Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Emery thought, ‘She was, what-fifteen? A kid from an orphanage suddenly got into a family full of strangers. Of course her first instinct was to go home when she was abandoned.
“That isn’t some kind of power play. It’s just human.’
Emery laughed bitterly. “Bryan, Mom told me once-when you were little, she took you to a friend’s house and forgot about the time while playing cards. She left you there for hours. You cried your heart out, screaming for your mom.”
Bryan frowned. He didn’t get why Emery was bringing that up now.
“You were like twelve. Not exactly a toddler,” Emery added.
Emery continued, “You hearing yourself right now? Even you were crying in a house full of familiar people, and you were older than Aubree. But now you expect a fifteen-year-old girl, lost for ten years, dropped into a strange place, not to freak out? You were yelling for Mom. All she wanted was to go home. What did she do wrong?”
Emery felt a crushing sadness. He’d only heard about that incident through others later.
Back then Emery had thought, ‘What’s the big deal? Now it all just feels sick.
‘So that’s how it worked: the favored one got comforted for every little thing, while the one who actually suffered got told they needed more discipline.
Emery tilted his head back, blinking hard to hold back tears. “You said Aubree had no bottom line, all for a little attention. You knew Daxton made her do it. You mocked her, but did you ever stop to think-she got lost at five, hadn’t seen her family in ten years. Maybe all she wanted was someone to notice her.
“Aubree gave up the only thing she had-her grades-just to get Daxton to smile at her. She could kneel in the cold all night if that meant being acknowledged. Carmen fakes a heart problem out of guilt, and you feel bad for her. But the kid who got lost for ten years doesn’t deserve to be cared for?”
After a while, the room went dead quietly.
Bryan’s eyes widened a little. Something seemed to click-but he still didn’t think he was wrong.
Emery couldn’t say another word. He just felt cold all over.
At first, Emery had thought they all just misunderstood Aubree. But now Bryan was saying it out loud-they’d known. They just chose to look the other way.
Emery thought, ‘You can’t wake someone who’s pretending to be asleep.
‘No matter how much Aubree cried or begged back then, nobody cared. If it’s Aubree, then it has to be her fault.
‘Bryan isn’t wrong. The way Aubree turns out… I’m part of that.
‘We’re supposed to be family. Real siblings. So how does it all end up like this?’
“I’ve already asked the police to help look for her…” Bryan started.
“Who are you guys looking for?” Carmen’s voice suddenly came from the door. She peeked in, looking curious.
Carmen spotted the bruise on Bryan’s face and gasped. “What happened to your face?”
Emery quickly shut up. Suddenly, he didn’t know how to face Carmen right now.
Chapter 26
Bryan relaxed his brow and smiled. “Nothing, I tripped. Carmen, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in class?”
Hearing this, Carmen looked sheepish. She replied, “Sorry, Bryan. I might’ve embarrassed you guys.”
“What happened?” Bryan asked right away.
Emery watched in silence. ‘Carmen can walk in and out of Bryan’s office whenever she wants.
‘But Aubree? She has to call first if she wants to walk in the company. And even then, who knows if she’ll be allowed in.
‘So getting into Bryan’s office is completely out of the question.
‘Because Bryan didn’t worry about Carmen leaking company secrets. But he didn’t trust his own sister, Aubree.’
Carmen fidgeted with her fingers, voice soft. “I’m falling behind in my art class. The teacher said if my next piece doesn’t meet expectations, I should drop out myself.”
Emery couldn’t help thinking-if it were Aubree, she probably wouldn’t have said a word. She’d stay up all night practicing until she could keep up. Carmen, though, didn’t hesitate to come cry to Bryan.
‘Isn’t Aubree our real sister?’ Emery wondered.
Bryan was already comforting her. He said softly, “That’s not a big deal. Just have Aubree draw something for you.”
With that, Bryan grabbed the phone and asked his assistant if Aubree had called or sent any messages lately-anything about wanting to come home.
The assistant replied, “Mr. Wilson, there’s been no contact from Ms. Miller at all.”
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