Home / A Future Woven From Storms / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of A Future Woven From Storms: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

Victor Weller's gaze moved over the dust covering my work clothes, and his voice mixed pity with contempt."I admit I treated you badly back then, but after disappearing so dramatically, how did you still end up living like this?"I adjusted the lens without interest."If you still want the session, please hurry. The deposit isn't refundable."My mother, Lorraine Weller, wiped her eyes over and over and reached for me."A family portrait should have the whole family in it. Remy, come stand with me."I stepped away from her hand."The booking says four family members: three people and one dog. The dog's already in position, so could you please go back to your seat and cooperate?"My father, Martin Weller's face darkened immediately."Disgraceful."His finger nearly jabbed my forehead."You cried for years because you wanted to be in these pictures, and now you think you're important enough to turn us down?"I was about to call security when Victor stood quickly and tried to

Chapter 2

I heard brakes squeal through Elena's phone."Stay at the studio. I'll have my secretary cancel dinner and come to you right now."Elena knew only that things with my biological family were bad and that we'd cut contact years earlier.She didn't know the rest of it.Hearing the fear in her voice made me change my mind."Don't cancel. I'll go with you tonight."After the call, I stared at the photo I'd taken by accident when my hand shook.My mother frowned, my father clenched one fist, and Victor stood with his arms folded.The dog beside them had its tongue out, wearing the same eager-to-please expression I'd worn as a kid.They didn't love me. I'd understood that from the beginning.The sentence my parents repeated most often was, "Your life exists because Victor is suffering."Victor had a severe inherited marrow-failure disorder, and no compatible donor could be found.Out of options, my parents conceived me through fertility treatment as an HLA-matched sibling donor.

Chapter 3

He wasn't hiding. He was lying in the bathtub with a shallow cut across his wrist that had already started closing.A note sat beside him.It said, "Remy called me stupid, weak, and useless. He said I don't deserve to inherit the Weller family and that I should die."My father scooped Victor up and ran outside, his legs going so weak he nearly went down twice.My mother lost all the color in her face. She pressed both hands over Victor's wrist and screamed for help as they rushed for the hospital.They were so frantic that they knocked into me on the way past and sent me down the stairs without noticing.The pain nearly kept me from standing, but terror carried me to the hospital on one bad leg.The second my mother saw me, she crossed the hall and hit my face again and again.The blows left me unable to breathe."If Victor had never gotten sick, you'd have had no reason to exist."How dare you say something like that to my son?"Her voice drove into my ringing ears like a n

Chapter 4

To keep from being thrown out, and to stop Victor from coming after me, I tore up my Brindleford Academy acceptance letter in front of our parents.I enrolled at the vocational school Victor went to instead, and went back to taking care of him.As the years of paying for his treatment went on, my parents worked longer and longer hours.Most of the housework became mine.I did laundry, scrubbed floors, bought groceries, and cooked to everyone else's taste.Their resistance to me wore down a little at a time under the weight of routine.Even when they slipped and praised me for being responsible, they'd check Victor's face right after.Three years in, Victor had steadied a little and no longer threatened to die every time our parents complimented me in passing.Because of his illness, the family sat for a formal portrait every year on his birthday.I never asked to be in one again.Victor still got suspicious. One day, while our parents were out, he stood over me and demanded a

Chapter 5

My father recovered first.He pulled Victor behind him and put his smile back on."Ms. Fairchild, please, sit."When he got to me, his mouth opened like he couldn't decide which name to use.My mother hurried to pull out a chair."Remy, sit down."Elena lifted her eyes. "I'd rather you called my fiance by his new name. Miles Weller."Miles ahead of where he started, with the whole road still in front of him."What a coincidence, too. Miles mentioned the connection today, and only then did I find out that the supplier my company has worked with for years is owned by my fiance's biological parents."I'd always been told Mr. Weller had one son."My mother dropped her eyes, embarrassed, and waved over a server to add more dishes."I never expected Mi... Miles to build such a good life, or for us to run into each other like this."Miles, these were your favorites when you were little. Eat more. You've gotten so thin."I looked at the liver and the oysters set in front of me. Ev

