Brother, This April Fools’ Day Is the Last One Chapter 06

Brother, This April Fools’ Day Is the Last One Chapter 06

I shook my head. I stood right in front of him, shaking my head in denial over and over.

But he couldn’t see me. He ground his foot into what was left of me.

To him, I was nothing but an embarrassment. He stomped on me like I was vermin.

Arthur watched all of it from across the room. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, the faintest smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

He was enjoying it, the chaos, the blame, my parents choosing him over their own daughter without

even hesitating.

Everything he’d told me that day, while he held me down by the hair, was proving true all over again. He still had all the power.

My parents never cared about what I felt. After the assault, I was the only one they sent away.

They kept Arthur in their lives. To everyone else, they were still perfect partners.

Arthur loved playing the good man. He knew I’d contracted an STI because of what he’d done to me.

He told my parents about the infection himself, and hinted that I must’ve gotten it from some

boyfriend.

His story was that I’d gotten the disease somewhere else and decided to pin it on him. It was such a

transparent lie.

I never thought my parents would swallow it completely.

Arthur turned to my dad with the patient gentleness of a saint.

“Look, we were all young once. People make mistakes. Sometimes they lash out when they know they’re in the wrong. I don’t hold it against her. But if my being around still upsets Chloe, I can just keep my distance.”

My dad cut him off before he could finish.

“What happened before was just her acting out. That’s all it was. And now this? This is what happens when you spoil a kid rotten.”

Spoiled. The word hit me like a slap.

When had I ever been spoiled? They left me in Oakville the year I was born, their careers were taking off and I wasn’t part of the plan.

My grandparents couldn’t be bothered with me. The years passed, their business grew, and so did I.

Somewhere along the way, my parents decided I no longer felt like theirs, so they didn’t bring me home. Sometimes they visited and brought a cheap little cake.

I cried every time, and they probably took that as proof they were doing enough. Oliver and Lily got

something else entirely.

When Lily was sick, Mom sat by her bed day and night, wishing she could trade places with her. If Lily was even a little upset, the whole house felt it.

Oliver had it even better. Dad spared no expense to make sure Oliver turned into someone

extraordinary. That was love, the kind parents are supposed to give.

I got into a good school because I knew what waited for me if I didn’t, a life with no way out and no

end to the pain. I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t happening.

Getting in was my only ticket out.

I made it. And my parents took credit for it.

What a joke. And now, because of a few words from Arthur, their disgust for me deepened all over

again.

Mom dropped into a chair. “What kind of person does something this sick?”

“Chloe, I should have aborted you when I had the chance. I never should have had you.” I stood beside her and nodded. She was right. I should never have been born, so why had they bothered?

“Don’t say things like that,” Arthur said gently. “What matters now is finding Chloe.”

Oliver’s head snapped up. “Her art show. That’s today, she’s probably there.”

“An art show?” Both of my parents stared at him.

They had no idea I had a show today. They didn’t even know I’d gotten good enough to have one.