They Chose Wrong

I was the Sinclairs real daughter, the one they swapped at birth.

But when the imposter and I were tied up on a skyscraper rooftop, and they were forced to choose one of us, I was the one they let go.

Chloe was saved. I was pushed off the eighteenth floor.

By some miracle, I survived. And in that moment, any lingering hope I had for them died.

Then, almost overnight, everything changed.

My parents, who had treated me with nothing but disdain, started cautiously asking about my favorite foods. My brother, who had once wished me dead, began sending me expensive jewelry. Even my fianc, who swore Id never measure up to Chloe, started planning our wedding.

I had no idea what was going on.

1

I was dragging my suitcase down the marble entryway when I ran into Eleanor Sinclairmy motherreturning home with Chloe. A uniformed driver followed them, his arms laden with shopping bags from high-end boutiques. They were arm in arm, the picture of a perfect mother-daughter pair.

Chloes eyes landed on my suitcase, her expression a mask of manufactured surprise.

"Audrey," she said, her voice dripping with false concern. "Don't tell me you're running away just because Mom forgot to pick you up a little something from her trip."

I dropped the handle of my suitcase. "A gift?" I stared at them. "You already gave me my eighteenth birthday present. You stood by and let them push me off an eighteen-story building." I let a bitter smile touch my lips. "Now that's what I call a generous gift."

A familiar wave of irritation washed over Eleanors face. "Audrey, that was an accident," she snapped. "The kidnapper forced our hand. Did you want us to just stand there and watch Chloe die? Besides," she added, her voice chillingly dismissive, "youre standing right here, aren't you?"

Standing right here. After being pushed from a rooftop, even landing on the firefighters airbag meant three months in a hospital bed before I could even learn to walk again.

Not one of them came to visit me. Not once.

These were my people. My blood.

I was their daughter, but because Chloe's parents had switched us at birth, I was the one who suffered fifteen years of starvation, abuse, and humiliation. Even after the truth came out, they still poured all their affection onto Chloe, the girl who had stolen my life. For me, there was only criticism and suspicion, a constant assumption that I had some ulterior motive.

It used to break my heart. Now, it didn't stir a thing.

I had already found an apartment to rent. I had a little money saved up, enough to last me until I graduated and could leave this city for good.

From now on, Audrey was going to have a good life.

I shouldered my backpack and grabbed my suitcase. "Chloe couldn't die," I said, my voice steady. "But I wanted to live, too. Since you made your choice back then, you can just consider Audrey dead from this day forward. I won't bother you again."

A flicker of triumph crossed Chloe's face before she could hide it. She opened her mouth to offer some empty, placating words, but Eleanor cut her off, her expression turning to ice.

"You said that, Audrey. Not us," she warned. "Don't you dare come crawling back to this house one day, because I won't let you in."

I nodded, my voice crisp. "Don't worry. I wouldn't step foot in this house again if I were dying on the doorstep."

"Audrey, have you thought about how much this will hurt Dad and Evan?" Chloe chimed in from beside Eleanor, her tone dripping with feigned sincerity. "It all happened so fast. They were just panicked and worried about me. And after all, the Sinclairs have provided for you all these years."

It was a veiled reminder, as always, that I was an outsider. A charity case. Chloe had used this tactic a hundred times, and every time before, I had lost control, screaming at them, demanding to know why I, their real daughter, didn't deserve a single drop of their love.

Chloe lived in a bright, luxurious suite of rooms, with a staff to cater to her every whim.

I was given the small, dark utility closet under the stairs, so cramped it couldn't fit a desk or a proper dresser. The only sunlight I ever got was a narrow sliver that cut across my cot for an hour when the sun was at its highest. I was their flesh and blood, yet I lived like a rat in the walls, scurrying to survive in the shadows of their grand life.

But finally, I was done hoping for more.

"Provided for me?" I looked straight at Chloe, then at Eleanor. "I lived in a storage closet. I ate whatever was left on the catering trays after one of your parties. You never bought me a single article of clothing. I paid for my own school fees and living expenses with part-time jobs. For three years, you haven't spent a dime on me. In fact, considering all the housework I did, Id say you owe me back wages."

