My Sister Stole My Husband, My Son, and My Medal Chapter 05

My Sister Stole My Husband, My Son, and My Medal Chapter 05

By the time Stellan reached the roof, the livestream had already gone dark. The ledge was empty.

He caught himself against the railing and looked down.

“Romilly!”

His scream tore across the rooftop, but no answer came.

He raced to the ground floor just as Conrad and Blythe arrived with Bram. All three froze at the sight before

them.

Stellan collapsed beside the blood, reaching blindly as if there were still something he could hold on to.

But there was nothing he could hold.

From the street below, the scene was impossible to make sense of. Blood was everywhere, and everyone

assumed the worst.

Conrad and Blythe stared at the scene, unable to connect it to their daughter.

Their younger daughter had always been the responsible one. By five, Romilly was already washing dishes

and helping with dinner.

She remembered their birthdays every year and always found thoughtful gifts for them.

She started working part–time in high school because she never wanted to be a burden.

Even when her salary was modest, she still bought them clothes, vitamins, and groceries every month.

Could Romilly truly be dead?

Blythe collapsed beside the blood, sobbing so hard she could barely form a sentence.

“Romy, don’t scare me like this. I know I was wrong.”

“You asked me to make eggplant Parmesan for you after your first week at the academy. I said ‘next time.‘ I

was always saying ‘next time.‘ There was never a next time.”

“I never looked at you. All those years, I was so busy watching Cress, I never really looked at you.”

Blythe had never said any of that to Romilly.

Not at graduation.

Not when Romilly called from the hospital with a broken back.

Not even when she fell from a tree at five and Blythe told her to stop crying.

Cress had always come first.

Cress needed more.

Romilly was expected to need less.

Now she was screaming it into the blood–soaked pavement, and it meant nothing at all.

Cressida arrived late.

The moment she saw Stellan and her parents kneeling on the ground like they had lost their minds, anger

flared inside her.

Even dead, Romilly was still finding a way to take the family’s attention from her.

Why were they falling apart now, when none of them had chosen Romilly while she was alive?

Cressida went to Bram and pulled the stunned little boy into her arms.

“Mom, Dad, how could you bring Bram somewhere like this? Do you want to traumatize him?”

“Don’t be scared, Bram. Mommy will take you to get your favorite fried chicken.”

Bram bit her arm and shoved her away, sobbing.

“This isn’t a horrible place. My mom is here.”

“You’re not my mom. Romilly Calder is my real mom. You’re bad. You killed her.”

Cressida recoiled, anger flashing across her face.

She had been the one raising Bram for the past three years, yet he still wanted the biological mother who

hadn’t taken care of him at all.

Three years of raising him, and blood still mattered more.

She turned to Stellan with tears in her eyes.

“Stellan, look at what he’s become. If we don’t straighten him out while he’s still young, he’ll grow up to be a

criminal just like his mother.”

Stellan didn’t look at her.

He was still on his knees, his hands covered in blood.

Bram’s sobs broke into screams that cut through the sirens.

Cressida stood there dry–eyed while everyone else fell apart.

She turned and walked away, heels clicking against the pavement.