They Filled Her Suitcase And Emptied My Place In The Family Chapter 06

They Filled Her Suitcase And Emptied My Place In The Family Chapter 06

Ethan didn’t remember walking out of the admissions office. The sun was blinding, but he felt cold.

He held the file transfer notice.

He sped home, running red lights. At the villa, Mom was on the couch with a face mask; Dad was

reading.

“Ethan’s here.” She didn’t open her eyes. “Is Lily settled? Have you found that useless girl?”

He slammed the notice onto the coffee table. “Look.”

Dad looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“Read it.” His voice was hoarse.

She peeled off her mask and picked up the paper. “A Harvard enrollment confirmation…” Her tone was disbelieving. Then her eyes caught the name. Vera Grant.

“That can’t be- same name! She’s never even taken a tutoring class-how could she get into

Harvard?”

“Mrs. Grant.” He stared at her. “She’s a National Merit Scholar. 1600 SAT.”

The room went dead silent.

Dad knocked over his teacup, oblivious to the tea spilling everywhere. “1600? National Merit?” He grabbed the paper. “But on the day she filled out her application, she clearly said she was staying at

Northwestern!”

“She lied.” Ethan closed his eyes, the veins in them bloodshot. “From the start, she never planned

to stay.”

He remembered yesterday at the door-how she’d calmly refused his card holder and said, “No,

you go ahead.” She wasn’t angry. She was saying goodbye.

Marcus came down the stairs, frozen at the last step. “No way…” He pulled out his phone. “Let me

check the honor roll.”

A minute later, a tweet from the state education department appeared: Congratulations to our city’s Vera Grant for 1600 SAT, National Merit Scholar!

A blurry ID photo. A girl in thick glasses, unsmiling, her eyes cold. Marcus collapsed on the couch. His Ivy League degree suddenly felt like a joke. He remembered mocking her the day before: “A science major-why waste a good computer on you?” “With grades like yours, any school is the

Same ”

“All this time, she was hiding it!” Mom shrieked. “Doesn’t she care about this family at all?”

She dialed my number wildly. Sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off. The robotic voice echoed through the empty living room.

“She blocked all of us,” Ethan said, his voice hollow.

“She’s gone too far!” Dad was shaking. “Just because she got into Harvard, she turns her back on us? I raised her, fed her-this is how she repays me? Find out which college she’s in! She can’t hide

forever!”

Ethan stumbled out of the house, got into his car, and opened his phone. The chat was a single blank line. He typed: “Vera, why didn’t you tell me? Do you know how worried I am? How are you doing alone in Boston? Do you have enough money?”

Send. The red exclamation mark burned his eyes again. He dropped his head onto the steering

wheel, shoulders shaking.