Blood Isn't Family

But before I could strike, the two employees lunged forward and yanked me back with all their strength.

'Smack! Smack! Smack!'

Three sharp slaps landed across my face, so hard that my vision spun and my ears rang.

"You crazy bitch, how dare you fight back?! You're really asking for it!"

Even through the dizziness, I roared back at them, my voice hoarse with fury. "When… When Stellan finds out what you've done to his sister and his mother, he'll tear you apart limb by limb!"

Evelyn stopped hitting me. Instead, she grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head up until I was forced to meet her gaze. "Still putting on an act, even now? You keep saying you're Stellan's sister—take a good look at yourself. Do you even look a thing like him?"

Her words made me falter for a moment. Of course, we didn't look alike. Stellan wasn't my parents' biological child.

…

It had been a snowy winter years ago. I was six, lost in an amusement park, when a faint cry came from a bush nearby. Inside a tattered cardboard box lay an abandoned baby—Stellan.

When my parents finally found me, we called the police, but the surveillance systems back then were primitive. They couldn't locate his real parents. I had grown attached to that fragile baby boy, and my parents—believing it was fate—agreed to take him in.

We'd always planned to tell him the truth once he was older, settled, and ready. Never did I imagine that one day, the boy we raised—the brother we loved—would hide his girlfriend from us and let her destroy the very family that had given him a second chance at life.

…

Before I could pull myself from the memory, a filthy rag was shoved roughly into my mouth.

"Like being an imposter, huh?" Evelyn snarled. "Well, in that case, I'll make sure no one ever falls for your act again. Let's see how you scam people with that pretty little face once I'm done with it."

She pressed the blade of a utility knife against my cheek. The cold metal sent shivers through my entire body. I whimpered, unable to speak as warm blood trickled down my face, the iron scent filling my nose. My eyes squeezed shut in despair.

'Screech!'

A harsh braking sound tore through the air outside just then, and a sleek black Rolls-Royce Phantom came to an abrupt stop at the entrance.

One of the employees gasped in delight. "The boss is here! That's his car!"

Stellan had arrived.

The Stranger He'd Become

A faint spark of hope flickered in my chest as my eyes followed Stellan's every move.

The moment he pushed open the door, Evelyn immediately dropped the knife and threw herself into his arms like a frightened deer. "Bubby, thank God you're here! I'm being bullied!"

Stellan's face softened with concern as he wrapped her in his arms, his voice low and soothing. "What happened, baby? Who's bullying you?"

Evelyn pointed a trembling finger toward my mother and me—both of us filthy, bruised, and barely standing. "It's them! Those two broke-asses came in to stir up trouble. They tried to scam a free treatment, and when I caught them, they pretended to be sick—and then tried to hit me!"

At that moment, covered in grime and blood, my mother unconscious beside me, Stellan didn't even recognize us. He listened to Evelyn's words, and his expression darkened in an instant.

"Who are you two? How dare you try to wreak havoc on my turf?! You must have a death wish! Throw them out! Break their bones and feed them to the sharks!" he barked, disgust twisting his face as he gave the order to the guards without so much as another glance at us.

My heart went cold the moment those words left his mouth. Was this the same obedient, gentle brother who had always listened to me at home? Out here, was this who he really was—a man who threw his weight around and treated lives like dirt?

Anger and despair surged inside me. I wiped the blood from my face with a trembling hand and forced out each word. "Stellan Fallow. Is this how you should be using the name of the richest family in Edgewater? Who did you just say you wanted to have beaten and thrown out?"

The sound of my voice seemed to snap him back to reality. He froze, staring hard at my face as if afraid to believe what he was seeing.

Even Evelyn's whining failed to draw his attention this time. After a long silence, his eyes widened in horror. "H-Hazel?!"