The Price of Greed: Never Touch My Sister

When I walked into my bedroom, Hazel was balanced on a chair, reaching for the velvet lockbox pushed to the very top of my closet. She froze the second she saw me. Her hand jerked.

The box tipped, and my fortythousanddollar diamond necklace spilled out, pooling onto my mattress.

Her eyes darted everywhere but my face. "Sloane… I—I was just looking…" She swallowed hard. "My roommate was right. You always treat me like a criminal.

You won't even let me borrow one stupid piece of jewelry…" I didn't entertain her bullshit. I crossed the room, twisted my fingers into her hair, and slapped her.

The crack echoed down the hall. Mom and Dad burst in from the living room a second later. Hazel clutched her stinging cheek. "Mom! Dad! Sloane hit me!" Mom didn't look at her.

Her gaze dropped straight to the diamonds scattered across my duvet. The temperature in the room plummeted. Without a word, Mom pivoted to the shoe rack by my door.

She yanked out a heavy, hardsoled slipper, marched back, and shoved it directly into my palm. "You'll bruise your hand," Mom said, her voice dead flat. "Use this.

Nobody is bailing her out today." She pinned Hazel with a lethal stare. "We give you everything you could ever want, and you decide to steal from your own family?

Beat the hell out of her." Chapter 1 I took the slipper. Zero hesitation. I brought it down hard across Hazel's back. Smack. The heavy sound cracked through the bedroom.

Hazel shrieked, rolling across the floorboards. "Mom! Dad! Help! Sloane is going to kill me!" Dad stood in the doorway, his face carved from stone.

He pulled the bedroom door shut until it clicked. "Hit her," Dad said. The words dropped like lead. "She brings thievery into her own home.

If we don't beat it out of her today, she'll be robbing people on the street tomorrow." I raised my arm and brought the hard sole down again. Hazel had been coddled since birth.

She had never known real consequence. Two solid hits had her sobbing, scrambling blindly across the rug.

I planted my foot squarely between her shoulder blades, pinning her to the floor. "What did you do wrong?" I stared down at her.

Hazel sobbed, wrapping both hands over the back of her head. "I was wrong! I shouldn't have touched your stuff! Sloane, please stop!" Smack.

I brought the slipper down again. "Liar," I said. "You just said your roommate told you I treat you like a criminal. Speak clearly.

Who is she, what exactly did she say, and why did she tell you to steal my necklace?" Hazel flinched. She kept her face buried in the floor. I ground my heel down into her spine.

She let out a piercing scream, her body going entirely limp. "I'll tell you! I'll tell you! It's Kelsey!

Kelsey is going to some trustfund kid's birthday party this weekend." "She said people would look down on her if she didn't show up in highend jewelry." She gasped for air. "She knew you had that diamond necklace.

She told me to borrow it so she could look the part!" Mom let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "She asks to borrow it, so you decide to steal it?" Hazel lifted her red, blotchy face. "I was going to ask Sloane!

But Kelsey said Sloane was aggressive and selfish, and that she'd never say yes…" She swallowed a sob. "She told me we were sisters, so Sloane's stuff is practically mine anyway." "She said taking it for a few days wasn't stealing.

She told me if I didn't help her, it meant I looked down on her for being poor." Bile rose in the back of my throat.

A fortythousanddollar necklace, just so her roommate could play dressup, and refusing meant I was classist.

And Hazel actually bought into that garbage logic. "She's broke, so that makes her entitled to my safe?" I asked.

Hazel choked on a sob, her shoulders snapping back. "Sloane, you don't get it." "Kelsey's family has nothing.

She scrapes by every single day." "She just has a lot of pride, and she wants to network at this party." She looked up at me. "One necklace is nothing to you, but for her, it could literally change her whole life." I kicked Hazel hard in the shoulder, flipping her onto her back. "Nothing to me?" I grabbed her by the collar and hauled her upper body off the floor. "I bought this necklace with money from my own startup.

You want to use my blood, sweat, and tears to bankroll some stranger's destiny? You're playing charity worker with my bank account?" Dad dragged a chair from my desk and sat down.

