My Family Played Poor While Spoiling My Sister? Sorry, I’m the Real Heiress! Chapter 09

My Family Played Poor While Spoiling My Sister? Sorry, I’m the Real Heiress! Chapter 09

Shortly after the chaos subsided, university orientation began.

Chase sent four household staff members to assist me with moving into the dorm and setting up my

room.

Even surrounded by noise and bustle, watching my roommates embrace their parents pulled me

back to the visitation room.

Through the thick visitation glass, Dad and Mom sat across from me, visibly worn down and gaunt.

The second they laid eyes on me, Mom broke into tears. “Lori…”

The old nickname caught me off guard. I hadn’t heard it since before the abduction.

Dad spoke next, his voice hoarse. “We recognize we’ve made countless terrible mistakes and broken your heart.”

“But we’re growing older. We won’t have many years left once we’re released. We can’t rest easy knowing you’ll be all alone in this world.”

He paused, choosing his words carefully. “Could you, for the sake of all those years you lived alongside Harper, help her?”

I froze.

Even now, facing their own looming sentences, their apologies and attempts to reconcile existed for only one goal: persuading me to rescue Harper.

Mom wiped her cheeks and leaned closer to the intercom microphone. “She’s still young and naive. Why hold everything against her? She grew up sheltered; she cannot endure prison hardship. Direct all your anger toward us. We failed to raise her properly. She’s still so young-she cannot waste

half her life behind bars.”

I curled my fingers tight, forcing myself to breathe steadily. “She’s facing felony fraud and defamation charges. The settlement was conditional on her retraction-not a ransom. I have no power to pardon her.”

“How can that be?” Dad’s voice rose, then dropped to a pleading whine. “You’re close with Mr. Finch. Ask him to submit a letter of forgiveness to the prosecutor. With the Finches backing it, the

DA might reduce her sentence.”

Mom nodded rapidly beside him. “Exactly! Talk to Mr. Finch. Tell him she’s your sister. Family can resolve any conflict. Help her, and we promise we will never reach out to you again. I swear it on my

life.”

“What makes you think Chase will obey my wishes?”

Dad let out an impatient sigh. “You’ve lived under his roof for months. He cares for you that’s leverage. Do you really think he’d refuse if you begged him as lover?”

A wave of nausea rolled through my stomach. “You want me to seduce him to get Harper’s charges dropped? What exactly do you take me for?”

“Don’t phrase it so crudely!” Mom waved her hand dismissively. “We’re only looking out for you. You will marry someday anyway. In all of Washington D.C., no single bachelor compares to Chase.

“Marry him, and you will never want for anything for the rest of your life. We would be proud as your parents. If you reject him for someone lesser, we will disown you,”

“It’s true, Lori. Your Mom and I only want what’s best for you. When pursuing a man, a woman needs to take initiative. You live under the same roof; opportunities are endless. Why must you be

so stubborn-”

I shot abruptly to my feet. The chair scraped loudly against the linoleum floor.

Eighteen years. They had never once cared whether I suffered. They only measured my worth by what I could provide them.

Once, they demanded I yield everything to Harper, donate blood for her, sacrifice my life for hers, hand over every advantage.

Now that Harper faced prison, they immediately devised a new scheme: trade my body for a legal

pardon.

I turned and walked away.

Their mutual bickering echoed behind me. “Look what you did! You knew this girl has a fiery temper, yet you kept provoking her. Now she’s stormed off. Who will get Harper released?”

“If not this time, we try again. I refuse to believe Lorelei will cut all ties over one argument. Blood runs deep; family bonds cannot be fully broken.”

There would be no next time.

The second I stepped outside the detention center, I texted Chase: [Compared to Harper, my parents need psychiatric treatment far more urgently.]

He replied instantly: [Understood.]

[Keeping them free once released will only spell more trouble. Shall we pick a good day to move them to a secure facility? Next Tuesday works well. A day to bid farewell to the past. It also happens. to be your birthday.]

[Very well.]

On that quiet morning, as sunlight warmed my face for the first time in eighteen years without

condition or cost, the ghosts of my old life had finally been laid to rest.