She didn't say anything. Her eyes, cold and calculating, swept over me, taking in my disheveled hair, my swollen eyes and the way my hands trembled.

"Mum, please," I sobbed. I got a text from Anna and I stormed off to the… Yes! "It was Anna! She… she sent me the texts! She made me go there! I wouldn’t have gone there if she didn’t instigate me to. She must have set me up!" My voice cracked. "You have to get me out of here!"

A long silence stretched between us.

Then, finally, my mother sighed. She stepped forward, reaching through the bars and for a second, I thought she was going to hold my hand.

But instead, she placed a gentle hand on my cheek.

And then she said the words that shattered me.

"Just stay here for now, Bella."

My breath hitched. I pulled back slightly, my brows furrowing in confusion. "W-what?"

She sighed again, her expression softening not with love, but with pity. "Anna has a bright future ahead of her," she said gently. "You know that."

I froze.

My heartbeat slowed, my stomach sinking as her words truly hit me.

Stay here… for now? She was doing it again.

The same thing she'd always done, choosing Anna.

"Mum, I have a future too."

She blinked, almost as if she hadn't expected me to speak.

"Don't you care?" my voice turned colder and sharper, "the least bit that your daughter is in jail?"

She didn’t say anything to respond to that.

I scoffed bitterly. "Since you walked in here, you haven't asked once how I'm doing. You didn't even hesitate before throwing Anna's name in my face. Anna! Anna! Anna!” My lips curled in disgust. "Is that all you ever think about?"

My mother let out a quiet sigh, as if I were exhausting her.

"Why should I cover up for Anna?" I spat, stepping closer. "You know she framed me. She sent those texts on purpose to lure me to that room. You know it, Mum. She must have told you everything…like she always does."

I exhaled shakily, trying to suppress the lump in my throat. "And instead of making her take responsibility, instead of holding her accountable if it's just this time, you're here telling me to shoulder everything? To take the fall for her again? Like that time?"

For a brief second… just a second… I saw something flicker in her eyes.

Guilt.

But she buried it quickly, her lips pressing into a firm line as she straightened her posture.

"I'm only asking you to help your little sister," she said, her voice eerily calm. "She's trying to be a world star. If this gets out, it'll ruin her reputation. Everything she's worked for will be gone."

I let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

"And what about me?" I asked, my voice rising. "What about my reputation?"

She scoffed.

My breath hitched as she looked me dead in the eye and said, "You're not as pretty as your sister. You’re even a little chubby so your body isn’t attractive. You’re not as kind and sweet. She definitely has a higher chance of succeeding."

My heart stopped.

It felt like a slap to the face.

"But don't worry," she continued casually, as if she hadn't just crushed me. "When you get out, your sister will definitely make it up to you."

Then she turned and walked away.

Just like that.

I felt my body shake as I clutched the bars, watching her disappear down in those expensive heels. It was the first gift I bought for her when I started making some money. Anna, her beloved daughter, had never gotten her more than a cheap bracelet down the store.

I gasped for breath, my chest rising and falling erratically as I screamed.

"MUM! MUM! MUM!"

"AM I EVEN YOUR REAL DAUGHTER?" I choked out, my voice pleading.

Maybe she was already too far away to hear me.

Or maybe, just maybe, she had heard me and she just didn't care.

A bitter laugh slipped past my lips.

Tsk. My dad didn't even bother showing up to demonstrate his fake sympathy.

My so-called boyfriend—well, ex now too.

He had stood beside Anna in that hotel room, watching as I was handcuffed and dragged away like a criminal.

He didn't even try to defend me.

I should've known. I should've seen it coming.

A few years in jail? No.

This was murder, not even attempted murder. The lightest sentence for a case like this was life imprisonment.

They wanted me to rot in here for Anna's crime.

I lay on the stiff, disgusting mattress, staring at the cracks on the ceiling, my mind spiraling into a pit of darkness.

Would I really die in here?

Then, in the dead of night, I heard some strange sounds.

My eyes widened as a sharp, cold pain pierced my side.

I gasped.

The pain was horrible.

"Wh—Why?" I asked, my hands instinctively moving to my side, feeling the warm, sticky blood seeping through my prison uniform.

The inmate above me, her face barely visible in the dim light hesitated for a moment. Her hands trembled as she twisted the knife deeper.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm just doing this to survive."

She pulled the knife out, and I let out a strangled gasp, my body convulsing.

"Blame your luck for offending who you shouldn't have."

Those were the last words I heard before I lost my consciousness.