The Gift from My Brothers for My Birthday Was My Mother’s Broken Bangle Chapter 09

The Gift from My Brothers for My Birthday Was My Mother’s Broken Bangle Chapter 09

After that night, the Rivington family became the favorite scandal of Wexley high society.

Pippa Wren, whose real name was Della Pike, was formally charged with corporate fraud, felony forgery, and attempted murder.

Inside Rivington Group, Blaise used the proxy authority over my twenty-percent stake to take control with ruthless efficiency.

The dissident shareholders who had used Della to stage their takeover were exposed, removed from the board, and eventually arrested.

Rivington Group’s stock plunged.

Dashiel collapsed from acute cardiac distress and spent two weeks in the hospital.

The day he was discharged, he came to Harcourt Estate with Ames and Tiernan.

Rain poured from the black sky.

The three men who had once stood at the top of Wexley society waited outside the gates all night, soaked and broken.

The next morning, I walked out beneath an umbrella.

The moment Ames saw me, he stumbled forward.

“Romy. You finally came out.”

His clothes clung to his body, and his lips had turned blue from the cold. He held a velvet box tightly against his chest.

“Look. It’s Mom’s bracelet.”

“I found the best restoration jeweler in Wexley and had it repaired.”

His voice cracked.

“Please forgive us.”

I looked down at the open box.

The Art Deco emerald bracelet had been restored, but fine fractures still ran through its platinum setting.

No matter how carefully something was repaired, the damage remained.

“Broken things don’t go back to what they were.”

I did not take it.

“You shattered my trust for a stranger. No jeweler can fix that.”

Tiernan’s eyes were red.

“I resigned from the hospital.”

His voice was thick with emotion.

“I won’t go anywhere again. I’ll stay home and take care of you.”

“You need quiet, so I bought every adjoining property around Rivington House. Nothing will disturb you there.”

His devotion had arrived far too late.

“I don’t need it.”

I cut him off calmly.

“I’m doing better now.”

“No one is accusing me of being cruel. No one is wearing my clothes. No one is poisoning my food.”

I held his gaze.

“My symptoms improved the moment I got away from all of you.”

Dashiell’s face went white.

“Romy, are you really not giving us another chance?”

“We’re your brothers.”

“My brothers?”

A cold laugh escaped me.

“Where was that concern when you held me down in a hospital room and had me sedated?”

“Where was it when she destroyed a year of my work and you told me to draw it again?”

I stepped back, putting more distance between us.

“Dashiell. Ames. Tiernan.”

“The moment you chose her over me, you stopped being my brothers.”

I pulled a document from beneath my coat and dropped it into the rainwater at their feet.

“This is a formal no-contact notice. I’ve also revoked every medical, financial, and legal authority any of you had over me.”

“Whatever happens to Rivington Group is no longer my concern.”

I looked at each of them one final time.

“Neither are you.”

Then I turned and walked back toward the gates of Harcourt Estate.

Behind me, Ames broke down sobbing. Dashiell let out a strangled shout.

I did not turn around.

Not once.