All Chapters of The Son They Never Loved: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Don't you want to meet her first?"I asked it after a long silence, with the last stubborn scrap of hope I had left.Mom set down her teacup and brushed the question off without quite looking at me. "No need. We trust your judgment."Trust? Or was it that they simply couldn't be bothered?I looked down at the engagement ring on my finger, and the joy of proposing drained out of me like someone had emptied a bucket of cold water over my head.I should've been used to it by now.Used to being overlooked by my own family.Used to their indifference.Used to the fact that they didn't love me.But I still wanted to tell them.My girlfriend's name was Claire Sterling, and she loved me.Her parents ran a business, and they'd always treated me with real warmth.Every question Mom and Dad might have asked, I had rehearsed until I could recite the answers in my sleep.They just didn't want to ask.And when they did ask, it wasn't me they were asking.Because I wasn't my younger b

Chapter 2

The next morning, Mom and Dad called everyone into the living room.Mom pushed two envelopes across the coffee table, one to me and one to Tyler.Tyler opened his first. A key slid into his palm.He looked up at her, baffled. Mom exchanged a glance with Dad, then smiled and pressed a folded deed into his hands.Tyler opened it.Twenty-one hundred square feet, and the title was in his name.Mom patted the back of his hand."We weren't planning to give it to you this early. But you blink and suddenly you're old enough to be dating.""It's a gift from your father and me. Consider it something solid under your feet."Tyler's eyes went red on the spot."Mom, Dad, how did I get parents this good?"Mom patted him again, doting on him. "Well, you're our precious boy. What did you expect?"Tyler wiped his eyes, embarrassed, and glanced over at me."What'd Mom and Dad give you?"I opened my envelope. Cash. I counted it.Sixty-six dollars. An odd, deliberate little sum.I looked u

Chapter 3

At three that afternoon, someone knocked on my door.It was Mom, with Tyler behind her. She shoved a cleaning cloth and a mop into my hands."Your brother's girlfriend is coming in a couple of days. Clean the place up. Don't embarrass him."I looked at the two of them. They were dressed for going out, and Mom's purse was stuffed full.My grip tightened on the mop handle. I pointed at Tyler."She's his girlfriend. What does that have to do with me?"Mom's brows drew together. She sounded impatient."I'm taking your brother out to buy her a gift. It's her first time in our home. We have to do this properly.""And stop measuring yourself against him. He isn't you."She left with Tyler before I could say another word.She didn't leave room for me to refuse.She seemed to have forgotten that I was the one about to get married.If anyone deserved something done properly, it was me.But then, did she actually care?By the time I finished cleaning, it was five.Serena got home f

Chapter 4

The following day, the house filled up with relatives.They'd heard Tyler had a girlfriend, and they'd come specially to help Mom and Dad strategize.Serena sat in the living room with them, making conversation.I was the only one in the kitchen.It was seventy-seven degrees in the house, and I sweated straight through my shirt anyway.I carried out the last dish and stood at the edge of the table without moving.Mom frowned and turned to look at me."Sit down and eat. What are you standing there for?"I scanned the table and asked, flatly, "Eat what?""There's plenty of rice left, isn't there? Stir some sauce into it."Dad reached over and dropped the last shrimp into Tyler's bowl, then tossed a criticism my way."Your brother's blood sugar crashes easily. Get the food out faster next time."My hands shook where they gripped my apron.One hour. Ten people. Twelve dishes.How much faster was I supposed to be?And what had they left me?Dirty plates and scraps.Why?Wh

Chapter 5

Serena shot to her feet, shouting."Adrian Bennett, do you hear yourself?""You missed one meal. What's the big deal? She's our mother."Dad's palm slammed down on the table."Enough! You're going to make us a laughingstock in front of the whole family over something this small!""Your mother gave birth to you and raised you all these years, and this is the ingrate we ended up with!""And that watermelon was Serena's, bought for your brother. You ate it without asking him. That's stealing."I laughed.I laughed until I was bent over with it. Then I straightened up and looked slowly around the room.The massage chair in the corner. I bought that, because Dad's back hurt.The gold on Mom's neck and wrists. I bought that, because appearances mattered to her.The newest skin care crowding Serena's vanity. I bought that, because she liked feeling beautiful.Every shelf of collectibles in Tyler's room. I bought those, because he was my little brother.And now I'd eaten a piece o

