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Chapter 74
publish date:
2026-06-02 20:18:06
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My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 110
A year.It was a Sunday morning in December and Irina was standing at the kitchen island drinking actual coffee — real coffee, the altitude-asking machine, the good kind — because Anya had finally, definitively, conclusively stopped making her body hostile to coffee at around the four month mark and she had celebrated this development with a level of enthusiasm that Neo had described as disproportionate and she had described as completely appropriate.She was drinking her coffee.And listening.The mansion had a different sound now. Not a different structure — same marble floors, same chandelier, same three sitting rooms and formal dining room and library and east wing. Same Pete in the garden. Same Mrs. Paulson in the kitchen. Same iron gates at the end of the driveway that were still taller than her old apartment building.But the sound was different.On Sunday mornings specifically the sound was: Zara at the piano.She'd been having lessons for six months — a teacher named Mr. Kow
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 109
She woke up at three in the morning.Not dramatically — no movie moment, no sudden gasp, just an awareness that arrived quietly and sat with her until she was sure enough to do something about it. She lay in the dark for a few minutes taking stock of what her body was telling her and her body was telling her clearly that tonight was the night.She turned over."Neo," she said.He was awake immediately. That was the thing about the last month — he'd been sleeping the way people slept when they were half-waiting for something, one ear always pointed at the world."Yeah," he said."It's time," she said.He was out of bed before she'd finished the sentence.She'd told him once, early in the pregnancy, that she needed him to be calm in the delivery room.He'd said he would be calm.She'd looked at him with the expression she'd developed for moments when Neo McKinney's self-assessment and observable reality were in tension and said "Neo."He'd said he would try to be calm.She'd accepted th
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 108
Sasha planned it for three weeks.Irina knew this because Sasha was constitutionally incapable of doing anything without it being visible — the planning showed up in phone calls that ended suspiciously fast when Irina walked into a room, in a text thread between Sasha and Mrs. Paulson that Irina accidentally saw the notification for and pretended she hadn't, in Zara's barely contained energy every time the subject of the party came up which Zara referred to as the party in the tone of someone who knew more than they were telling."You know something," Irina told Zara one morning at the kitchen island. Zara looked at her pancakes."Zara.""I'm not allowed to say," Zara said, to the pancakes."Who told you that.""Sasha," Zara said. And then, realizing she'd given something away: "I mean. Nobody."Irina looked at her.Zara ate a blueberry."You're very bad at secrets," Irina said."Sasha said the same thing," Zara said. And then: "I mean—"Irina pressed her lips together.Neo, from behi
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 107
She was showing properly by October.Not the subtle, is-she-or-isn't-she showing of the early months that she'd been concealing under specific clothing choices and strategic positioning. The actual, unambiguous, nobody-needs-to-ask showing. The kind that Zara had identified immediately and clinically on the first morning as you have a big tummy and which had been expanding steadily ever since with the cheerful indifference of a baby that had a timeline and was keeping to it regardless of anyone's feelings about visibility.Irina had stopped trying to conceal it around the time Zara started talking to the bump. This had started on a Thursday.Zara had come into the kitchen, found Irina at the island, walked up to her, looked at her stomach, and said "hello" to it with the matter-of-fact directness she brought to most things.Irina had looked down at her."She can't hear you yet," Irina said. "Well — she can hear things but—""Hello," Zara said again, to the bump. Louder this time. In c
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 106
He went back on a Monday. Six weeks after the shooting. Dr. Reeves had said five, Neo had said four, they'd compromised on six in the specific way they compromised on things which was Irina stating a position and Neo recognizing it as correct and not admitting that immediately. She drove him. Not Curtis — she drove him herself, which he hadn't expected and didn't comment on, just got in the passenger seat with the specific composure of a man who had decided that being driven by his fiancée to his first day back at his company was not a thing that required comment. Atlanta in the morning. The commute crowd. The city doing its operational weekday thing. She pulled up outside McKinney Industries and looked at the building — all glass and steel and architectural confidence, the building that had made her feel small the first time she'd stood in front of it — and then at Neo beside her. He was looking at it too. "How does it feel," she said. He considered it honestly. "Different,"
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 105
The chandelier got her.Irina had predicted this. Had known from the moment Zara asked about it in the arrivals hall that the chandelier was going to be the first significant moment in the mansion and she was right. Zara walked through the front door, looked up, and stopped completely. Backpack still on. Yellow jacket still zipped. Head tilted all the way back."That's enormous," she said."It is," Irina agreed."It's bigger than our whole flat in Auckland," Zara said. "I said the same thing," Irina said. "Approximately." Zara looked at her. "What did you say exactly.""I said Jesus," Irina said.Zara's eyes went wide. Then she giggled the full kind, the unguarded six year old kind that came from somewhere genuine and had no self-consciousness to it whatsoever and the sound of it filled the McKinney Mansion foyer in a way that the foyer, for all its grandeur, had probably never been filled before.Neo stood slightly behind them.He was looking at Zara.At the jaw. The eyes. The specif
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 27
It spilled out sideways, like everything tended to do when you hadn't intended to say it.They were eating, just the two of them; apparently Margaret had eaten in her room - Irina suspected it had something to do with whatever Neo had said to her after Miami-and Sasha was out, doing whatever it was
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 26
Back to Atlanta and its oppressive humidity. And traffic.Irina had forgotten just how humid it was. It was warm in Miami, of course, but Miami had the water and the breeze and the general swagger of a city that had learned to live with its climate. Atlanta just seemed to sit on top of you. Heavy a
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 25
The following evening was unscripted. The meetings had concluded, Garrett had managed a laugh, Patricia had nodded to her, and Neo had announced-in the quiet, undemonstrative way he did announcing-that the second Miami evening was theirs. Irina wasn't sure what to make of the information. They ate
My Sister’s Substitute Chapter 24
She read Allison's text for a full minute. We need to talk. She hit reply almost instantly. About what? You okay? The two blue ticks appeared.Allison had read it. No reply. She called it, it rang out and went to voicemail. Sitting on the edge of the hotel bed in Miami with the bay sparkling throug
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