How My Brother Landed on My Payroll

Dad catches my older brother, Adam Sterling, street racing. He confiscates his debit card, credit card, and sports car keys overnight. "Since you've got a death wish, you'll make your own money from now on." And just like that, the heir of the Sterling family, whose net worth is in the tens of millions of dollars, goes from filthy rich to dirt broke, to the point that he can't even afford a burrito outside the school. Desperate to survive, he swallows his pride and comes to me. "Lend me two grand." I leaned on the couch and leisurely opened the calculator on my phone. "No loans, but I do have a job for you." From that day on, the former campus heartthrob became my personal maid. I pay him 30 dollars to buy me breakfast before school, 45 dollars to carry my backpack after class, and 75 dollars to hand me water during PE class. When I finish running half a mile and don't feel like moving, he has to crouch down and wipe the sweat off my face. That costs a little more—150 dollars. Everyone at school thinks I'm using my money to humiliate Adam. Riley Tucker, a scholarship student, is especially enraged on his behalf. When I tell him to buy me a coffee, she steps in. "Just because someone's struggling, it doesn't mean they need to give up their dignity!" When I pay him to tutor me, she snatches the money off the desk. "He's not some slave you can buy with money!" One day, when I twist my ankle, Adam carries me to the nurse's office. Riley walks right up to me and splashes a cup of water over my head in front of everyone. The next day, she reports me for financial bullying and forces me to sign a written pledge that reads, "From this day forward, I will not use money to order Adam Sterling around." I sign it without saying a single word, then immediately cut off his allowance and tell the housekeeper not to save him dinner anymore. Riley finally looks at me with self-righteous satisfaction. "Now, Adam is free. Even if he has to starve to death, he'll never have to take your dirty money again." I look at her and fall into deep thought. Before she goes around defending his dignity, shouldn't she at least ask him what he'll eat that night? Chapter 1 With the final stroke, I pushed the pledge back across the desk to Riley Tucker. She had clearly come prepared with a whole speech, but every single word suddenly melted in her throat. She said, "You actually signed it." I glanced at my name, the ink still glistening. "Why not? You gave me all the reason to." She froze for another second. "You're not going to think this over?" "Think about what exactly?" I asked, capping my pen. "You just helped me fire an employee who earns more per hour than a CEO and has an ego bigger than mine. I should be thanking you instead." Riley's expression fell. "Adam is not your employee! He's a living, breathing person, not some toy you can order around just because you have money!" I nodded. "Okay. And?" Her eyes rimmed red. "You think he'll come crawling back to you once you stop paying him, don't you?" "Probably not," I said, doing the math. "He should be able to last until dinner tonight." She clenched the pledge in her hand, looking genuinely stunned by my indifference. "I can live on two dollars a day. A person can be poor, but they should never throw away their dignity just for money." I sized her up and down. "Adam Sterling spends 200 dollars on a single meal. Your two bucks might not even cover his after-dinner gum." Someone nearby snickered. Tears immediately rolled down Riley's face. "Even now, you're still flaunting your wealth. Adam is handsome, smart, and used to be rich. "You're just taking advantage of him while he's down, enjoying the thrill of making the golden boy bow his head to you." I didn't argue. Adam had bowed his head to me before, usually to check my shoelaces. I paid him thirty dollars for each inspection and another fifteen if he actually tied them. We both knew what we were doing. One of us was shameless enough to name a price, and the other was willing to pay it. Only Riley made it seem like I had made him sell his soul. She took a photo of the pledge and posted it on the campus confession page. The caption was impossible to miss. "He's nobody's toy. Stop using money to control your classmate, Sophie Williams." Riley had thought everyone would join in and condemn me. At first, the top comments were exactly what she expected. "Just because she's rich, she thinks she can treat people like household staff?" "Taking advantage of Adam when he's down and ordering him around is just shameless." Before long, a guy from the basketball team jumped into the comments. "Hold up. Don't feel sorry for him just yet. The last time Adam wiped her sweat for her, he collected 150 dollars right in front of our entire team." Another student added, "He got 45 dollars for carrying her backpack, too. I saw it myself. He took the money first, then held his hand out for the bag." The mood shifted instantly. Before long, the top comment changed. "So… is Adam's position up for grabs now?" The comments then spiraled out of control. "It must be nice being hot. You could be a sugar baby and still have the whole school feeling sorry for you." "Look at me, Sophie. My dignity is highly negotiable." "If Adam's out, I'll take the job. Forget carrying your backpack. I can even carry you up five flights of stairs." "Is it true that he got paid 150 dollars for wiping her sweat? If it is, I'll show up with my own towel." "Please hire me. I'm discreet and obedient." Riley was furious. She started replying