He didn't raise his voice, but the sheer weight of his presence sucked the air out of the room. "Hazel.

Does this Kelsey girl regularly take advantage of you?" Hazel shook her head frantically. "No! She's so good to me! She even boils water for my tea!" Mom didn't say a word.

She turned on her heel, marched straight into Hazel's bedroom across the hall, and yanked the closet doors wide open. The racks were totally barren.

Every single one of her designer jackets was gone. Chapter 2 I glanced at her vanity. The two thousand dollars' worth of luxury skincare I'd bought her two weeks ago? Gone.

Not a single glass bottle left. "Where are your clothes?" Mom demanded. "Where is your skincare?" Hazel wouldn't meet her eyes. "Kelsey had some interviews," she muttered. "She just borrowed them for a few days… And I left my skincare at the dorm so we could all share…" "She can't afford the nice stuff.

I didn't want to be stingy." A harsh laugh scraped my throat. I dropped the slipper.

It hit the floor with a dull thud. "Okay." I brushed off my hands and turned toward the door. "Sloane, where are you going?" Hazel's voice cracked. "I'm going to help your best friend change her destiny." I drove straight to Hazel's campus.

It was past nine at night, and the dorm halls were packed with people. I ignored everyone, marching straight up to Room 304.

I lifted my boot and kicked the door right beneath the handle. Crash. The door slammed open. There were three girls inside.

Two were lounging in their bunks, scrolling on their phones. They jumped at the noise.

The third girl was standing in the dead center of the room, doing a slow spin in front of a fulllength mirror. She was wearing a customtailored black evening gown.

My birthday gift to Hazel from last month. Her face was baked in a flawless fullglam makeup look. The bottles cluttering the desk next to her were exclusively Hazel's.

This had to be Kelsey. Kelsey froze. Her perfectly drawn eyebrows snapped together. "Who the hell are you? Haven't you heard of knocking?" I didn't say a word.

I closed the distance, grabbed a fistful of her styled hair, and yanked hard. Kelsey let out a bloodcurdling shriek.

Her knees gave out, and she crashed hard onto the linoleum floor. The two girls in the bunks screamed, pressing themselves flat against the cinderblock walls.

I planted my boot squarely between Kelsey's shoulder blades.

I gripped her jaw and forced her face up. "I'm Hazel's sister." I held her gaze, my voice dead flat. "A fortythousanddollar necklace, and you actually had the nerve to ask for it?" The blood drained from Kelsey's face.

She thrashed, trying to get up, but I kept my weight pressed down. She wasn't going anywhere. "What are you doing! Let me go!" "Hazel agreed to lend it to me!

You can't just hit me!" she cried out. "Lend?" I backhanded her across the face. The slap rang sharp and loud in the cramped room. The corner of Kelsey's mouth split open.

A bead of blood pooled on her lip. "I bought it," I said. "What right does Hazel have to lend it to anyone?" Kelsey clutched her cheek. Tears immediately spilled over her lashes.

She stopped looking at me and twisted her head toward the bunks, her lower lip trembling. "Jenna! Tessa! Call campus security!" "She broke in and assaulted me!

So what if she's rich?" "Does having money mean she can just bully poor people like this?!" The roommates exchanged uncomfortable looks.

Jenna leaned over the edge of her mattress, her voice shaky. "Hey… maybe just let her up? Kelsey really did ask Hazel for it." "Hazel is usually so generous with her stuff.

Can't we just talk about this…" "Talk?" Chapter 3 I snapped my gaze to Jenna. "She manipulated Hazel into stealing a fortythousanddollar diamond necklace. That's a felony.

Are you absolutely sure you want to go to bat for a criminal?" Jenna’s mouth clicked shut. The color drained from her face, and she shrank back against the cinderblock wall.

Kelsey thrashed on the linoleum, her whiteknuckled grip crushing the tulle skirt of the couture gown. "I didn't steal it! Hazel offered it to me!" "You're insane!

You're just jealous Hazel actually has a real friend!" I crouched down. "Take it off." Kelsey blinked, her fake lashes fluttering. "What?" "I paid for this dress.

