My brother, thanks to me, became the most trustworthy owner in the pet business.
Today was the day of his magazine interview. At the celebratory banquet, he grandly announced that his pet brand was valued at over a hundred million dollars.
My mom excitedly told the reporter, “Our Justin just has such a big heart, so patient with little animals.”
The reporter looked at me. “I heard the older sister is specifically in charge of after-sales service?”
Justin’s face immediately darkened. “Her? She’s just a pet mortician, a jinx! Don’t let her bad luck touch our family’s fortune.”
He shoved a cheap amulet into my hand and pushed me away in front of everyone.
I watched his hypocritical face, calmly opening the largest pet owner forum in the country.
I posted a new thread using the ID Soul Whisperer, a name known to everyone in the industry.
“Effective immediately, Eminent Pets is permanently blacklisted by me. Also, a bonus: this brand’s puppy/kitten mortality rate over the past three months is 40%. Cause of death: inbreeding.”
1.
Less than thirty seconds after the post went live, my phone exploded.
The first call was from my mom.
“Alice! Have you lost your mind! Are you trying to ruin your brother?!”
“You need to, right now, immediately, delete that nonsense!”
I didn’t say anything, listening to her impotent rage on the other end.
“He’s your own brother! He’s worth hundreds of millions, and that reflects well on you too!”
“Are you trying to drag our entire family down with you? How could I have given birth to something so vicious?!”
Vicious?
I looked at the faint scar on my wrist.
That was three years ago. To get Justin the one million dollars he needed as start-up capital, I went to an underground blood clinic to sell my blood. The needle wasn’t clean, and the infection left that scar.
Back then, Justin held the money, excitedly telling me,
“Sis, when I make it big, I’ll buy you the biggest house and make you the happiest sister in the world!”
My mom was wiping away tears beside him.
“Our Alice is just so sensible. Justin will surely never forget you once he’s successful.”
Now, he was successful, and he really hadn’t forgotten me.
He repaid me by calling me a jinx and a pet mortician.
I let out a soft laugh.
My mom’s curses on the other end paused.
“What are you laughing at? You ungrateful wretch! Do you even have the nerve to laugh?”
“Mom,” I said calmly, “do you remember how Dad died?”
The phone line fell silent for a moment.
My dad died on a construction site. To earn extra money to buy Justin the latest game console, he worked thirty-six hours straight and fell from the scaffolding.
That one million dollars, it was the price of my father’s life.
I hung up and blocked my mom’s number.
Immediately after, Justin’s SnapChat messages popped up, each one more aggressive than the last.
“Alice, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Are you pushing your luck? I’m telling you, delete that post and apologize right now, or I’ll make sure you can’t survive in this city!”
“You think that pathetic ID means anything? I can have my PR team tear you apart and brand you a deranged liar in minutes!”
I didn’t reply.
I clicked open the backend of the Soul Whisperer ID, looking at the millions of followers and the accreditation: “Top-tier pet behaviorist and compassionate pet end-of-life specialist.”
Justin, do you really think I only have you?
I just never thought that whatever remaining affection we had would shatter so quickly, so ridiculously.
2.
At that moment, the forum exploded.
“OMG? Soul Whisperer herself is tearing into a brand now?!”
“Eminent Pets? Is that the company with ads everywhere lately, claiming the owner is a reincarnation of a cat saint?”
“40% mortality rate? Seriously? I just adopted a Ragdoll from them, I’m so scared!”
“Soul Whisperer never lies. Can’t wait for Eminent Pets to come out and dig its own grave.”
The public outcry spread faster than I’d imagined.
Justin’s PR team reacted quickly too.
In less than half an hour, a lengthy, emotional post appeared on Eminent Pets’ official Ins account.
The article painted Justin as a self-made man who loved animals, but was a poor brother being suppressed by his jealous older sister.
It claimed I was maliciously spreading rumors because I’d always been reclusive and had a sinister line of work, constantly jealous of my brother’s success.
The article also included several photos of me.
One was of me at a pet cemetery, squatting on the ground arranging flowers for a recently buried puppy, my face haggard, eyes gloomy.
Another was of me rushing out of my house in my pajamas late at night after getting a call for help, my hair messy, looking like a lunatic.
Finally, the article urged everyone not to believe rumors and attached several screenshots of so-called customer rave reviews.
In the screenshots, customers praised Eminent Pets for its excellent after-sales service and the owner’s patience.
Those customers were all people I had personally comforted in the middle of the night on the phone.
Those good reviews were all for me.
Now, they had become Justin’s weapons against me.
My phone rang again; it was an unknown number.
I answered, and it was my mom.
“Alice, Mom is begging you, your brother almost risked his life for this company. For Mom’s sake, please let him go.”
“He knows he made a mistake. He said he’d give you money, a million dollars, as long as you release a statement saying your account was hacked.”