to the comments one by one. "He's not a sugar baby. He's just overwhelmed by the humiliation! "Does any of you have any self-respect?" Someone quickly replied, "Yes. But for 50 dollars and above, I can leave my dignity at home." Another student cut straight to the point. "Has Adam himself ever said he didn't want to do it anymore?" Riley sat there clutching her phone, unable to type out a response. The truth was that she barely knew Adam at all. Whenever they crossed paths in the hallways, he never even acknowledged her. In her mind, though, it wasn't because they were strangers. She had decided that he was the quiet, long-suffering type who kept all his pain buried deep inside. After hearing about her analysis, I discovered for the first time that my brother apparently had a whole secret inner world I knew nothing about. Nobody at school knew that Adam and I were siblings. He took Dad's last name, while I took Mom's. As for why we had never made it public, the reason was simple—he found me embarrassing. On the first day of freshman year, he warned me, "Don't let anyone here know we're siblings." "Why not?" "Because if you do, no ladies would come near me." Right then and there, I stuffed the half-eaten sausage I was holding into his backpack. After that, whenever we crossed paths at school, we stopped greeting each other altogether. Instead, we'd just roll our eyes at each other. Then he got caught street racing. Dad cut off his money, and that made him even more determined to keep our relationship a secret. He said working for me was already embarrassing enough. He couldn't let the whole school find out that he was living off his sister, too. Therefore, the so-called humiliation Riley thought he was enduring was actually a second chance at employment that Adam had begged me for. Unfortunately, he had left with the basketball team yesterday for a closed-door tournament. All the players had been made to hand in their phones. Even then, he had no idea that Riley had just rescued his precious dignity and, as a little bonus, destroyed his livelihood. Chapter 2 Still, Riley was dissatisfied. "Signing the pledge isn't enough. You need to cancel all of Adam's upcoming orders right now." "Sure," I said, logging onto the campus gig app. Adam's bio was painfully straightforward. It read, "Broke. Barely alive. Taking urgent orders." Below it was a list of his scheduled jobs for the next two weeks. "Breakfast Run for Sophie Williams. "Organize Mistake Notebook for Sophie Williams. "Locate Shady Spot During PE Class for Sophie Williams. "Deliver Art Supplies to the Arts Building After School for Sophie Williams. "Weekly Badminton Practice with Sophie Williams." The badminton sessions had originally been only 45 dollars, but Adam thought I was so terrible that playing with me ruined his mood, so he shamelessly raised the price to 120 dollars. Right in front of Riley, I canceled the orders one by one. "Order canceled. Exclusive order-taking access has been disabled. Pending final payments have been put on hold." Riley's scrunched-up face finally relaxed. She thought Adam had been set free, but to me, it looked more like a termination notice. A guy standing nearby suddenly raised his hand. "Sophie, is that spot-saving gig still available? Adam charges 45 dollars, but I'll do it for 40." Another chimed in. "I'll do it for 35 dollars. I'll even wipe down your desk for free." Riley stared at them in disbelief. "How can you guys willingly take this kind of humiliation just for money?" The guy scratched his head. "It's just saving someone a seat. What's humiliating about that? My mom makes me get up early to buy groceries, and she doesn't even pay me a dime." Someone burst out laughing. Riley looked even more helpless. I waved. "I'm not hiring anyone for now. I wouldn't want someone else to start feeling sorry for you guys again." Riley tucked the pledge away, a victorious gleam in her eyes. "Once Adam comes back, he'll definitely thank me. Starting today, he won't have to look to you for money anymore." As far as I knew, Adam only had 1.28 dollars left in his bank account. Fair enough. He wouldn't have to worry about how I looked anymore. He could just worry about his balance instead. The next morning, the moment I entered the classroom, every conversation around me stopped. The guy in front of me hurriedly turned his phone face down and looked at me as if I were some notorious criminal who had just been exposed. I dropped my backpack onto my desk. "What? Did more people online pile on me or something?" The student beside me slid their phone over. Riley had posted another long statement in the middle of the night. "Who will save Adam Sterling from the pressure of money?" This time, she had included plenty of photos—Adam carrying my drawing board, him standing in line to buy me a cake, him picking up a jacket for me beside the track, and him crouching on one knee in front of the steps, with his head bowed as he tied my shoelaces. She added, "He used to be so proud. Now, just for a few bucks, he's forced to bow his head to Sophie Williams in front of the whole school." The comments were unforgiving. "Being wealthy isn't a free pass to mistreat others!" "She made the hottest guy in school kneel and wait on her hand and foot. She probably felt so good about herself." "Sophie Williams is shameless. She took advantage of him when he was down and forced herself on him." "I feel bad for Adam. He used to be too lazy to even read love letters. Now, he's forced to put up with this just to afford a meal." Just then, Riley walked