My Adopted Sons Became My Daughter's Bullies のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 17

Bella's POV"Ms. Vale, the four of them aren't adjusting particularly well."I opened the report. Several photographs had been clipped inside. In the first, Evander wore a wrinkled dress shirt as he sat through an interview at a small local firm.The hiring manager had recognized him immediately. Instead of offering him a position, he'd apparently ended the interview on the spot and had security escort him out while several employees openly mocked the former Vale executive who had come begging for work.Another photograph showed Caspian outside a private club. He had gone to several wealthy former friends asking for a loan.Not one of the men who used to call him their buddy had been willing to help. They'd humiliated him for their own amusement before tossing him a few hundred dollars and sending him away.Stellan had tried a different approach. He'd gone to an illegal gambling club, apparently hoping one lucky night would give him enough money to start over. Instead, he'd cross

Third-Person POV"Who do you think you're fooling, Zet Vale?" Marielle held a hand to her cheek, glaring at him with pure venom. "The four of you are broke! You can't even afford to buy me a decent makeup set anymore, so what gives you the right to expect me to stay and suffer with you?"Her expression twisted with resentment. "And whose fault is that? If you idiots hadn't gone after Bella Vale, would I be stuck living like this now?"The words stopped everyone cold.Evander and Caspian had arrived just in time to hear her, and both men stood frozen in the hallway.Evander stared at Marielle in disbelief. "Marielle… What are you talking about? You came to us crying. You told us Adeline was bullying you. That's why we stepped in. We were defending you."Marielle let out a scornful laugh. "And you believed me just because I said so? Did it ever occur to any of you to actually use your brains?"The color drained from Evander's face.Marielle wasn't finished. "I paid someone to pla

Bella's POVEvery word from Adeline struck exactly where it hurt, stripping away the last of their excuses. "You didn't come here because you want forgiveness. You came because you're desperate for someone to save you."Stellan closed his eyes in anguish. Zet simply lowered his head, defeated. He didn't even have the strength to argue anymore.Because Adeline was right about all of it.That was when I stepped out from behind her. Ronan followed, holding an umbrella over me as he took his place slightly behind my shoulder.The instant Evander saw me, desperation flashed across his face. He looked like a drowning man who had just spotted one last lifeline. "Mom! Please, just give us one more chance. We'll do anything. We'll spend the rest of our lives making this up to you."I looked at their tear-streaked faces and felt nothing."Do anything for me?" I said coolly. "You're not worth the trouble."I took the thick stack of documents from Ronan and threw them straight at Evander.

Bella's POV"Ms. Vale." Oliver entered the room and handed me a tablet. "The latest routine report from the prison."I gave it a cursory glance.Over the past five years, prison life had been anything but uneventful for the four brothers. The people Ronan had put in place had made sure they received plenty of special attention every single day.A short video was attached to the report. Four gaunt men with prematurely graying hair appeared on the screen, dressed in prison uniforms and performing hard labor in the prison quarry.Evander's signature gold-rimmed glasses were long gone. His eyes were vacant now, his movements slow and mechanical as he carried one load after another.Caspian walked with a permanent limp after an injury sustained during a prison fight had never healed properly.Stellan had become stooped and frail, looking decades older than the man he had once been.Zet had fared worst of all. Years of incarceration had left him deeply unwell, and the volatile young