Chapter 6

Upstairs, Tyler stood in front of Mom and Dad with his arm hooked around his girlfriend's.His voice carried through the whole room."Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend, Lily Hart. She just graduated. She's local — never even left the state."Mom looked up and studied her carefully.Lily was tall, with bright, striking features, and the little floral dress she wore gave her a soft, gentle air.Mom nodded, satisfied. The permanent knot between Dad's brows loosened, and something like approval settled over his face.Before either of them could say a word, Aunt Patricia jumped in with the compliments."Robert, Tyler's got an eye on him, doesn't he? Look at her. Now that's a girl worthy of our boy."Dad waved Lily toward the couch, all modesty."They're young. They've only just started seeing each other. Nobody needs to talk about who's worthy of whom.""As long as Tyler's happy, we're happy."Mom coughed twice, gathered every eye in the room, and then took her time."Lily, how ol

Chapter 7

Helen snatched the phone out of Charles Whitfield's hand.Her eyes fixed on the photograph on the phone.The familiar eyes. The hair combed as neatly as it always was. Every detail belonged to the Adrian she remembered.But the happiness in his smile was something she had never once seen on him.Adrian had really gotten married.To a woman none of them had ever met.After a fight like that.On the very day Tyler brought his girlfriend home.And then gold and gifts and half a million dollars had come knocking at her door and, with no effort at all, punctured the happy family she'd spent years assembling.Thinking about the money, something cold and formless opened up in her chest, as though someone important were fading out of her life while she watched.The relatives' cheerful congratulations landed like one slap after another.They were thrilled. They were celebrating."Where's Adrian? His wife's family sent people to the door. Why isn't he out here?""You really can't co

Chapter 8

When the call ended, nobody in the room made a sound.Robert swore. "What kind of thing is that to say? We're his parents."He called back.This time nobody picked up.The line rang and rang and rang out.There was no color left in Helen's face. She pushed Serena forward."You're his favorite. He'll answer for you."Serena scrambled for her phone and called again and again. Nobody answered.Patricia stepped forward as though she meant to say something, then only let out a long breath and left.Tyler stood where he was, lost.Once the last of the spectators had drifted off, Helen's legs gave out and she nearly went down on the floor."I drove my own son away," she said to nobody. "How did that happen?"After I hung up, Claire looked at me with an ache in her face.She didn't say anything. She just folded herself against me and rubbed her cheek slowly across my back, barely any pressure behind it, and more tenderness than I knew what to do with.Outside the window, the buil

Chapter 9

Married life turned out to be busy and full.Claire didn't let me sit idle for a day. The first morning, she hauled me into the family company.She told everyone there, loudly and publicly, that I was the Sterlings' son-in-law.Then she put me at the bottom and made me climb.Mornings, I sat in on senior department meetings as a junior administrative assistant. Middays, I did grunt work for the engineering team and learned how a product went from an idea to a shipped thing. Evenings, I went with Claire to entertain clients.Not once in any of it did she let anyone treat me unfairly.With the whole Sterling family behind me, I straightened up and grew, month over month, into something I could stand to look at.Mom and Dad never stopped reaching out.I didn't block them and I didn't delete anything. I just never wrote back.They said they loved the Sterlings' gifts and wanted to send something in return.They said the five hundred thousand had been said in anger and I shouldn't

Chapter 10

Then I turned and walked out.My hand had barely touched the door handle when something hit the floor behind me.I spun around. Mom had gone off the bed. She was face down on the tile with one arm still stretched toward me."Adrian. I'm begging you."She had made herself as small as a person can make themselves, and she'd done it for Tyler.I laughed, once, without anything behind it. Then I turned and walked toward my wife."I'll cover the medical bills," I said. "Don't expect anything else."I'd only just cleared the hospital doors when Serena came toward us.Less than a year, and there was a shocking amount of white in her hair.Her mouth worked a few times before she got anything out."So you came after all.""I did. Is this what you wanted me to see? Or are you about to ask me for Tyler's money too?"She shook her head."No. I came to tell you not to give in to them."I stopped where I was."This year, with you gone, I finally worked out that what they give Tyler co

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