My Brother Never Gave Me a Home Chapter 08
Third-Person POV
Panic hit him like a physical blow.
His phone slipped from his fingers and thudded into the sand.
Chloe paused mid-sip of her coconut water.
“What’s wrong, Leo? Is it the company?”
He didn’t answer. His eyes were blank. Stunned.
He scrambled to grab his phone and called Joyce.
One ring. Two. On the fifth, the line clicked. Connected.
But the voice on the other end wasn’t soft. Wasn’t hers.
A cold robotic tone.
“The number you are trying to reach is busy.”
He called again. And again.
Every single one was the same.
That was when it sank in.
She’d blacklisted him.
He grabbed Chloe’s phone and started dialing.
Then he saw it.
The contact name she’d saved for Joyce.
[Fake Bitch]
He stared at the screen. Shoved it in Chloe’s face.
“What… what the hell is this?”
Chloe’s eyes went red. She squirmed.
“Exactly what it says. I hate her. She is a-”
Leo hurled the phone at her feet.
Sand sprayed into her coconut. The clear liquid turned murky. Dirty.
“What gives you the right to call her fake? Change it. Right now. If I ever see you using that kind of filth against her again, try me.”
Chloe gaped at him. Disbelief wrecking her face.
“What are you doing, Leo?”
He ignored her.
Grabbed his own phone and called his assistant. Ordered him to reach Joyce.
The wait was brutal.
Chloe sobbed and muttered beside him, hysterical.
Finally, the assistant called back.
“What happened?”
The assistant sighed.
“Mr. Ashford. Ms. Harper said to stop contacting her. To leave her alone.”
That was when Leo knew.
Joyce wasn’t hurt. She wasn’t in danger.
She was leaving.
Leaving this family she’d been separated from for over a decade. The one she’d only spent three years in.
His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Panic clawed through his chest. Something vital was slipping away. He could feel it.
“We’re going back. Pack now. We’re going back right now.”
Chloe grabbed his arm.
“Go back now? But the trip isn’t over. You promised me we’d do all those things together.”
Leo looked at her. No warmth left in his eyes.
“We can travel any day. Those things can wait. I have something more important right now.”
Chloe’s eyes went bloodshot. Her breathing ragged and tear-thick.
“This is about her, isn’t it? You used to drop million-dollar deals for me. Now you’re abandoning me for her?”
“I’m not going back. If she wants to leave, let her. Where’s she gonna find a better life than with us? This is
probably just a power play.”
“She’s your sister. But I’m your sister too. You went all those years without her. You were fine. What’s the difference if she leaves now? It’s better this way. Now no one can fight me for this family.”
Leo had never seen Chloe like this.
Brattish. Twisted. Vicious.
He raised his hand and slapped her across the face.
“Enough. Do you even hear yourself?”
“If she’d been here, you never would’ve existed. You don’t compare to her.”
Chloe clutched her cheek.
Disbelief shattered across her face.
“You hit me. You hit me for her. You were never like this before. I should’ve just died back then.”
She bolted toward the ocean. Screaming. Dramatic.
Leo didn’t chase her.
Just watched. Cold.
“Fine. Stay here alone. From now on, whether you live or die has nothing to do with me.”
Chloe’s feet stopped dead in the water.
Then something clicked in Leo’s head. He strode after her.
“That pendant our parents left behind. Give it to me. It’s hers. Time to return what was never yours.”