Chapter 6

"When I brought up the Fairchilds at that studio, you must have been laughing inside. You think marrying their heiress turned you into somebody? You're still the dog they made to supply my blood. Without me you'd never have existed.""Enough."My father's hand cracked across Victor's face."You've lost your mind. How can you say something like that?"Victor froze, unable to believe that the father who'd always indulged him had hit him for my sake.He covered his cheek and tried to speak, but my mother clamped a hand over his mouth and hauled him out.My father hurried over with a napkin, reaching for my face."I'm so sorry. We spoiled him, and I never imagined he'd turn out this cruel. I'll deal with him."Elena stepped between us. "Mr. Weller, take the contract with you. Fairchild Apex has no reason to keep this relationship going."She hooked her arm through mine and walked us out of the restaurant....Back at the house, Elena pushed me into the bathroom without a word so

Chapter 7

"Miles, it's Mom. Victor put those stories out because I didn't stop him. Your father already hired people to take them down. I hope they didn't hurt you. I'm sorry."I didn't reply. I just shut off the screen.When I jumped off that bridge, I meant to die.But the water flooding my nose and ears hurt more than I could stand, and right as I started to suffocate, something enormous in me refused to go.It forced me to fight until I broke the surface.The current carried me downstream into an empty stretch past the city limits.I lay on the bank with exactly two thoughts in my head.The river stank.Why should I end my life in water that smelled like that?I wasn't willing to go out that way.Anger is what kept me alive.Broke, I picked up whatever work I could and saved every dollar, putting my last hope in Southmark's working-holiday visa lottery.Maybe somebody decided I'd suffered enough. My name came up, and I moved to a small Southmark town, worked three jobs a day, and

Chapter 8

A tear landed on the top of my foot.I wiped my eyes hard and stepped back."Mrs. Weller, if you were sincere, you'd make Victor apologize in person."Second, Victor's an adult. He should face the consequences of what he did instead of sending his mother to guilt the person he hurt."And one last thing."I looked straight into Lorraine Weller's eyes."I survived. But Remy died inside you a long time ago, so go on believing he's dead and stay out of my life."The color drained out of Lorraine's face by degrees.I turned and walked upstairs without looking back.She stayed on her knees like a statue.Gerald went over to help her up and show her out.Just as the door was closing, Lorraine broke down and strained toward me."Remy, I'm so sorry."That was where I lost it.The tears came.They were for the kid I'd been five years earlier.Word that Victor had deliberately spread those stories eventually got to Elena.She suspended every contract with Weller Industrial Supply

Chapter 9

The wedding came on schedule. I had no family to invite, so Elena quietly reached out to the friends I'd made over the previous five years.They put themselves forward as my groomsmen and filled the whole day with noise and jokes and warmth.During the ring exchange, I caught sight of Lorraine near the entrance.She'd gotten lost in it, half risen beside the floral display without realizing, staring at me with tears shining in her eyes.I looked away and carefully slid the ring down Elena's finger.As the room broke into cheers, the nine-tier champagne tower beside me tipped straight toward me.Elena reacted instantly, yanking me behind her, putting her much smaller body between me and it.Bottles and glass came down, and something hit her back hard enough to force a groan out of her.Flying glass cut my face. Elena bent to look at it and never saw Victor come out behind her and throw a lit flame into the alcohol-soaked decorations.The fire went up at once, and it had us surr

Chapter 10

"Because she's your biological mother, the team expected closer compatibility, but the donated tissue was only ever a temporary dressing. Your permanent graft used your own healthy skin and engineered coverage."There was a sound outside the room.Lorraine was standing in the doorway."Re... Miles, I..."Elena cut her off."Mrs. Weller, if you're here to plead for Victor again, please leave."We'll pursue every criminal charge the evidence supports. What you should be worrying about is whether my husband recovers.""I came to tell Miles that Victor is going to answer for every bit of it himself."Lorraine looked at me for a long moment, like there was a great deal more she wanted to say, and in the end she only set an insulated container down."There's chicken soup in there. I made it for Remy."The one piece of luck in all of it was that no guest was seriously hurt.Between the graft surgery and the scar work Elena arranged, my burns healed with almost nothing left to see.

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