The Stepbrother’s Wager Chapter 07

The Stepbrother’s Wager Chapter 07

The airport was crowded on the day I returned home.

I was pushing my suitcase toward the exit when I looked up and saw Dylan and Ethan.

They stood beyond the crowd as though they had been waiting for a long time.

Dylan had lost a great deal of weight. The man who had once been so sharp and brash now had nothing but exhaustion in his eyes.

Ethan looked no better.

The moment he saw me, his lips parted, but he did not dare approach.

I stopped walking.

Julian stood beside me and asked quietly, “Do you need me to stay?”

“No.”

He nodded and wheeled my luggage a short distance away.

Dylan finally walked toward me.

“Ivy.”

His voice was soft, as though he was afraid even speaking too loudly might startle me.

I looked at him calmly.

“Did you need something?”

His eyes immediately turned red.

I had always tried to treat him like my brother, even though he had never once acknowledged me as

his sister.

Now he finally wanted me to acknowledge him as one, but I could no longer do it.

Dylan held out a box.

“I had someone restore the pendant. They used every fragment.”

I did not take it.

His hand remained suspended between us.

“I know it can never be what it was. I only wanted to…”

“To what?”

I cut him off.

“Make yourself feel better?”

The color drained from his face.

I looked at the box in his hand.

“Dylan, the moment you destroyed the only thing my mother left me, it was gone.”

“Nothing you do now can give it back to me.”

“All this does is remind me of how cruel you were.”

His hand slowly fell to his side.

Ethan stepped forward.

“Ivy, I…”

I looked at him.

The words died in his throat.

I finished them for him.

“You want to tell me you regret it?”

“You want to say you never meant to hurt me that badly?”

“You want to tell me that somewhere along the way, you really did fall in love with me?”

Ethan’s eyes reddened.

“Yes. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but I really…”

“Ethan.”

My voice remained calm.

“When you took those pictures, did you ever stop to think about how I was supposed to go on living if they got out?”

His face went deathly pale.

I continued.

“You say you love me.”

“But what you call love is pushing

want to save me.”

“I don’t need it.”

His lips trembled.

me into an abyss, then standing safely at the edge and saying you

“I can spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

I shook my head.

“I’m not wasting the rest of my life waiting for you to make up for what you did.”

The last trace of hope disappeared from Ethan’s eyes.

Dylan spoke in a hoarse voice.

“What about me? Ivy, I’m your brother.”

I looked at him and suddenly found the whole thing absurd.

“Now you remember that you’re my brother?”

“Where were you when I was on my knees in the snow?”

“Where were you when I was locked in the basement?”

“Where were you when I begged you not to touch the only thing my mother left me?”

Dylan shook his head, his eyes bloodshot.

“I know I was wrong. I’m not asking you to forgive me, but could you please not cut me out of your life completely?”

I remained silent for a long time.

Airport announcements echoed overhead as travelers streamed around us.

At last, I spoke.

“Dylan, from the first time you forced me to kneel, you stopped being my brother.”

His entire body went rigid.

I turned and walked away.

Ethan tried to follow, but Julian stepped in front of him.

Julian said nothing. He simply gave Ethan a cold stare.

Ethan stopped.

He knew he no longer had the right to come near me.

On the opening day of the exhibition, I took the stage to speak on behalf of the conservation team.

The spotlight settled over me.

I saw the rows of people in the audience, and I also saw Dylan and Ethan sitting in the

very

back.

They watched me with regret, pain, and affection that had come far too late.

Ino longer needed any of it.

Standing beneath the lights, I said calmly, “Conservation isn’t about pretending the damage never

happened.”

“It is about acknowledging the cracks and still allowing it to take on a new life.”

Applause filled the room, and I lowered my head slightly.

At that moment, I suddenly thought of my mother.

If she were still alive, she would have been so happy.

Her daughter had not been trapped for life in the Whitmore family, nor had she been destroyed by

those rumors.

I had made it out.