บททั้งหมดของ Nine Ungrateful Sisters: บทที่ 161 - บทที่ 170

Oscar did not know when he had fallen asleep. When he woke, his phone screen was lit. It was an unknown number.He glanced toward the window. The sky had just begun to lighten."Hello?" he answered, despite the discomfort pressing through his body."Oscar. It's me. Amara."He had recognized her voice the moment the call connected. She did not need to say her name.He was about to hang up, but she continued, "Don't. I know things are going well for you. You've become the brother of Draconia's CEO overnight. But our family treated you well, and I want to ask you for one thing."Her voice dropped, a note of helplessness beneath it.Oscar said nothing. He used to hate that tone more than anything. It meant she was stuck. It meant she had run into something she could not solve on her own.Back then, it would have pulled at him immediately. Now, he felt nothing.He sat with that for a moment, turning the calculation over in his head. Then he let out a quiet, hollow laugh. 'Things ch

Amara shook her head. "Impossible. He couldn't be Mr. Stone. He only took the surname Stone after we removed him from the family."Nancy knew exactly who she meant. She did not believe it either. But she had gathered the photo herself, and she had already sensed the familiarity before Polly said a word.Now a thought formed in her mind that she could not dismiss."It's a strange coincidence. Miss Amara, you removed Oscar from the family, and almost immediately after, the name Mr. Stone began circulating. And it was right after that day that the Northspire gang changed hands," Nancy reasoned.Amara cut the pie absently. "He spent years in this house and never amounted to anything. How could someone like that take over a gang and influence Draconia's decisions from the inside?"She paused. "That is something even our family cannot do. Even my father, when he was alive, could not have done that."Nancy fell silent, then said, "Miss Amara, do you remember the timing? When you removed

Nancy's last line stopped Amara cold.Melvin Hester was a senior figure in the police department. He had looked after the Chamberlains during Arthur's lifetime, and after Arthur's death, he had only grown closer to them. Now he was not answering his phone."Maybe it's too early. Try again in a bit." Amara spoke more to herself than to Nancy.Nancy shook her head. "A package just arrived at the office with his name on the return label. Inside was a bank card and a note. The note said: 'Returning everything the Chamberlains have given. Don't contact me again.'"Nancy held out her phone.Amara glanced at the photo of the note, then hurled her spoon to the floor. "Outrageous!"Since she had revealed the Dracobsidian Token, everyone had treated her with deference. Everyone except Oscar and the girl he had taken in as his sister.Oscar's hostility had a history. She could understand it, even if she did not excuse it.But Melvin? What gave him the nerve? Did he think he could defy the

Oscar followed Rebecca out of the room. They took the same bicycles they had ridden the day before, only this time Rebecca rode in front while Oscar sat behind her."Bro, how are you so light? I think you weigh less than Melanie, and we make fun of her for being heavy. She's barely over 110 pounds."You need to eat more. You can't keep losing weight like this. A grown man this skinny? What does that leave for the rest of us ladies?"Rebecca kept up a steady stream of chatter from the front seat.Oscar answered when he felt like it.Skinny? He supposed so.He lifted his arm and studied it. The veins lay faint but visible beneath his skin.He had not always been like this. At 5'11", he had never been bulky, but he had carried real weight, around 150 pounds.When had that changed?He traced it back.It started after that collapse. Since then, he had not been able to keep food down. Whatever he ate, he brought up again, alone in his room. Each time, he kept his voice under contro

Helena reached over and took Oscar's hand. She had long since stopped thinking of him as anything other than family. "You could have asked Becca to come tell us. You didn't need to make the trip yourself. How are you feeling? Any better?""The neighbor's daughter-in-law told me this kind of illness hits hard, especially the appetite. Food starts to taste like nothing."She ran her hand along his arm and shoulder, checking."Has he lost weight, old man? He feels thinner than when we first met him." George studied Oscar. "He has gotten thinner. Becca, have you been eating your brother's food again? You little glutton. Didn't we say those portions were for him? Stop stealing from your brother."The words Oscar had been about to say died on his tongue. When someone has gone without warmth for too long, even the smallest act of kindness could feel like too much to hold."Grandpa, what do you take me for? Grandma made that food for Bro. I would never touch it." Rebecca stepped in smooth