After the Thorns Chapter 01
Author: Teal Brewster
When Vanessa Hale saw me, she froze and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Why were you released so early?”
Realizing how cruel that sounded, she pressed her lips together awkwardly.
A lazy male voice drifted from behind her.
“Honey, who’s knocking this late?”
My younger brother, Mason Reckitt, raised an eyebrow at me and wrapped a possessive arm around Vanessa’s waist.
“Julian, let me introduce you again. This is my fiancee.
“Since you’re back now, you’ll be just in time for our wedding next month.”
Compared with me, her ragged ex-boyfriend fresh out of prison, the two of them looked far more suited to each other.
My parents heard the commotion and hurried over.
Their cheerful expressions turned cold the moment they saw me.
“Julian, did you escape?
“Go turn yourself in before you damage your brother’s reputation!”
I smiled bitterly. “Did you forget? Today was my scheduled release date.”
My parents’ faces shifted from pale to flushed before they turned the accusation back on me.
“Of course we didn’t forget.
“Are you blaming us for not picking you up?
“Today is your brother’s birthday. Visiting a prison would have ruined the celebration.”
Mom even grabbed a leafy branch from a vase and struck me with it.
“Your brother’s company is preparing for an IPO. We can’t let your bad luck contaminate it.”
Seeing how thoroughly they rejected me, Mason made no effort to hide his satisfaction.
He even pretended to be generous. “Let it go. Julian finally came home, so let’s not say anything depressing.
“My company happens to need a night security guard. He can work there for twenty-two hundred dollars a month.”
Mom immediately boasted, “Your brother is a major businessman now. He manages hundreds of employees.”
Even Dad, who was normally stern, softened when he looked at Mason.
“Julian, you should learn from your brother.
“A person can change after making mistakes. From now on, live honestly.”
They knew perfectly well that I had spent three years in prison for what Mason had done.
Yet they rewrote the truth and nailed me to a wall of shame.
Their favoritism had begun when we were children.
If I touched a toy Mason liked, my parents beat me.
But when Mason tore up the certificates I treasured, they praised him for being strong.
Three times in a row, I earned the highest score in the district’s college entrance exams.
Yet whenever Mason complained, “If Julian leaves for college, no one will play with me,” my parents secretly canceled my applications and kept me from enrolling anywhere.
Eventually, I fought my way into West Point.
Just when I thought I had finally escaped that cage, Mason’s violent stunt destroyed my future again.
Even the girlfriend who had promised to marry me after my release had become my brother’s fiancee.
The admission letter in my pocket seemed to burn against my skin.
In the end, the person who could pull me out of this nightmare was a stranger with no blood connection to me at all.