Take it off." I held her gaze. Kelsey crossed her arms tightly over her chest. The waterworks started again. "You're a bully! Hazel gave this to me!

You can't strip me!" I didn't waste another second. I grabbed the silk neckline and yanked.

The expensive fabric ripped right down the seam, exposing the cheap, pilled camisole she was wearing underneath. Kelsey let out a sharp gasp.

She wrapped her arms around herself, wailing as if I'd just held a knife to her throat. "Help! Someone help me!

The rich girl is trying to kill me!" The hallway outside was packed now. Dozens of faces crowded the doorframe, the frantic whispers growing into a loud hum. Phones went up.

Camera flashes flickered. Kelsey caught the flash. Her sobbing hit a new octave.

She scrambled toward the doorway, clutching the shredded silk to her chest, pitching her voice to the audience in the hall. "Look at this! Look what she did!

I just borrowed a dress from my roommate!" "Her sister broke in, beat me, and ripped the clothes right off my body!

Do rich people just get to treat us like dirt?!" The crowd took the bait. "That's going way too far." "Having money doesn't mean you can just humiliate people." "Someone call campus police.

That's straightup assault." I stood dead center in the room, watching the circus play out. I pulled a wet wipe from my bag and methodically cleaned my hands.

Just a cheap guilttrip tactic. Wrap yourself up as the flawless victim, flash your 'poor' card like a getoutofjailfree pass, and hijack everyone's empathy.

The crowd suddenly parted. The hall director and Marcus, the resident advisor, pushed their way through the door.

Marcus took one look at Kelsey—bleeding lip, torn dress—and his face went white. "What is going on here?

Who started this?" Kelsey lunged for Marcus, wrapping her arms around his legs and sobbing into his jeans. "Marcus, help!

Hazel's sister broke in and tried to kill me!" "She ripped my clothes off! She's humiliating me in front of everyone!" Marcus snapped his head toward me. "You're Hazel's family?

You think you can just barge onto a college campus and assault a student?

That is a felony, do you understand that?" I tossed the crumpled wet wipe into the trash can. "Marcus, right?" "She manipulated my sister into sneaking home in the middle of the night to steal forty thousand dollars' worth of diamonds." "I'm the victim of a robbery.

I came to deal with the criminal. Is there a problem?" Chapter 4 Marcus froze. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd of students in the hallway. "Forty thousand?

Theft?" Marcus stammered, looking down at Kelsey. Kelsey shook her head. "I didn't! Marcus, don't listen to her!" "I just asked Hazel to let me wear it for a day.

I had no idea she stole it!

I'm innocent!" Marcus let out a breath of relief, smoothing the front of his shirt before turning back to me. "Look, there’s clearly a misunderstanding here.

Kelsey is one of our top students on financial aid." "She’s active in the community.

There is no way she would incite a robbery." He straightened his posture. "Since nothing was actually lost, you should handle your family matters behind closed doors." "Barging into a dorm and assaulting a student is a serious violation.

Apologize to Kelsey, pay her medical expenses, and we’ll call it even." A sharp, humorless laugh escaped my throat. "Apologize?

Pay her?" I stepped toward Kelsey. "Where is Hazel’s skincare?" Kelsey shrank behind Marcus, her lips pressed into a thin line.

I shoved Marcus’s arm out of my way and walked straight to Kelsey’s desk. It was cluttered with expensive glass bottles—every single one of them something I had bought for Hazel.

I picked up a threehundreddollar bottle of luxury serum. I let it drop. Crash.

The glass shattered, splattering the expensive liquid across the floor. "What do you think you’re doing!" Marcus shouted. I ignored him.

I picked up a perfume bottle, then a face cream, then a foundation. One by one, I smashed them into the linoleum. The sound of breaking glass echoed through the silent room.

Kelsey watched the shards, her entire body trembling. "You're insane!

That's my stuff!" "Yours?" I stopped and looked her dead in the eye. "You’re a student who filed for a federal Pell Grant for the 'severely impoverished,' yet you have five thousand dollars' worth of highend skincare on your desk?" "You’re telling me this is yours?" The whispers in the hallway shifted.

