Pity From My Rich Sister? Oops, Her New Family Came Begging Chapter 03

Pity From My Rich Sister? Oops, Her New Family Came Begging Chapter 03

My father stared at her.

“What do you mean Mr. Kincaid isn’t coming? His grandson is getting married. How can he miss it?”

Elodie sighed.

“Rhodes said someone important is coming to Port Cresswell this weekend, and his grandfather has to receive them personally. He can’t get away.”

Merrick frowned.

“Who could possibly matter more than his own grandson’s wedding?”

“I don’t really know.” Elodie shook her head. “Rhodes only said they’re coming from Aldercrest. Grandpa Kincaid has been calling in favors for almost three months just to get a meeting.”

Ottilie looked baffled.

“Who makes Ambrose Kincaid wait three months? His family practically owns half of Port Cresswell.”

Keaton scoffed.

“So they’re from Aldercrest. Big deal. Elodie only gets married once.”

“Keaton, don’t,” Elodie said quickly. “Rhodes said they own a patent Kincaid Industries desperately needs. His grandfather believes securing the deal could keep the company ahead for the next decade.”

She paused, then glanced at me as though the thought had only just occurred to her.

“You’ve lived in Aldercrest for years, Carys. Have you heard anything about it?”

I shook my head.

“Not really.”

Merrick snorted.

“What would she know? She went to community college. Stop dragging her into conversations she can’t follow.”

I kept eating.

What was I supposed to say?

That the person Ambrose Kincaid had spent three months trying to meet was sitting at this table?

They would only laugh and tell me to stop making things up.

After dinner, I stayed seated for a few minutes before getting ready to leave.

My father stopped me.

“Carys, your mother fixed up a room for you days ago. She may not say it, but she’s missed you. You haven’t been home in ten years.”

He smiled.

“She even picked out new sheets herself.”

Before he finished speaking, my mother walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel.

“Ottilie is staying here tonight, so she’ll take the guest room. Carys, you can sleep on the couch.”

My father’s smile froze.

Ottilie looked up from the other side of the living room. A faint smile touched her lips.

“Mrs. Calder, I’d feel terrible. I can always get a hotel.”

“Absolutely not,” my mother said. “You hardly ever visit. I’m not sending you to a hotel.”

She turned to me.

“Carys is family. One night on the couch won’t kill her.”

I stood beside the dining table without speaking.

After our high school graduation, Ottilie had once stayed over at our old house.

My mother gave her my room, and I spent the night curled up on the living room couch.

There was no air-conditioning downstairs. I woke up three times drenched in sweat, with mosquito bites covering both arms.

When my mother saw them the next morning, all she said was, “You should’ve used bug spray.”

Ottilie stayed over several more times after that.

Once, I stood in the doorway and watched my mother carefully smooth the sheets for her, smiling to herself as she worked.

In that moment, I felt like a stranger who had walked into the wrong house.

“Carys?”

My mother’s voice pulled me back.

She was frowning, apparently annoyed that I had not agreed fast enough.

“No need. I booked a hotel.”

Her expression darkened.

“What is that supposed to mean? You have a home, but you’d rather stay at a hotel? Is the couch beneath you now?”

I picked up my coat and headed for the door.

“I prefer sleeping in a bed.”

Behind me, my mother muttered under her breath.

“Ten years away, and suddenly she has an attitude about everything.”

The door closed behind me.

Ten years ago, the girl who woke up sweating on that couch would have cried quietly, wondering why her mother showed more warmth to a guest than to her own daughter.

I wasn’t that girl anymore.

Patent fees and royalties landed in my accounts one after another, each amount followed by more zeros than my family could imagine.

I no longer needed anyone else to take care of me.

I could do that myself.

And I never held back.