All Chapters of How My Brother Landed on My Payroll: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

With the final stroke, I pushed the pledge back across the desk to Riley Tucker. She had clearly come prepared with a whole speech, but every single word suddenly melted in her throat.She said, "You actually signed it."I glanced at my name, the ink still glistening. "Why not? You gave me all the reason to."She froze for another second. "You're not going to think this over?""Think about what exactly?" I asked, capping my pen. "You just helped me fire an employee who earns more per hour than a CEO and has an ego bigger than mine. I should be thanking you instead."Riley's expression fell. "Adam is not your employee! He's a living, breathing person, not some toy you can order around just because you have money!"I nodded. "Okay. And?"Her eyes rimmed red. "You think he'll come crawling back to you once you stop paying him, don't you?""Probably not," I said, doing the math. "He should be able to last until dinner tonight."She clenched the pledge in her hand, looking genuinel

Chapter 2

Still, Riley was dissatisfied. "Signing the pledge isn't enough. You need to cancel all of Adam's upcoming orders right now.""Sure," I said, logging onto the campus gig app.Adam's bio was painfully straightforward. It read, "Broke. Barely alive. Taking urgent orders."Below it was a list of his scheduled jobs for the next two weeks."Breakfast Run for Sophie Williams."Organize Mistake Notebook for Sophie Williams."Locate Shady Spot During PE Class for Sophie Williams."Deliver Art Supplies to the Arts Building After School for Sophie Williams."Weekly Badminton Practice with Sophie Williams."The badminton sessions had originally been only 45 dollars, but Adam thought I was so terrible that playing with me ruined his mood, so he shamelessly raised the price to 120 dollars.Right in front of Riley, I canceled the orders one by one."Order canceled. Exclusive order-taking access has been disabled. Pending final payments have been put on hold."Riley's scrunched-up face fi

Chapter 3

The student immediately posted Adam's profile in our year's group chat. The shoelace photo Riley had posted happened to match one of his listings perfectly."Service: Shoelace Check."Base Fee: 30 dollars."Remarks: Inspection only. Retie fee not included."There was even an additional charge listed underneath."Shoelace found loose—retied. Additional fee: 15 dollars."Soon, his other listings were dug up too.The original price for carrying my drawing board was 15 dollars, but Adam thought the arts building without an elevator was unacceptable, so he bumped it up to 37 dollars.Badminton practice was 45 dollars, but he thought I was terrible and had a habit of blaming my mistakes on my sparring partner. So, he added a 75-dollar emotional-distress fee.To scare off my admirers, I originally offered him 45 dollars. But after discovering the guy was an athlete, Adam tacked on another 100 dollars in workers' compensation insurance.As for the cheap jobs, he rejected those withou

Chapter 4

That afternoon, on the day of the disciplinary hearing, I received a text from an unknown number."Adam Sterling's old injury has flared up. He's been taken to a rehab center on the outskirts of the city. Please have his emergency contact come in as soon as possible to sign the necessary paperwork."The message also included Adam's competition number and records of his previous injury.Ordinary students shouldn't have had access to that information, but Riley had helped the student council organize the basketball team's records a few days earlier.I stared at the message for several seconds. I knew it could be a trap, but I still couldn't bring myself to gamble with Adam's leg.He had injured that leg once before, two years ago. He was an absolute pain in the ass most of the time, but he was still my brother.I rushed to the rehab center on the outskirts of the city. The staff searched their entire registration system, but there was no record of him.Outside, rain was falling in

Chapter 5

The gym fell silent, with nothing but the faint static from the speakers filling the air.Riley clutched the pledge and stood there, stunned. "What did you just say?"Adam stared at the refund screen, his expression frighteningly cold. "She's my sister. I asked her for the work and set the prices myself. Now, who gave you the right to refund my money?"Everyone started whispering to each other."Sister?""So there was no financial bullying in the first place?""Adam chose to work for Sophie…"Riley shook her head hard. "That's impossible. You two don't even have the same last name."Adam shot her a look. "I took my dad's last name, while she took our mom's. What, do siblings have to share a last name before the government will officially recognize them as family?"Her face stiffened. Soon, her face lit up, as if she had found another hole in the story."But you two never even talked at school. You've never admitted she was your sister, either. She ordered you around with mone