up to me, her eyes red from crying. "You see that? I'm not the only one who thinks you're in the wrong." I stared at the photos and nodded. "Yeah, I see it." Her expression softened. "So, you're willing to apologize?" "No," I answered. "I finally see why the average grade in our literature class never improves." Riley's smile froze. At that moment, someone in the back of the classroom announced, "Guys, I just found Adam's gig account!" Chapter 3 The student immediately posted Adam's profile in our year's group chat. The shoelace photo Riley had posted happened to match one of his listings perfectly. "Service: Shoelace Check. "Base Fee: 30 dollars. "Remarks: Inspection only. Retie fee not included." There was even an additional charge listed underneath. "Shoelace found loose—retied. Additional fee: 15 dollars." Soon, his other listings were dug up too. The original price for carrying my drawing board was 15 dollars, but Adam thought the arts building without an elevator was unacceptable, so he bumped it up to 37 dollars. Badminton practice was 45 dollars, but he thought I was terrible and had a habit of blaming my mistakes on my sparring partner. So, he added a 75-dollar emotional-distress fee. To scare off my admirers, I originally offered him 45 dollars. But after discovering the guy was an athlete, Adam tacked on another 100 dollars in workers' compensation insurance. As for the cheap jobs, he rejected those without hesitation. "Too little pay. Not taking it. "Too far away. Pay me more. "Be nice, and I'll take 5% off. Treat me like a butler, and it's an extra 75 dollars." Those who had just been sympathizing with him in the chat went silent for a full 30 seconds. Then it exploded. "Dude. He earns at least 50 dollars by doing one simple task?" "Who exactly needs saving here? Someone, please save me first. I only get 120 dollars a month for allowance." "That's pretty privilege for you. Even a sugar baby gets to set his own rates." "Sophie, please. I'll carry you up five floors for only 25 dollars." "Be my sugar mommy, please. I can always leave my dignity at home." Soon, the most popular comment became… "Hey, Riley. If you're going to report her, fine. But why didn't you attach the hiring link, too?" Riley stared at the screen, her face flushing in embarrassment. "Adam only learned to haggle because you forced him to!" Honestly, I was almost impressed. If Adam raised his rates, it was oppression. If he turned down jobs, it was a trauma response. Once she had settled on a conclusion, she could twist the evidence to fit whatever story she wanted. Ten minutes later, I was summoned to the teacher's office. Mary Parker slammed the screenshots of the orders onto her desk. "You're a lady, Ms. Williams. Don't you have any shame? You have a guy carrying your things, tying your shoelaces, and chasing off your admirers. Do you feel good about yourself?" I pointed at the screenshots. "He accepted the orders of his own volition. And he set those prices." She laughed coldly. "He was so broke that he had to ask you for money, and you still think this is all voluntary? Adam is one of the school's top students. "He's supposed to win awards and bring glory to the school, not be humiliated with your money!" Her reasoning was giving me a headache. I retorted, "He's getting paid for his labor. Why are you making it sound like he's getting paid for something else?" "Enough!" Mary slammed her hand against the desk. "You spend all day throwing money at some guy and go around feeling proud about it. You don't even have the basic dignity and self-respect of a woman. "Who's ever going to respect you?" Riley quickly stepped in and grabbed her arm. "Ms. Parker, please don't put it like that. Maybe Sophie just likes Adam too much and went about it the wrong way." Instantly, she established the narrative that I was throwing myself at the so-called hottest guy in school. Mary looked at me with even more contempt. "Just because you have feelings for someone, it doesn't mean you can take advantage of them when they're down. "Riley comes from a struggling family, yet she knows that being poor doesn't mean losing your backbone. Your family has money, but somehow, you've grown to be utterly shameless!" A few students had gathered outside the office to watch. Someone quietly pointed out, saying, "But Adam actually makes pretty good money doing it." Mary yanked the door open. "No amount of money gives you the right to trample someone's dignity! And all of you egging her on are letting your values be corrupted!" She told the class president to make a list of everyone who had spoken up for me, saying they would all be given a mandatory lecture on "proper values". The students lining up to apply for my jobs scattered immediately. Riley wiped away her tears and said softly, "Ms. Parker, this is no longer just a conflict between students. This is financial bullying." Mary agreed to launch an investigation on the spot. She notified the platform and froze the 417 dollars Adam had earned from completed gigs but hadn't been paid out yet. I raised an eyebrow. "So you can refuse to pay someone for work they've already done? That's convenient." She glared at me. "How are you still trying to use money to corrupt him?" Ultimately, the school decided to hold a disciplinary hearing for financial bullying on the day the basketball team returned. Riley submitted the evidence. I would give a public self-reflection, while Adam would attend as the victim. Riley stood beside me, her eyes red. "Once Adam comes back, he'll understand that I was only trying