Austin's POV
The moment I first laid eyes on Penelope, some primal instinct warned me my life would never be the same. That day when Sophia dragged that malnourished, twig-like girl before me, digging her nails into the child's arm to force her to call me "brother," I remember the derisive snort that nearly escaped me. Here was this social-climbing woman, so desperate to secure her position that she'd make her own daughter grovel before me. Pathetic.
I vowed then that I would never accept them. Never like them. Never acknowledge them as family.
