After I Severed the Kinship Bond, My Whole Family Regretted It Chapter 10

After I Severed the Kinship Bond, My Whole Family Regretted It Chapter 10

At Christmas, Lyra used to get more presents than she could carry. Mom and Dad would take her to big superstores and let her fill the cart with snacks and toys.

I’d stare at my empty hands until one year I finally worked up the courage to ask Clara, “Mom, where’s my

Christmas present?”

Back then, a gift that cost a single cent would’ve made me happy.

What had she said to me?

She stared at me like I was some kind of monster for several long seconds, then pointed at me and snapped,

“You seriously have the nerve to ask? Is money all you think about? God, you’re materialistic. You’re a child. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

I froze. Lyra curled against Marcus and looked at me with open contempt. I would remember that expression

for the rest of my life.

There were always piles of snacks in the house, but Lyra would eat until she got sick or pour an unfinished

drink down the toilet before she’d share a single bite with me.

Once, she ran to Marcus and claimed I’d stolen her snacks. I told him I hadn’t. He kicked me to the floor,

called me a thief, and said I’d never amount to anything.

I spent years picking myself apart, trying to figure out what was wrong with me. We were both their daughters. Why was I never enough?

Was I not smart enough? Not pretty enough? Not obedient enough? Was I just not as charming as Lyra?

Even after I outperformed Lyra again and again at school and in life, my parents still refused to see me. Eventually, I understood that people didn’t need a reason not to love you.

They didn’t really love Lyra for who she was, either. They loved what she let them show off. They loved having a daughter who reflected exactly what they wanted to see, a perfect extension of their own vanity. Lyra was the mirror they used to admire themselves, and it reflected every ugly thing they refused to face.

Clara was crying openly now. “You really cut us off because I wouldn’t give you another three hundred dollars back then? We’re your biological parents.”

I almost couldn’t believe it. Even now, they still thought this had been about three hundred dollars.

A heart didn’t go cold overnight. Mine hadn’t either. Disappointment had piled up one piece at a time until,

eventually, there was nothing left to hold on to.

I looked at them without warmth. “Take your things and leave. Stop coming to my home and bothering my

parents. If you show up again, I’ll report it to the Pack Tribunal.”

Marcus and Clara still refused to move. As I pushed them back toward the porch, Mom called from the

kitchen, “Elara, who’s at the door? What’s taking so long?”

I raised my voice. “No one, Mom. Just two strangers at the wrong house.”

Both of them went still. Clara stared at me, her lips trembling. I shut the door in their faces.

Back in the kitchen, Mom nodded toward the window. “Those two have been standing in the snow for a few

minutes. They keep looking at the house.”

Disgust twisted my stomach. “I don’t know them. They must have the wrong place.”

After that, Marcus and Clara contacted the Regional Pack Council several times and asked to restore our

Kinship Bond. I refused every request.

One day, I saw a news report about a young woman so obsessed with a celebrity that she’d tried to force her parents to become test subjects at an illegal underground werewolf research lab. When they couldn’t give her what she wanted, she killed them, fled overnight, and wasn’t discovered until neighbors noticed the smell and called the police.

The suspect’s face was blurred, but I still recognized Lyra. This time, Pack law left little doubt that she would

face a death sentence.

Mom brought me a plate of fruit and asked what I was watching. I smiled and shook my head.

I had a family who loved me. The past was over. It was time to let it go and start a new life.