WebNovels

Chapter 25 - That's my brother

"Stay… with your brother's ex-wife?" I asked again, my voice calm but cutting. "That would make quite the headline, wouldn't it?" 

Silence. No one dared to speak. Not even Jeremy. 

Cecilia fidgeted with her pearl bracelet, forcing a brittle laugh. "Audrey, there's no need for sarcasm. We're only trying to make peace. You've always wanted to belong—" 

"To belong?" I interrupted, my gaze locking on hers. "Mrs. Gillian, I was never the one begging to belong. You were the ones desperate to keep your name shining in society while rotting inside. Don't rewrite history." 

Cecilia's smile faltered. 

Arnold cleared his throat, trying to maintain his dignity. "Young lady, you're speaking to your elders—" 

"Elders who called me a gold-digger," I shot back. "Elders who watched me suffer for three years and said nothing. Forgive me if I don't bow anymore." 

Jeremy looked torn—caught between the family he couldn't defend and the woman he had already destroyed. "Audrey, stop. Don't do this." 

"Oh, Jeremy," I whispered. "You've done enough talking for both of us." 

I turned toward the door, done with all of them— 

And then the heavy sound of footsteps echoed from the marble hallway. 

The atmosphere shifted instantly. 

My father's voice rolled through the hall—deep, calm, dangerous. 

"Hasn't my daughter entertained your family long enough?" 

Every head turned. 

Andrew Shepherd Anderson walked in with the kind of authority that made rooms fall silent. Behind him, two guards stood poised at the door, and my mother and father—radiant, composed—followed a step behind. 

Cecilia's face drained of color. "M-Mr. Anderson… we didn't realize—" 

"Clearly," my brother said, his tone ice. "Because if you did, you wouldn't have stepped one foot past my gate." 

Jeremy's eyes widened, his breath catching. "Anderson? Wait—" He turned to me, disbelief written all over his face. "Your brother is Andrew Shephard Anderson? The Tech guru" 

I folded my arms, expression unreadable. "Surprise." what till you find out about my four uncles. I thought. 

It hit him like a blow. All the years of calling me cheap, unworthy, beneath him—every insult shattered against the truth standing before him. 

My brother's gaze landed on Jeremy. "You must be the husband who made my sister cry." 

Jeremy swallowed hard. "Sir, I—" 

"Don't." My brother's tone cut through him. "You've said enough in this house already." He looked at the rest of the Gillians. "Take your family, your lies, and your filth out of my home before I make a call you'll regret." 

Cecilia grabbed Rosemary's arm, pale as paper. "Let's go," she hissed, but Rosemary still tried to speak. 

"B-but sir—" 

"Out," Andrew said simply, he was scary than my father I tell you. 

And like that, the entire Gillian family—once so proud—scrambled toward the door, heads low, dignity in tatters. 

Only Jeremy lingered, his voice low, shaking. "Audrey… if I had known who you really were—" 

I looked him straight in the eye. "You would've treated me better? Don't fool yourself, Jeremy. You didn't lose me because you didn't know who I was. You lost me because you never valued who I already was." 

He flinched. No words left. 

My brother placed a hand gently on my shoulder. "Come, baby sis," he said quietly. "Let the trash take itself out." 

As the door closed behind the Gillians, I finally exhaled. My chest still burned from the confrontation, but for the first time in years, it wasn't with pain. 

It was relief. 

And maybe—just maybe—the beginning of freedom. 

 

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