I Changed My Name and My Fate Chapter 10

I Changed My Name and My Fate Chapter 10

A crowd had already formed outside the flower shop. Julian was slumped on the ground at the bottom of the

steps.

He was skeletal – almost unrecognizable. His right hand was wrapped in gauze, and his left clutched a

bundle of dried bellflowers.

They’d been poorly kept. The petals crumbled at the slightest movement.

The second he saw me, he scrambled forward in the dirt. “Eleanor.”

“I was wrong. Hit me, yell at me – I don’t care.”

“Just tell me I’m still your brother.”

I stayed in the doorway. He wasn’t getting inside.

Harper was behind the counter, phone in hand, one tap away from calling the cops. Julian pressed his

forehead to the pavement.

“I couldn’t see what was right in front of me. I never should’ve believed Chloe.”

“I shouldn’t have burned you. I shouldn’t have broken what you made me. I shouldn’t have let them throw you out. Eleanor, just say my name. One more time. Please.”

The crowd started murmuring. Some of them didn’t know the full story, and their voices softened with

sympathy.

“He looks completely broken – he must really mean it.” “Come on, they’re family. You can’t stay mad forever.”

He looked up at me with the last scrap of hope left in him.

Then he pulled out a small knife with his ruined right hand and held the blade against his left wrist.

“If you won’t forgive me, I’ll destroy this one too. The right one’s already gone.”

The crowd gasped. Harper yelled from behind me, “Are you insane? Don’t you dare bleed out on our doorstep

– I just mopped!”

I almost laughed.

Julian’s voice cracked higher.

“Eleanor, look at me. I finally know what it feels like.”

“When I did those things to you – it hurt like this, didn’t it?”

I walked down the steps.

Alexander’s bodyguards moved to follow, but I held up a hand.

I stopped in front of Julian and looked down.

“You think if you suffer enough in front of me, I have to feel sorry for you?”

Julian froze. “I’m not-”

“You are.”

“Back then, you hurt me because you had the power to.”

“Now you’re begging because you have nothing left. It’s the same thing, Julian.”

“Both times, the only person you’re thinking about is yourself.”

The last trace of color bled from his face.

I brought my foot down on his left hand, the one still holding the bellflowers. He choked on a groan.

The dried petals crushed to powder under my sole. “This is blackmail, Julian. And I don’t negotiate with it.”

Tears streaked down Julian’s face. “Eleanor…”

I pulled a photocopy from my bag and threw it in his face.

It was the disownment agreement they’d forced me to sign years ago, before the lawyers made it official.

Chloe’s dad had signed it. Chloe’s mom had signed it. So had Julian.

And there was my name – the one he’d held my hand down and made me write.

“It’s in black and white. You don’t have a sister anymore, Julian.”

He stared at the paper and started laughing.

The laughter broke apart into sobs halfway through.

He snatched the paper and pressed it against his chest, rocking, muttering.

“No. I have Eleanor.”

“Eleanor’s a good girl. She’ll forgive Julian. She used to give me flowers when we were kids…”

The crowd finally understood this wasn’t just a family argument. Someone called the police.

The cops came fast. Julian fought them, screaming my name.

They got him in the car eventually. As the door shut, he pressed his face to the window, staring at me.

There was nothing behind his eyes.

I turned and walked back inside.

Harper was already holding a mop. “So. What do we do about the doorstep?”

I looked at the crushed pollen still on the steps. “Disinfectant. Use a lot.”

She nodded. “Got it. Gotta get the bad energy out.”

I went to the sink and washed my hands. The water ran cool over my fingers.

The bellflowers were gone. Every last petal. That was good.