I Was the Unwanted Fifth in Their Life and Death Pact Chapter 09

A few days later, Cole flew out to Pallavia too.

He brought a share transfer agreement.

“Naomi, this is every asset registered under Lily’s name, plus a ten-percent stake from each of us.

All of it will be yours once you sign. We will never let you suffer any harm ever again.”

Naomi sat behind her desk, without so much as glancing up.

She pressed the intercom on her desk.

“Security? There are people in my office. Please escort them out. If they resist, call the authorities.”

After hanging up, Naomi finally raised her gaze.

She pulled a paper envelope from her desk drawer and tossed it in front of Cole.

“Open it.”

Cole’s hands shook as he pulled out the contents.

Inside were an application for a name change, plus a notarized declaration of estrangement drafted by her

lawyer.

The paperwork stated she had filed to take her mother’s maiden name, formally requesting all ties to them

be severed.

Naomi looked straight at Cole, her voice measured and final.

“Before I left, I already had my lawyer submit the name change application and finalize this cease-contact

declaration. I have no family, and I don’t want your compensation.”

Cole held that thin sheet of paper and understood.

Naomi wasn’t acting on impulse.

She was stripping away every trace of their existence, piece by piece.

Security pushed the door open and gestured for him to leave.

Cole walked out of the office building in a daze.

He finally understood: they’d lost a world they would never get back.

Ryan fell ill.

After several nights of cold rain in Pallavia, he developed acute pneumonia and was admitted to a local

hospital.

Racked by a high fever, he kept calling Naomi’s name in his delirium.

With nowhere left to turn, Evan returned once more to wait outside Naomi’s apartment door.

The door opened; Naomi was heading out to the grocery store.

Evan blocked the doorway, eyes raw from sleepless nights, voice barely above a whisper.

“Naomi, please. Come see Ryan. The doctor says he’s feverish and confused, calling for you nonstop. He’s

still your only blood relative.”

Naomi looked at him, a faint weariness crossing her features.

“He’s sick and needs care. Hire an aide or talk to his doctors.”

Her face was blank.

“I’m barely managing my own recovery. I have nothing left to give anyone else.”

She closed the door, shutting Evan completely out of sight.

When Ryan woke inside the hospital room, only Evan and Cole sat beside his bed.

His cracked, dry lips moved.

“Naomi… didn’t she come?”

Evan turned his head away, tears dripping onto the floor.

Cole laid a copy of the name change application on the nightstand, his voice bitter.

“Ryan, stop waiting. She’s changing her last name back to Mom’s.”

Ryan grabbed the copy, then ripped the IV line out from his wrist.

Blood oozed from the puncture site, staining the white sheets.

He stumbled to his feet, trying to run out.

“I’ll beg her… I’m her brother…”

He only made it two steps before collapsing heavily to the floor from weakness.

Ryan lay on the cold hospital floor and wept.

He finally understood: that little girl who’d followed him everywhere, calling him big brother, who always left

a light on for him in the apartment no matter how he ignored her-he had killed her himself.

Two weeks later, their visas expired. They had no choice but to leave this country.

In the departure lounge at the airport, Evan called Naomi one last time.

To his surprise, the call connected.

Naomi answered, the faint hum of café music audible behind her voice.

Evan held the phone, barely daring to breathe.

“Naomi…”