After Rebirth, I Stopped Competing, and the Fake Heiress Lost It Chapter 03

After Rebirth, I Stopped Competing, and the Fake Heiress Lost It Chapter 03

Outside the hospital room, Mom caught my hand again and slid another card into my palm.

“This one’s from me, from my personal account. I know it’s not enough. Sloane… she’s always been fragile, and we let her get away with too much. Just be patient with her, okay?”

I looked at the card and said thank you.

Mom’s eyes went red again. She started to reach for me, a hug, maybe, but stopped herself and settled for a hand on my shoulder.

Once the doctor cleared Sloane, the whole family packed up and headed home.

The car barely stopped before the comments started screaming.

[Tessa, the massive corner suite on the second floor is YOURS! Sloane’s been sleeping in it for eighteen years. Kick her out!]

[That’s the princess bedroom your parents decorated before you were even born! Don’t you dare give it up!]

[If they won’t give it back, CRY!]

I handed my coat to the butler without looking up.

Sloane bit her lip. “I’ll move my things out, Tessa. I have a lot of stuff, so it might take a bit. You can wait downstairs.”

Last time, Grandma had brought me back here herself.

The housekeeper intercepted me at the door, grilled me with questions, and then marched me to a guest room tucked into the back corner of the first floor.

A cramped storage room. Right next to the laundry room. At night, the machines shook the walls hard enough to crack the plaster.

When my parents finally came back, I did what the comments told me to do: cried and begged until Sloane gave up the room.

All I got back was, “You think you deserve it?”

Mom cut in before I could open my mouth.

“Sloane, you don’t have to do that. We set up a room for Tessa on the second floor.” Mom turned to me. “It’s just as nice as Sloane’s. Go take a look and see what you think.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Maybe I’d agreed too fast, because Mom grabbed my hand again, anxious.

“If you need anything, just tell me, okay? Don’t be shy about it.”

I nodded, let go of her hand, and followed the butler up.

The room was bigger than I expected. Sunlight poured through the windows, and everything—sheets, comforter—was brand new.

I ran my hand across the comforter. Soft down, thick and clean. Nothing like the flat, lumpy thing I’d slept under at the Mercers’.

My fingers curled into the fabric, and something bitter rose in my throat.

So they’d had a room ready for me all along. Last time, nobody said a word about it. I lived in that cramped closet until the day I died.

I let go of the fabric and turned to the butler. “Can you swap the sheets for something darker? Light colors stain too fast.”

He nodded and left.

I walked to the window and looked down. Sloane was in the garden, staring up at me. The look on her face wasn’t even pretending to be friendly.

I pulled the curtains shut.

The next day, Sloane stayed home to rest while Graham drove me to school to handle my transfer.

Last time, Sloane kept getting “sick,” and if I hadn’t thrown a fit, they probably wouldn’t have remembered to enroll me until halfway through the semester.

When I got back, Sloane was waiting outside my room with a steaming mug of tea.

She smiled the second she saw me, all warmth, all sweetness.

“Tessa! You’re back. How was school? We’re going to be classmates now, isn’t that exciting? I brought you some tea…”

I reached for the mug. Before my fingers even touched it, Sloane flipped her wrist. The mug hit the floor and tea splashed across my legs.

Graham was right behind me on the stairs. He came around the corner just in time to see it.

He frowned and closed the distance fast. “What happened?”

Sloane cradled the back of her hand and let out a soft, wounded sob. Her eyes flicked to me, just long enough, then dropped.

“Graham, don’t be mad at Tessa. I dropped the mug. It was my fault. She didn’t push me…”

She didn’t even finish the sentence before the tears spilled over.

I glanced at my soaked pants, then at the back of Sloane’s hand. Not even pink.

[Did you catch that?! “She didn’t push me.” She PLANTED that on purpose so Graham would think you DID!]

[Cry! NOW! You’ve been through way worse than her. If you cry, Graham will take your side!]

[Just say “I didn’t push her”! If you stay quiet, he’ll think you did it!]

Graham’s eyes landed on me. I held his gaze.

Neither of us spoke.

I flicked the tea off my pants and straightened up.

“That tea was really hot. Is Sloane’s hand okay?”