I spent the entire night packing up the baby's things.
By the time dawn broke through the windows, I was so exhausted I finally fell asleep.
When I woke again it was already the next day. I went downstairs to find something to eat.
"Serena."
Patrick walked toward me. He stared at my retreating figure for a long moment, then reached out to touch my hair. I stepped away before his fingers made contact.
His hand froze in midair.
"That room was always meant for a child. You'll be the baby's mother. We'll always be together. No one could ever replace you."
I let out a quiet laugh. "Fine."
Patrick blinked. He'd been trying to make amends for two days straight, yet I remained just as cold.
Impatience crept into his voice. "Think it over carefully!"
The doorbell rang. It was my brother, Carl Fox.
He walked in frowning and headed straight for Patrick.
"I told you not to bring June and the baby here."
Then his gaze shifted to me, sharp and wary.
"You haven't been bullying June and the baby, have you?"
Before I could say a word, Patrick shook his head firmly.
"As long as I'm here, June and the baby won't be hurt in the slightest."
Hearing the commotion, June came out and threw herself into Carl's arms.
His expression softened instantly.
"If anyone's giving you a hard time, just say the word. Mom, Dad, and I will always have your back."
June shook her head, the picture of wounded innocence.
"It's okay. Serena doesn't really like me. I'm used to it."
I watched the three of them and felt something between disbelief and bitter amusement.
So my biological parents and my brother had all known that June was carrying Patrick's child.
Every single one of them knew. I was the only fool kept in the dark.
A dry, humorless sound escaped my throat.
"Your family really raised a fine daughter. She stole eighteen years of my life, humiliated me the moment I came back, seduced my husband, bore his child, and moved right into my nest like a cuckoo."
Carl's face darkened. His voice cut through the room like a whip.
"Shut your mouth, Serena. If you hadn't shown up out of nowhere, June would never have felt so insecure. Everything she did was because she was terrified you'd steal our love."
He looked at me, his eyes glacial.
"Even if she made mistakes, you pushed her to it. And Patrick should have married her in the first place."
I laughed. The sound tore out of me, ragged and raw.
June had slandered me, framed me, more times than I could count. My parents knew the truth every single time, yet all they ever said was, "You're the older sister. Let her have her way."
Whenever anything was bought, Carl always let June choose first. "June has no one but us," he'd say.
I used to hide in my room and cry. Patrick was the only one who wiped my tears, who placed the best of everything in front of me, who told me over and over that he loved me, who held me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
And in the end, the man I'd poured every ounce of love into betrayed me. The family I'd been desperate to belong to despised me.
Patrick's brow furrowed at Carl's words. He wanted to argue but said nothing.
He still believed I was the one he loved and that June had been an accident. But hearing me lash out at her like that made anger flicker across his face all the same.
His expression went cold.
"Serena, I told you it was an accident. Someone drugged June. Was I supposed to just stand there and watch her get assaulted? If it had been you, I would have done the same thing."
If it had been you, I would have done the same thing.
Saved her right into his bed. Saved her all the way to a baby. Saved her straight into our home.
June's eyes welled with tears on cue. Her body trembled.
"I'm so sorry, Serena..."
Carl pulled her into his arms and cut her off.
"You have nothing to apologize for. Stop crying. We'll take you to your favorite restaurant."
As he turned to leave, he cast one last frigid glance in my direction.
"Serena, if you keep throwing these tantrums and bullying June, I will send you back where you came from. You can go back to scraping by."
I smiled. Cold and thin.
They thought I'd grown up in some slum. They thought without the Fox family I had nothing.
They had no idea that my adoptive parents were one of the most powerful families in Havenport.
When I'd insisted on returning to my biological parents, Mom and Dad Delgado had held back tears and said, "Serena, if they ever mistreat you, come home to us."
But I'd chosen blood over the people who actually loved me. I'd pushed them away, convinced that sincerity could be repaid with sincerity.
What a joke.
June walked out surrounded by their doting attention. At the door, she paused and looked back at me, triumph glittering in her eyes. Her lips moved silently.
You lost again.
I met her gaze and let the corner of my mouth curl upward.
