Cowardly Me: She Bleeds When I Bleed

Bullied and never fighting back, Jeff has spent twenty years swallowing humiliation in silence. Then a well-dressed couple finds him under an overpass, applying screen protectors to phones, and tells him he is their long-lost son. A DNA report and a six-figure allowance convince him he is finally the heir of a wealthy family.

But on his first day home, the fake heir, Shane, drops the watch his mother gave him into the toilet and makes clear there is no place for him in this house. Jeff dares not speak. Twice he tries to end his life, and twice he is saved—his sister Lizzie Zeder even turns up with bandages on her own wrist. When Shane hints at a surprise waiting at the recognition party, Jeff can only drift along, spending money day by day, unsure how to fight back.

At the party, dressed in a tailored suit between his parents, Jeff watches Shane step onto the stage and take the microphone.