Kidnapped in Sister’s Place and Emotionally Numbed: The Tragic Twin Cuts All Ties Chapter 03
Evander Rothmere showed up the next evening.
He wasn’t kin. His parents were killed in a pack war.
My father took him in and named him the next Alpha of Frostmere.
All I ever wanted was a brother who had my back.
Evander was everything I’d imagined. Except all of it was for Veyra.
He never hid how he felt about me. To him, I was the intruder stealing Veyra’s spotlight.
He walked right past me without a glance. Everything about him said I didn’t belong here.
Caring only makes you weak.
I used to bend over backward for him anyway. Followed him around, bought him things, did anything to make him notice me since I got back.
I was jealous of Veyra. She had what I’d never get: all of them.
But that was before. Now their little performance just looked pathetic.
My stomach growled.
“Here.” He shoved a gift bag at me. “Take this back.”
I recognized the moonstone pendant I’d picked out for his birthday, hand-polished and carefully wrapped.
I’d sent him plenty of gifts over the years while I was away. He’d always made a point of returning every last one.
He and Veyra both reveled in humiliating me.
“Okay,” I said.
That stopped him.
The old Liora would’ve begged him to keep it. He searched my face, waiting for the act: the tears, the pleading. Some new angle to reel him in.
“Evander, what’d she get you this time?” Veyra was already tearing open the bag before he could answer.
“Oh wow, this is gorgeous! She really went all out.”
“You should totally keep it.”
His jaw tightened.
Keep it? That would mean accepting her.
This was the girl who’d made Veyra feel small. The one Veyra cried about when no one was watching.
“Take it back.” His voice left zero room for argument.
Dinner was already on the table.
Seafood. Every single dish. Everything I was allergic to.
My stomach was cramping, and all I wanted was to get out of there and find something I could actually eat.
I stood up. Evander caught my wrist.
“I said take it back.”
Veyra watched from across the table, barely hiding her smile.
By now, the old me would’ve been in tears.
“Then throw it away,” I said.
“What?”
Nobody moved. So I picked up the pendant myself and dropped it in the garbage.
“You don’t want it? Gone.”
“I’m done here.”
The table went dead quiet.
They had no idea what to do with this version of me.
I walked out without looking back.
Evander stared after me, and something in his torso shifted. Like an invisible thread holding things together had just snapped.
Veyra’s eyes flicked to Evander. Her knuckles were white around her fork.