Listening to her words, I couldn’t help but gag, my hand trembling too much to hold the phone.
The one million dollars my father died for, in their eyes, was worth so little.
All my blood, sweat, and sleepless nights over three years, could be bought off for a million dollars.
I laughed in anger, tears streaming down my face.
“Mom, tell Justin.”
“I don’t want his one million dollars.”
“I want him to be publicly disgraced and utterly ruined.”
3.
My silence contrasted sharply with Justin’s emotional accusations.
Some different voices began to emerge online.
“Honestly, the sister’s job is a bit… unlucky, so it’s normal for her to be mentally twisted.”
“It’s not impossible to be jealous of her brother’s success, especially since he’s a billionaire now.”
“Soul Whisperer used to be amazing, but this time it involves family, so it’s hard to say.”
Justin’s PR team immediately seized the opportunity, buying a massive wave of bots to manipulate the narrative.
“Poor Justin, being hurt by his own family like this.”
“The sister is too malicious, she can’t stand to see her brother do well.”
My DMs were flooded with thousands of hateful messages.
Some called me malicious, some cursed my whole family, and some even photoshopped my picture onto a memorial portrait.
Justin seemed to think victory was within his grasp.
He grandly announced that at 8 PM, he would publicly respond to the defamation incident in his live stream, alongside the company’s legal team, and would present conclusive evidence to prove my lies.
At the same time, he sent me a final ultimatum.
“Alice, you still have a chance before 8 PM. Delete the post, apologize. Otherwise, prepare to receive my lawyer’s letter and be doxxed and cursed by everyone online.”
“I made you ‘Soul Whisperer,’ and I can just as easily make you a social outcast, hounded by everyone. I have all your clients’ information right here.”
It was a blatant threat.
He actually wanted to use the pain of those who had lost their beloved pets to threaten me.
I looked at that message, and my last shred of hope completely shattered.
I didn’t reply to him.
Instead, I used the Soul Whisperer account to post a second message.
“The truth will speak for itself. No further words needed. Tonight at 8 PM, on my live stream, see you there.”
Below it was an image.
It was a corner of my desk, with a document clearly visible on top, its cover emblazoned with large characters:
*“Preliminary Evidence Summary Regarding Eminent Pet Co., Ltd. CEO Justin Reid’s Alleged Commercial Fraud and Animal Cruelty.”*
Below it, a corner of a lawyer’s practicing certificate was visible.
The post went live, and the entire internet erupted.
Justin’s phone rang immediately, and he said frantically,
“Sis! Sis! What exactly are you trying to do?! We’re family! You can’t do this to me!”
I listened coldly.
“What did you call me?”
He froze.
“Sis…”
“Justin, from the moment you pushed me away at that celebration and called me a jinx, I stopped having you as a brother.”
“As for family,” I paused, remembering my mom’s vicious curses, “you all don’t deserve it.”
After hanging up, my mom’s relentless calls started again.
I didn’t answer, just muted my phone.
Unable to reach me, she stormed to my apartment door.
“Alice! Open the door! You monster! Open the door for me!”
She pounded frantically on the door, cursing me with every hateful word imaginable.
I stood behind the door, watching her face, distorted by anger, through the peephole.
That face, once so familiar, now chilled me with its strangeness.
When she tired of yelling, she started to cry.
“Alice, Mom was wrong, Mom will get down on her knees for you, okay? Please don’t ruin Justin, this is his only business. If he falls, it will be the death of your mom!”
She really slowly knelt, her forehead pressed against the cold security door, sobbing uncontrollably.
I closed my eyes. The contrast between everything in the past and now made it impossible to breathe.
I used every ounce of my strength to keep myself from collapsing to the floor.
I don’t know how long it was before the suffocating cries and curses from outside finally stopped.
Leaning against the cold door, I slowly slid to the floor.
My phone screen glowed faintly, displaying the time: 7:50 PM.
Ten minutes until the live stream.
Just then, a strange number abruptly called.
I hesitated before answering, not speaking.
A low, steady male voice came from the other end. “Ms. Alice, this is Mr. Davies.”
Justin’s biggest investor, Mr. Davies, known in capital circles for his ruthless tactics.
He seemed to know I was listening and chuckled softly.
“My people are downstairs at your building. I’m giving you ten final minutes to cancel the live stream. Otherwise… I won’t just make sure you can’t survive in this city, I’ll also make you understand that some things are far worse than being publicly disgraced and utterly ruined.”
“For example, letting your clients’ data be spread across the entire internet overnight.”
“What do you think those people, who have just lost their beloved pets and saw you as their last hope, will do to you when they discover their privacy and grief have been leaked by you?”
4.
The call was abruptly disconnected, leaving only a dial tone in my ear.
I stiffly looked up at the window, the night was deep, as if countless eyes were lurking in the darkness.
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