The students exchanged hard glances, narrowing their eyes at Kelsey. Kelsey’s face went from pale to a blotchy, frantic red. "Hazel didn't want them anymore! She gave them to me!

Since when is it a crime for a poor person to have nice things?" I didn't waste my breath on her logic. I walked to her closet and ripped it open.

Inside hung a dozen designer dresses and three luxury handbags. I had personally taken Hazel to the boutiques to pick out every single one.

I tore the clothes off the hangers, threw them onto the wet, glasscovered floor, and ground my heel into the fabric. "Did Hazel 'give' you these, too?" I asked.

Kelsey gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her face. "Yes! She has so many clothes she can’t even wear them all!

What’s wrong with letting me borrow a few?" "You call this borrowing?" I pulled out my phone, opened Hazel’s banking app, and shoved the screen in Marcus’s face. "Take a look, Marcus.

This month alone, Kelsey had Hazel pay for over a dozen Uber Eats orders—all of them highend meals." "Hazel paid Kelsey’s phone bill.

Hazel is even paying the monthly credit card installments for the iPhone 15 Pro Max in Kelsey’s hand." Chapter 5 I snapped my gaze back to Kelsey. "You sunk your teeth into Hazel’s wallet and told her that’s what sisters do.

You aren't just broke. You’re a leech." Kelsey sprang up, jabbing a trembling finger at my chest. "Shut up! Hazel wanted to pay!" "It has nothing to do with you! You’re a sociopath!

You don’t even know what it means to be a real friend!" I took a single step forward. She scrambled back, slamming hard into the wardrobe doors.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a cracked burner phone shoved inside her halfopen desk drawer. I reached for it.

Kelsey lunged like a feral animal, clawing desperately at my arm. "Don't touch my stuff! You thief!" I drove my boot straight into her kneecap.

She dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. I flipped the phone over and swiped the screen. No passcode. I tapped the camera roll. The breath hitched in my throat.

Grid after grid of photos filled the screen. No selfies. No campus sunsets. Just Hazel. Hazel with her shirt pulled halfway over her head.

Hazel asleep in her bed, wearing a sheer silk slip. Hazel in the dorm showers, her naked silhouette pressed against the frosted glass. Every single angle was invasive. Predatory.

The plastic case of the phone groaned under my grip. I backed out and opened her messaging app. There was one pinned group chat. The title read: Campus Roster Exchange.

Kelsey’s message history was stomachturning. [ New drop. Rich girl in my dorm. Dumb as a rock. ] [ Body is a ten. $500 for the whole album.

Nonnegotiable. ] [ I'm bringing her to the frat party this weekend. Have the roofies ready. She's ridiculously gullible, totally buys into the "besties" crap.

Once it's done, that corporate internship slot is mine. Don't forget. ] My knuckles went stark white. Kelsey was slumped against the desk. The color had drained from her face.

She was shaking so hard her teeth chattered. Marcus caught the shift in the room. He took a hesitant step forward. "What's going on? What's on the phone?" I didn't answer him.

I twisted my hand into Kelsey's hair, hauled her dead weight off the floor, and dragged her straight out into the crowded hallway. Kelsey thrashed, clawing at my wrist. "Let me go!

Stop!" I shoved the glowing screen inches from her eyes. "Come on. Tell them.

Tell the whole floor exactly why you wanted Hazel at that party this weekend." Kelsey squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head. "No… I didn't…" "Not feeling talkative?" I backhanded her across the mouth.

Blood smeared across her chin. "Then I'll do it for you." I pivoted to face the sea of students crowding the hallway.

I held the phone high in the air, projecting my voice so it bounced off the cinderblock walls. "This poor, defenseless financial aid student has been taking creepshots of my sister undressing in her own dorm!

She's been selling them to men online for cash!" I pointed directly at Kelsey's bleeding face. "And that's not all.

She coordinated with a bunch of scumbags to drug my sister's drink at a party this weekend!

She was going to trade my sister's body for a slot in a corporate internship program!" Absolute, dead silence fell over the hall