to help him." I looked at the payment screen, where his money had been frozen. "Pending Payment: 417 dollars." "Current Status: Funds Frozen Due to Dispute." I nodded and said, "Let's hope he feels the same when he returns." Chapter 4 That afternoon, on the day of the disciplinary hearing, I received a text from an unknown number. "Adam Sterling's old injury has flared up. He's been taken to a rehab center on the outskirts of the city. Please have his emergency contact come in as soon as possible to sign the necessary paperwork." The message also included Adam's competition number and records of his previous injury. Ordinary students shouldn't have had access to that information, but Riley had helped the student council organize the basketball team's records a few days earlier. I stared at the message for several seconds. I knew it could be a trap, but I still couldn't bring myself to gamble with Adam's leg. He had injured that leg once before, two years ago. He was an absolute pain in the ass most of the time, but he was still my brother. I rushed to the rehab center on the outskirts of the city. The staff searched their entire registration system, but there was no record of him. Outside, rain was falling in sheets. More than 200 people were ahead of me on the rideshare app. With no other choice, I started walking along the road toward the bus stop. A delivery truck plowed through a puddle. I jumped aside, slipped, and went straight into a roadside drainage ditch. My palms were scraped raw, and my knee was bleeding. Even my ankle swelled up immediately. In the end, a produce delivery truck gave me a ride back to school. When I pushed open the doors to the gym, Mary was onstage announcing, "Sophie Williams' refusal to attend proves that she still doesn't understand the gravity of her mistakes." Hundreds of eyes turned toward me at once. The moment Mary saw me covered in mud and rainwater, she simply frowned. "You knew exactly what time the disciplinary hearing started, yet you deliberately showed up late. "And now, you've gone and gotten yourself into this state. Are you trying to get out of punishment by playing the victim?" She pointed at the giant screen. "School Financial Bullying Investigation and Disciplinary Hearing. "Victim: Adam Sterling. "Perpetrator: Sophie Williams." Adam hadn't even arrived, but my conviction was already on the big display. "After a preliminary review, the school has decided to place Ms. Williams on disciplinary probation." Mary shoved the self-criticism letter into my hands. "Read it." I glanced at it. The letter read, "I admit I developed feelings for Adam Sterling and used money to pressure him into fulfilling my personal demands." They had even assigned me a crush without asking. I crumpled the letter into a ball. Mary slammed her hand on the desk. "Adam didn't reciprocate your feelings, so you used money to force him to follow you around. How shameless can a lady be, throwing herself at a guy like this?" Riley put on a concerned expression and gently pulled her back. "Ms. Parker, calm down. She just can't accept that Adam is finally going to be free of her." With that, she walked onto the stage and opened the campus gig app. Adam's completed jobs were still there, with 417 dollars frozen. Right in front of the entire school, Riley clicked "Refund". "Refund Successful." Then she canceled the exclusive order access between Adam and me. "Partnership Permanently Terminated." Afterward, Riley let out a long sigh of relief. "Starting today, Adam won't have to bow his head to anyone to make a living. Even if life gets a little harder, at least he'll be able to live with his head held high." I pressed my bleeding palm and looked at her. "Did he agree to let you refund his money?" Riley's gaze was firm. "People who've been controlled for a long time often can't admit they've been hurt. He couldn't refuse you, so I'll do it for him." The moment she finished speaking, a burst of cheers erupted from the back of the gym. The basketball team had returned earlier than expected. Adam walked in wearing his black team uniform, a medal hanging from his shoulder and a suitcase rolling behind him. During the tournament, the coach had kept all their communication devices. Until then, he had no idea what had transpired. His eyes landed on his name beside the word "Victim" on the screen, then on the 417 dollars marked as refunded. At last, he looked at me. I was soaked through. My knee was bleeding, and I could barely put any weight on my right foot. Adam's visage darkened. "Sophie, who did this to you?" Before I could answer, Riley ran over with the pledge in her hands. "Adam, you're finally back. You don't have to be afraid of her anymore. I got the school to discipline her. "From now on, she can't order you around with money anymore. I also refunded all the money she used to humiliate you." He frowned. "What money?" "The 417 dollars in your gig account," she said innocently. "I know. Without the money, you might struggle a little bit, but you've regained your freedom starting today." Adam stared at the refund screen and nearly passed out from rage. That was money he had earned from me, one gig at a time. "Where did my money go?" I jerked my chin toward Riley. "She used it to protect your dignity." Her eyes reddened as she looked at him. "Adam, after the way she humiliated you, why would you still want her dirty money?" He snatched the pledge out of her hand. "She's my sister. I'm the one who begged her to give me work and keep me fed. Who the hell are you to refuse it on my behalf?"