My Brother Never Gave Me a Home Chapter 11
They saw him too.
Smiles froze. The air turned awkward.
Truth was, I’d seen him every month for the past year.
At first, he’d tried to give me things. Money. Pull strings at the school.
I shut it down. Hard.
The last time, he’d funneled a significant amount of cash through the school disguised as a scholarship.
I took everything he’d ever brought me. Including that bank card. Threw it all into a drainage ditch in front of him.
Told him I didn’t need it. Didn’t want anyone thinking I had family ties.
After that, he got quieter.
Stopped showing up openly.
Only lurked at the edges of school investment events tied to his company.
Stealing glances from some far corner.
I never acknowledged him.
He stood outside that window for a long time.
Long enough that I drew the curtains. Mom napped with me for a while.
When I walked them out, he was still there. Unmoving. Far away.
The moment he spotted me, his hollow, wooden eyes sparked. Like something dead had been jolted alive.
Mom and Dad sighed. Pushed a grumbling, fight-ready Ethan toward the car.
I glanced back at Leo.
“Did you need something?”
His lips were cracked. Dry.
“I have something to say.”
“I know. Everything I’m saying and doing now is too little, too late. It’s useless. But there are things you
should know.”
“I’ve cut all ties with Chloe. I found her biological family. Sent her back.”
“She doesn’t have an Ashford anymore. She’s not my sister. She will never disrupt our lives again.”
“Mom and Dad’s house. Everything they left behind. I’ve sorted it all. I even bought back that house with a
yard we lived in when you were small. I’m living there now.”
“You said you don’t remember. That you have no impression of it. That’s fine. I’ll take you back. You’ll
remember eventually. Something will come back.”
“Joyce. Everything in the past. It’s all my fault. I was blind. I was arrogant. I thought blood ties couldn’t be
severed. And I kept hurting you for it.”
“But I’m ready now. Ready to take you home. Can you give me another chance? Give your brother another
chance? Let’s go back to how we were when we were little. Please?”
“That swing you loved as a kid. I had it rebuilt. And the little rocking horse. I carved a new one. Exactly the
same.”
“Joyce. I’m begging you. If not for me, then for Mom and Dad’s last wish. Give me one chance to make it
right.”
His eyes shimmered with hope. Desperation.
He’d laid down every card he had. Even his last one.
It would’ve worked four years ago.
It would’ve worked when I still held on to illusions about blood.
But now?
Everything in my life was exactly what it needed to be. I had no room left for this.
There was no fight left in me. No hatred. No pity.
Just calm.
“No. Really. It’s time we both moved on.”
