The "Fair" Lottery

From the back cover

Harper Vance grew up believing her parents treated all three children equally, deciding every household purchase by a lottery in the family group chat. Yet Harper always drew the expensive items, while her sister Chloe and brother Tyler drew only small ones. Then a message on her father's phone reveals the lottery bot can be rigged, and Harper realizes she is the client being cheated.

When her father proposes a minivan for family road trips, Harper quietly installs an anti-cheat lottery app. Tyler draws the car, then Chloe, then Tyler again, and her parents are stunned. Harper reminds them of the massage chair, fridge and central AC she once bought, and Tyler snaps at her by name. The silence that follows is heavy, for nobody has called her Harper Vance in a long time.

Her fiancé Liam once told her that her parents only love her with words, and her middle name, Dawn, was meant as the dawn of a son. At a family dinner her father praises Tyler's sacrifice and hints she should share the burden. Harper finally says there is something she has never dared to tell them.