Chapter 3

"Why are you suddenly packing your things and Callum's?" Eunice asked.

She looked at me in confusion, her gaze making every nerve in my body pull taut.

"Callum…" I paused, pressed my lips together, and continued, "He wants to stay at Mom's place for a few more days."

In the end, I swallowed the truth. I refused to humiliate myself, and I didn't want to use Callum's death to test Eunice's feelings. It wasn't worth it.

She let out a breath of relief and nodded, as if everything made sense now. "It all works out. Shawn's going to be staying with us for a few days, anyway. He can just sleep in Callum's room."

My heart clenched hard, like I'd taken a punch straight to the chest.

Shawn had always had free run of this house. He could come and go whenever he pleased. Most of the time, he felt more like the real owner here, while Callum and I were just temporary guests.

I'd blown up over this before. Eunice had sworn up and down that she wouldn't let Shawn just move in whenever he wanted. And yet she'd broken that promise over and over again.

I smiled bitterly. "It's your house. Do whatever you want."

Eunice clearly hadn't expected me to agree so quickly. She was taken aback for a second.

Right on cue, Shawn's syrupy sweet voice rang out, "Eunice! Come here for a sec!"

Eunice immediately dropped everything and rushed over to him.

…

That night, I came down with a high fever. My mind was in disarray. Memories flooded in one by one, and my tears just wouldn't stop.

In the past, every time I got sick, Eunice would come home to sit with me through my IV drips, even if it meant turning down multimillion-dollar deals.

The ice-queen CEO everyone else saw would turn into an overgrown kid in front of me, coaxing me to take my medicine with lollipops.

Now, when I rolled over, all I found was cold, empty sheets.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, my throat felt like it was on fire. I forced myself out of bed. As I walked past Callum's room, I heard giggles and playful voices drift out from inside.

"Stop it, Eunice! Be serious for a second and apply the ointment properly. It really tickles!"

I glanced inside and saw Eunice lifting the back of Shawn's shirt, smiling as she held him close while he squirmed around.

"This is what you get for bumping into the table. Don't move," she said.

She dabbed a cotton swab soaked in iodine on his skin. She swallowed almost imperceptibly.

The air between them heated with something unmistakably intimate.

"That's my son's bed." My hoarse, shaky voice sliced straight through the amorous atmosphere.

Eunice and Shawn both froze, their faces going stiff. I must have looked insane as I rushed in, yanking them both off the mattress and scrubbing at the spot where they'd been lying.

"Finn Riverson, what the hell is wrong with you?" Eunice shouted, her slap exploding across my cheek before I could react.

The metallic taste of blood spread through my mouth, but it couldn't compare to the dull, endless ache in my chest.

"Shawn and I are just siblings. Do you really have to blow everything out of proportion like this? It's the middle of the night—where exactly do you expect me to find a doctor to treat him?" she snapped.

It was always the same. Their cover of being "siblings" allowed them to keep their too-close contact while giving them the perfect excuse to brush off any suspicion.

I still remembered the time I'd gotten into a car crash and had accidentally video-called her. The first thing I'd seen was Shawn in nothing but his underwear, wrapped around Eunice on the bed.

"You checking up on us all of a sudden is really gross. We're just siblings!"

Eunice had hung up right after that. Because of the delay, I'd lost too much blood and nearly died.

My thoughts snapped back to the present. I swallowed my bitterness and repeated, "This is my son's bed. I won't let you two defile his things."

Unexpectedly, Eunice sneered and said, "Then, we'll go stay at a hotel. That way, we won't be an eyesore to you. Happy now?"

She grabbed a coat and threw it over Shawn's shoulders, then dragged him toward the door, slamming into me hard on their way out.

Shawn looked back at me over his shoulder, his eyes full of open challenge and barely concealed hatred.