
“I was in the upstairs hallway.””
I lowered my voice.
“Did you see her break the plates?””
He nodded.
“She looked at the kitchen first. Then she looked at the hallway. Then she pushed all the plates off the counter.””
I felt my throat tighten.
“Why didn't you tell Dad?””
“I tried.””
“What?””
Noah's eyes filled with tears.
“Brielle told me to go to my room. She said little kids shouldn't get involved in grown-up problems.””
I pulled him into a hug.
“It's okay.””
He held on to me tightly.
Then he whispered something that made me pull away.
“I have a video.””
I stared at him.
“What video?””
“On my tablet.””
My heart began beating faster.
Noah explained that he had been recording a video for a school project about how to make a stop-motion animation.
He had propped his tablet on a bookshelf near the upstairs landing.
The camera wasn't pointed directly into the kitchen, but the wide angle captured part of the room through the open doorway.
And it had recorded the entire incident.
Sienna knocking the plates down.
Sienna deliberately dropping herself onto the floor.
Sienna screaming that I had pushed her.
Everything.
I grabbed his shoulders.
“Are you sure?””
He nodded.
“I watched it twice.””
“Does anyone know?””
“No.””
I looked toward the door again.
“Keep that tablet with you. Don't show anyone yet.””
Noah frowned.
“Why?””
“Because if Brielle finds out, she might try to take it.””
He hugged the tablet against his chest.
Then he asked the question that broke my heart.
“Will Dad believe us if he sees it?””
I couldn't answer immediately.
I wanted to say yes.
I wanted to promise that our father would finally stand up for us.
But I had just watched him choose Brielle's story without asking a single question.
“I hope so,” I finally whispered.
A loud voice came from downstairs.
“AALIYAH! COME DOWN HERE!””
It was my father.
Noah grabbed my hand.
“Don't go.””
I squeezed his fingers.
“I have to.””
I walked downstairs alone.
My father was standing in the living room beside Brielle. Sienna sat on the sofa with an ice pack wrapped around her perfectly unharmed arm.
A folder lay on the coffee table.
Brielle tapped it with one manicured fingernail.
“We need to talk about your behavior.””
I looked at the folder.
“What is that?””
My father didn't meet my eyes.
“It's something we should have discussed a long time ago.””
May you like
Then he opened it.
And the first document inside had my name printed across the top.