"That's enough!"

A sharp voice cut through the air from behind me.

2

My father, Robert Sinclair, and my brother, Evan, had just gotten out of their car. They were both glaring at me.

"All this drama just for money," Robert sneered, his voice laced with contempt. "Chloe has never been as crass and materialistic as you. We never should have acknowledged you in the first place."

I couldn't help but laugh, a hollow, bitter sound. "Acknowledged me? As your daughter? Who in all of South Crest even knows I'm your daughter? You think I'm materialistic, that I only care about money?" I gestured wildly. "That's because Chloe never has to think about it! She doesn't even have to ask. You just pile jewelry and houses and trust funds on her. Me? All I get from my 'family' is my own brother accusing me of being a thief!"

My gaze fell on Evan, who stood silently to the side, and a wave of nausea rolled through me.

When I first came to the Sinclair mansion, I was an enemy to everyone. Everyone except Evan. He was the only one who showed me any kindness. He would ask about the scrapes on my knees, inquire about my grades, and secretly press a piece of candy into my palm when no one was looking.

"It's a big brother's job to make his little sister happy," he'd said with a warm smile.

I was so naive. I believed he genuinely cared. I let my guard down completely, so when he gave me a delicate silver bracelet, I accepted it without a second thought.

Until the day Evan called the police, reporting that a custom bracelet hed bought for Chloe was missing.

In front of the entire family, the police searched my tiny closet and found it tucked away in my things. I tried desperately to explain, to tell them that Evan had given it to me himself.

Eleanors hand cracked across my face.

"You are so cheap, Audrey," she hissed. "Evan barely speaks to you. Why on earth would he give you a bracelet? Especially this one, which he had made specifically for Chloe."

I crumpled to the floor, my hand pressed to my stinging cheek, staring up at Evan in disbelief. And in that moment, everything clicked into place. Evan was already involved in the family business, the heir apparent Robert and Eleanor were grooming. If he had truly wanted to protect me, why would he let me live in a closet? Why would he stand by and watch me get hurt, time and time again? Every single one of our "kind" interactions had taken place in secret, where no one could see.

Later, after the police had left, Evan cornered me, his face twisted into a cruel smirk.

He told me everything. The scrape on my knee wasnt an accident; he'd paid another student to push me down the stairs. The candies he gave me were laced with something to make me feel sluggish and sick, all to ensure my grades would never surpass Chloes.

"You know, Audrey, there was one thing I said that wasn't a lie," he whispered, his voice like poison. "It's a big brother's job to make his little sister happy. Its just a shame my only sister is Chloe. What the hell are you?"

At sixteen, I had been stabbed in the back by the person I trusted most.

Looking back now, it feels like I was under some kind of spell, desperately clawing for a shred of affection that was never there. But after falling from that building, I finally understood. Nothing is more important than being alive. Their love was like candy laced with arsenictempting on the outside, but designed to drag you into a world of pain.

Facing their collective annoyance now, I felt nothing. The will to fight, to argue, to plead, was gone.

"You know," I said, my voice quiet but firm, "you were right about one thing. My return was a mistake. So I'm leaving. Let's put everything back the way it was."

Without another glance at the Sinclairs, I picked up my suitcase, adjusted my backpack, and walked out the door.

The heavy oak door slammed shut behind me.

And just like that, the invisible chains that had bound me for so long simply fell away.

I walked down the long, manicured driveway, a strange lightness in my step. I found myself humming a tune as I dragged my suitcase toward my new, rented life. The apartment wasn't bigjust one bedroom, a living area, and a bathroombut it was a palace compared to that closet.

After I finished unpacking, I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted but content. I was just drifting off to sleep when my phone buzzed violently on the nightstand, jolting me awake. I grabbed it and answered without looking.

Leo Prescott's impatient voice filled my ear. "Audrey, what is it this time? Hasn't Chloe given up enough for you? Do you really have to push her like this, running away from home to threaten everyone?" His voice softened into a condescending sigh. "What happened to the sweet, understanding girl I used to know?"

