The Gift from My Brothers for My Birthday Was My Mother’s Broken Bangle Chapter 01

The Gift from My Brothers for My Birthday Was My Mother’s Broken Bangle Chapter 01

As the only daughter of the Rivington family, I had been born with severe sensory sensitivities and needs no one else seemed to understand.

My three older brothers had spent their entire lives indulging me. Even my drinking water had to be warmed to the exact degree I preferred.

Then a new intern joined their company.

Pippa Wren called herself the Brave Little Girl. Whenever anything went wrong, she lowered her head, teared up, and somehow had all three of my brothers rushing to protect her.

Before long, they started calling me difficult.

Pippa was easygoing, they said. Grateful. Down-to-earth.

Then, at my birthday party, she showed up wearing my one-of-a-kind couture gown and shattered the Art Deco emerald bracelet my mother had left me.

Pippa hid behind my oldest brother, her eyes already red.

“I didn’t mean to break it. I only wanted a closer look.”

One brother accused me of being spoiled. Another gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.

I stood there in silence for three seconds.

Then the sensory overload hit.

I clutched my chest, sobbing so hard my body convulsed before I collapsed to the floor.

The three brothers who had been scolding me went white. A second later, they were on their knees, begging me to breathe.

Unfortunately for them, when my body turned against me, it did not care who got hurt.

…

My oldest brother, Dashiell, reacted first.

He shoved Pippa aside and dropped beside me, trying to ease me onto my back.

“Romilly! Romy, look at me. Breathe with me.”

Ames, my second-oldest brother, nearly tripped over himself as he rushed forward and tore through my purse, searching for my prescribed rescue medication.

My youngest brother, Tiernan, was a doctor. His face had gone deathly pale as he checked my airway, his hands shaking despite his training.

“Get the oxygen. Now!”

Pippa, who had been safely tucked behind them moments earlier, shrank into a corner. Tears rolled down her face.

“I didn’t know Miss Rivington would react like this. I only wanted to touch the bracelet.”

She pressed a hand to her chest.

“Is she angry with me? I’m scared.”

The sound of her deliberately fragile voice made my breathing even faster.

I had always been like this.

As a baby, a half-degree change in the room temperature could leave me screaming all night until my lips turned blue.

A loose thread inside my clothes could make my skin erupt in angry red welts.

After our parents died, my brothers had taken turns staying with me through the night.

Even then, they had barely dared to breathe too hard while I was in their arms.

No one understood my condition better than they did.

Yet today, for an intern they had known less than three months, they had stood back and let her wear the gown I treasured most.

They had watched her destroy the only thing I had left from our mom.

Tiernan secured an oxygen mask over my face, but I clenched my jaw and refused to draw a breath.

“Romy, please.” His voice cracked. “I’m begging you. Breathe.”

My eyes were wide open as tears slipped toward my temples. My chest heaved violently, desperate for air my body would not accept.

Pippa was still sniffling nearby.

“Tiernan, do you think she’s doing this to scare us?”

Her voice dropped, but not enough.

“I got bitten by a dog once, and I didn’t make this much of a scene.”

I ripped the oxygen mask from my face and pointed at her.

“What the hell are you?”

My scream tore through the room.

“You want to compare yourself to a dog, fine. Leave me out of it!”

I dragged in a broken breath.

“Get out! Get out of my house!”

I screamed until my throat burned, clawing wildly at my neck. Red scratches appeared across my skin, some deep enough to bleed.

Dashiell grabbed both my wrists.

“Romy, stop. I was wrong.” Panic broke through his voice. “I never should’ve spoken to you like that.”

Pippa stared at me in horror.

She had probably expected me to behave like some arrogant heiress in a television drama—coldly slap her, then order security to drag her away.

She did not understand.

Once my sensory overload crossed a certain point, self-preservation disappeared with everything else.

“Dash…”

Pippa bit her lip, looking wounded.

“I was only trying to explain. Does she really want me standing outside in the pouring rain?”

By then, emotion had swallowed every rational thought I had left.

I tore one hand free from Dashiell’s grip and snatched the paring knife from the table.

“If she stays, I die.”

I pressed the tip of the blade against my throat.

Ames dropped to his knees.

“Romy, put it down.” His face twisted with terror. “Please. I’m begging you.”

I stared straight at Pippa, fury and panic burning through my vision.

“You’re the Brave Little Girl, right? Tough. Down-to-earth.”

Rain hammered against the windows behind her.

“Then get out there and prove it.”

Pippa’s face went white. She looked desperately from one brother to the next.

This time, none of them dared meet her eyes.

Dashiell’s jaw tightened. He pointed toward the door.

“Pippa, get out. Now.”