They Kept Me in the Trunk, Now They Beg for My Millions

For eighteen years, Chloe has ridden in the cargo trunk of her family's car while her siblings Austin and Brooke claimed the leather seats. When her parents finally buy a five-seater SUV with her scholarship money, she believes she will finally have a place — until she finds a golden retriever named Buster sitting in the last empty seat and is told the trunk is still her spot.

Her protest earns her a slap from Robert and cold scorn from Helen, who call her selfish for wanting a seat in a car she paid for. Brooke offers to trade places, but their parents refuse, insisting she is too delicate for the trunk they know is dirty and suffocating. The memory of being left locked in that trunk four years ago returns, and Chloe walks out into the snow with nothing.

Her former counselor, Mrs. Gable, finds her alone in the cold, and Chloe finally tells her everything.