"She's dead," I said, sitting up. My voice was calm, detached. "You all gave up on her. You watched her fall, remember? And besides, Leo, didn't you always want me out of the Sinclair house? Why are you pretending to care now?"

3

I met Leo Prescott when we were kids, after I saved him by chance. He was the sole heir to the Prescott fortune, and in the middle of a rebellious phase, he'd gotten into a fight with the wrong crowd. Id just been thrown out of my adoptive parents' house and happened to be passing by. I faked a call to 911, and the boys scattered.

To "repay" me, he insisted on transferring to my school. He'd even hang around while I worked my after-school job at a diner. I helped him with his calculus homework, and he protected me from bullies, even getting into a fight once to defend me.

But the moment Leo found out I was the true Sinclair heiress, everything changed.

He accused me of being selfish, of not considering Chloe's feelings. He was convinced I was just a gold digger, after the Sinclair fortune.

I couldn't understand it. "Those are my real parents, Leo," I had argued, my voice breaking. "The life Chloe has was supposed to be mine. Her parents stole me, and my adoptive parents abused me. All I want is my identity back. How is that my fault?"

It wasn't until later that I learned the truth. Leo had known who I was from the very beginning. Our meeting wasn't an accident. The Prescotts and the Sinclairs had a long-standing marriage agreement between their children. Leo's parents were old-fashioned; if they knew I was the real Sinclair heiress, they would have forced him to marry me, not Chloe. His plan had been to get close to me, earn my trust, and then convince me to leave South Crest forever, securing Chloe's position.

He never expected me to discover the truth on my own and march straight to the Sinclair's front door.

After I found out, I tried to break off the engagement countless times. Even Leo, theatrically threatening to kill himself, declared he would never marry me, shouting that I wasn't worth a fraction of Chloe. But his parents wouldn't budge.

Perhaps that's why, on my eighteenth birthday, when the kidnapper held us both on that rooftop and demanded they choose, he didn't hesitate for a second. He chose Chloe.

I was pushed. That was the closest I have ever been to death.

But fate, it seems, had other plans. The emergency airbag saved my life.

But what good was surviving? My parents, my brother, my fiancthey were all fussing over a traumatized Chloe, some of them even muttering that it would have been simpler if I had just died. That way, even if the truth about Chloe's identity got out, she would still be the one and only, beloved daughter of the Sinclair family.

"I've cut all ties with the Sinclairs," I said into the phone, my voice flat. "Our engagement is void. Don't bother me again."

I hung up before he could reply.

I slept better than I had in years. The next morning, I gathered my things and headed to school. After three months in the hospital, I only had a little over a month until the SATs. If I could score high enough to get the state scholarship, my college tuition would be covered.

My teachers at Northwood High were incredibly supportive. They had printed out all the materials I had missed and even compiled notes for me. Free from the constant stress of the Sinclair household, my health and spirits improved dramatically. Even my classmates commented that I seemed more alive than ever before.

Life was quiet. Peaceful.

Until the day I walked into my homeroom and was met with a sea of strange looks. Before I could ask what was wrong, my friend Maya rushed over.

"Audrey," she whispered, "Ms. Peterson just told me your brother is here to see you. You don't have a brother, do you? This has to be some kind of scam."

Hearing this, other students crowded around my desk.

"Yeah, exactly!"

"You've been on your own for years, no one ever cared. Now that you're about to ace the SATs, some long-lost 'family' shows up?"

"Don't worry, Audrey. We've got your back. No one's going to bully you."

"That's right! You're our future valedictorian!"

Listening to them all stand up for me, a genuine smile spread across my face. "It's okay, guys," I said. "It's probably just some lunatic. My parents died in a car crash three years ago, and I lost touch with all my other relatives."

This was the story I had told everyone at Northwood. When my adoptive parents found out I was going to the Sinclairs, they had tried to stop me. Theyd sped after me, lost control of their car on a bridge, and died on impact. It was a grim truth I preferred to keep to myself.

My classmates looked relieved.

"Okay, then I'm going to go tell Ms. Peterson to kick that creep out," Maya declared, standing up decisively.

Just then, a voice called out from the doorway.

"Audrey."

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