Chapter 6

Riley's tears rolled down her frozen visage. "Adam, this isn't about the money. It's about your dignity."Adam nodded. "Okay. And my dignity is worth 417 dollars. So when are you going to pay me back?"A wave of laughter swept through the bleachers.Riley clenched the pledge in her hands, her face turning crimson. "I was trying to help you.""But I never asked you to." Adam stared at the refund page, his voice turning cold. "I did the work and earned the money. You refunded it for me, and now you expect me to thank you?"She was thoroughly speechless.I steadied myself against the edge of the table and pulled out my phone. "We've cleared up the money. Now let's talk about this."I projected the text from the unknown number onto the giant screen."Adam Sterling's old injury has flared up. He's been taken to a rehab center on the outskirts of the city. Please have his emergency contact come in as soon as possible to sign the necessary paperwork."Attached below were his competit

Chapter 7

The police arrived at the gym soon after.After reviewing the text message and the backend records, they confiscated Riley's phone and the student council computer, then asked everyone involved to remain on-site and cooperate with the investigation.Riley, who had insisted loudly that it had been a prank, now lost her voice.The gym doors opened again. Mom hurried in, with Dad right behind her, rain still dripping from his coat. "Sophie!"When she saw me covered in mud and soaked through, she stopped dead. She crouched before me, reaching for my knee but hesitated, for fear of hurting me."How did you hurt your hand? Can you move your foot?"I lifted my swollen right foot. "Not really."Tears instantly filled her eyes. She whipped her head toward Adam. "Is this how you take care of your younger sister?"Adam froze under the scolding. "I just got back from the tournament.""And you should've gotten back way sooner.""Mom, I'm not the problem here.""Shut up."Very well—our s

Chapter 8

The police soon recovered the records Riley had deleted. Besides the fake text, there were also messages she had sent to Mary."Sophie has gone out of town. As long as she can't make it back in time, the disciplinary action can go through without her. Once Adam is free again, he'll surely thank me."Any last shred of plausible deniability was gone.Riley's face went deathly pale, though tears were still streaming down her cheeks. "I only wanted to help Adam. I never thought things would turn out like this."Adam didn't even look at her. "Don't use me as an excuse. From the start, I never asked you to do a single thing."Stewart quietly conferred with several other school administrators for a moment before stepping onto the stage."After an emergency review, the school has decided to revoke the disciplinary warning issued to Ms. Williams and withdraw the findings of the financial bullying investigation."The 417-dollar refunded amount will be restored to Mr. Adam Sterling's accou

Chapter 9

The next day, the school issued an official statement.All allegations of financial bullying against me were withdrawn. My disciplinary warning was revoked, and all related posts on the campus confession page were deleted.The school also issued a public apology on its website and bulletin boards.The most prominent line read, "After verification, all of Adam Sterling's gigs were accepted voluntarily. There was no coercion, control, or other improper conduct involved."Students soon flooded the comment section."Translation: Adam genuinely wanted the money.""Another translation: Riley just cost the guy his entire side hustle.""Sophie, are you still hiring? As always, I can leave my dignity at home."After reading the statement, Adam only cared about one thing. "What about my 417 dollars?"That day, the platform finally cashed out the payment and even added 30 dollars in compensation for the delay. He stared at the notification showing the money deposited into his account and

Chapter 10

While my ankle healed, Mom and Dad put Adam in charge of getting me to and from school.Every morning, he would show up in my classroom with breakfast. After school, he would carry my backpack for me.At first, the whole school thought it was sweet. Then everyone realized that there wasn't a trace of wholesome sibling affection between us. We couldn't stop getting on each other's nerves.I opened the breakfast bag and frowned. "Why isn't there any syrup in my coffee?"He tossed the straw onto my desk. "The doctor said you need to cut back on the sugar."I dug through the bag again. "Where is there only egg white in my fried egg sandwich?"He wiped the corner of his mouth and answered shamelessly, "Because I ate the yolk."I looked at him. "I know I'm not paying you for this, but you didn't have to skim off the top."He leaned against the desk and gave a cold laugh. "Glad you know. Consider it the rider's fee."My deskmate, however, looked at Adam with pure envy. "Aw. Your brot

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