After Rebirth, I Stopped Competing, and the Fake Heiress Lost It Chapter 02

After Rebirth, I Stopped Competing, and the Fake Heiress Lost It Chapter 02

I didn’t refuse it.

Grandma stood at the head of the table and knocked her cane once against the floor. “That’s enough. Everyone sit down and eat.”

Mom reached for me, trying to pull me into the seat beside her. I sidestepped her hand and sat down next to Grandma instead.

Mom hesitated, wiped her eyes, and turned back to the guests.

We were halfway through dinner when the butler rushed in and whispered something to Mom.

Mom’s face fell. Dad was already on his feet.

“Is it Sloane again?”

That was my guess too.

Sloane had this down to an art. The second anyone’s attention drifted from her, she collapsed on cue.

Last time, they bolted for the hospital the second they heard, and left me stranded at the reception without a dime to my name.

If Grandma hadn’t been there, I would’ve had to find my own way back to the manor.

At least this time they remembered I was in the room.

Mom turned to me, careful, testing.

“Tessa, Sloane’s…”

It didn’t matter what I said. They were going to her regardless.

Asking was just a formality.

I set down my fork and gave them what they wanted. “I’ll come with you.”

Relief washed across their faces. They were out the door before I’d even stood up.

I watched them go. Something small and sharp still twisted behind my ribs.

The private hospital wing hit me with that familiar wall of antiseptic.

Sloane was propped up in the hospital bed, pale as a ghost. The second I walked in, the tears started.

“Tessa, I know you hate me. I’ll go. I will. I just… I can’t stand the thought of leaving Mom and Dad and Graham…”

She cried like a trained actress—soft, pretty, and perfectly breakable.

I stayed in the doorway. The comments flooded in again.

[She’s doing it again! She’s DOING IT AGAIN! Tessa, trust us. This act works every single time!]

[She’s the reason your grandma is DEAD! Did you forget that?!]

[Get rid of her! Right now!]

I leaned against the doorframe and just watched her—the trembling chin, the wet lashes, the whole performance.

Mom pulled Sloane against her chest like she might shatter.

“Don’t cry, sweetheart. Tessa’s not going to send you away.”

Sloane choked on her next sob. She looked up at me, stunned.

I met her teary gaze and gave her nothing.

Her lashes flickered, and fresh tears pooled right on cue.

“Thank you, Tessa. I mean it.”

Mom exhaled like she’d been holding her breath for an hour. “Just rest here tonight, okay? Don’t worry about anything.”

Sloane shook her head right away. And then, right in front of me, the actual daughter, she grabbed Mom’s sleeve and pouted.

“Mom, I’m okay now. I want to go home. I never sleep well here.”

Mom glanced at me, uneasy. The second she caught me watching, she gently pulled her arm free.

A flash of something ugly flickered across Sloane’s face—there, then gone.