“Give that medal back to your brother,” my mother screamed after I became valedictorian—then she raised her heel and shattered my eye in front of the crowd.

The diner on 4th Street was almost empty at five in the afternoon. The greasy air smelled of fried onions, old coffee, and rain.

Colin sat in a vinyl booth in the far back corner, hidden beneath a pulled-down baseball cap and a dark hoodie. On the table in front of him sat a cold cup of black coffee and a trembling glass of water.

When I slid into the booth opposite him, he flinched, jumping as if he had been shocked with electricity.

He looked horrific. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken, dark purple circles bruising the skin beneath them. His hands shook uncontrollably as he clutched his coffee mug. The arrogant, polished boy who had strutted through campus six days ago was completely gone.

"You came," Colin whispered, his voice hoarse and broken.

"Where is Dad?" I asked, cutting straight through any potential small talk.

"He... he boarded an Emirates flight at JFK at 8:00 AM," Colin sobbed, pressing his hands over his face as tears began spilling through his fingers. "He took the offshore accounts, Nat! He cleaned out the family house, he wire-transferred two million dollars to a non-extradition bank account in the Emirates, and he left! He didn't even tell Mom!"

I sat back, staring at him without an ounce of pity. "He left you to take the fall for Vanguard Investments."

"The FBI came to the house this afternoon!" Colin cried out, keeping his voice in a hushed, panicked scream. "They served an indictment! Wire fraud, tax evasion, money laundering! Nat, they said I'm looking at fifteen years in federal prison! Fifteen years!"

"You signed the bank documents, Colin," I reminded him coldly. "You drove the seventy-thousand-dollar Audi bought with my stolen trust money. You spent five years enjoying the privileges of being the favorite child while I worked late nights in the library to pay for my own food."

"I didn't know he was laundering money!" Colin begged, reaching across the table to grab my hand, but I pulled my arm back, leaving his trembling fingers grasping at air. "I swear to God, Nat, I thought he was just giving me an advance on my inheritance! I didn't know he was stealing from you! I didn't know!"

"You knew I didn't have money, Colin," I said, leaning forward, my single eye piercing straight into his soul. "You watched Mom degrade me every single day at the dinner table. You watched her call me a parasite while you ate steak paid for with my trust fund. You knew. You just didn't care because it benefited you."

Colin wept openly now, hiding his face in his hood, his body shaking with pathetic, violent sobs. "What do I do, Nat? Please... tell me what to do. I can't go to prison. I won't survive in there."

"You turn state's evidence," I said flatly.

Colin looked up, wiping his wet nose with his sleeve. "What?"

"You go to the District Attorney's office tomorrow morning," I told him. "You give them every email, every text, every document showing that Warren was the master of the accounts. You testify against Dad, you help the federal authorities trace the money he took to Dubai, and you plead guilty to a lesser charge of failure to report financial fraud."

"I'll... I'll still go to jail," Colin whimpered.

"Maybe three years instead of fifteen," I replied, standing up from the booth. "Which is far more mercy than you or Mom ever gave me."

I pulled my valedictorian medal out of my jacket pocket—the new one Dr. Reeves had given me—and set it down gently on the formica table between us.

Colin stared at the gleaming gold circle, his breath catching in his throat.

"You wanted this medal so badly, Colin," I said softly, looking down at him. "You and Mom ruined our family, ruined my eye, and ruined your own life because you thought this piece of metal was the only thing that gave you value."