All Chapters of No Longer Their Footstool: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Willow’s POVAn hour earlier as a nurse prepped me for my third round of blood donation for the day, I decided I was ending it all today.Eighteen years ago when I was two, my parents adopted Erin—the anemic infant of my father’s secretary—who saved mum in a fire accident that’d destroyed our first home—whose mum had abandoned after birthing her.On the day it happened, Dad was out of town visiting family, while I was in daycare. My little brother, Raphael was born three years later.Since then, my life had been hell, as my parents showered Erin and Raphael with utmost affection while ignoring me completely. “Orla, will you like to speak to the ox?” Erin’s taunting voice came from beside me, as blood flowed out of my veins into her bloodstream, making my head light and my vision fuzzy. She was on a call with her best friend, and I was the ox. Mum had called me that when the doctor, upon seeing my decrepit form yesterday after a day of incessant blood donation, had told her and dad

Erin’s POV“What are you talking about? There’s nothing like that in there,” Willow said, her face deathly pallor as she gazed at the journal intently, “All I-““Keep quiet and let your sister talk!” Dad snapped, and her mouth instantly clamped shut, albeit her eyes remained on the journal.“Here, dad. I want you to see it for yourself.” I said, inwardly gratefully for my impressive ability to cry on command.Four days ago while I was going through Willow’s wardrobe in the attic, I’d found the journal buried among her pile of worn out clothes.The content had been boring, basically her daydreaming about getting a perfect job and a nice little apartment in New York, so I’d decided to spice things up a little by tearing those out, and adding some interesting bits to it.Wordlessly, dad took the journal from me while I pretended to be shaken by the things I’d perused from the journal, ignoring Willow, who now seemed scared.“I wish I was never born to the Grey family. I hate them all bec

Willow’s POVA strangely familiar smell of antiseptic wafted into my nostrils, as I came to. Opening my eyes, I saw four masculine silhouettes hovering over me.“Can you see us, Willow?” A deep voice came from the cluster of silhouettes, as I blinked in quick succession to clear up my foggy vision.A moment later, I could see everything candidly.Grandpa and Seth were standing over my bed, on either sides, alongside two men who he shared an uncanny resemblance with—my other brothers.“Yes.” My voice came out in a rasp, “How long was I out?”“Seven hours,” Seth replied, “How do you feel? Do you need food? Water? Anything?”“Stop disturbing her with questions, Seth. She just woke up.” One of my other brothers, who was clad in a grey suit uttered, “I’m Asher, your eldest brother. It’s nice to finally meet you, Willow.”“Come on, Asher. Willow is our little sister, not your business partner. There’s no need to be extremely formal,” My other brother scoffed, before placing his hand on my f

Willow’s POVStepping away from him, I said, “I am s-““Do you realize that this is a university and you should be aware of your surroundings, instead of going about, bumping into others?” He cut me short before I could get around to apologizing“Excuse me?” I blurted out, staring at him in shock.How could he be so ill mannered? “Stop acting ignorant and be honest,” He continued to my further dismay, “You are one of those desperate high school girls who come here, so they can get a chance to go out with me. Aren’t you?”“I don’t even know you,” I retorted, feeling insulted, “But, based on your superbly pleasant character, I would never wish to even be in the same space with you, talk more of going out with you. Your attitude is nasty.”As I spoke, his emotionless facade fell, his hazel eyes glinting with disbelief, which I found extremely satisfying.Who the hell did he think he was to go about acting like a demigod?“I will assume you are being truthful, and we don’t continue to ac

Erin’s POVRage coursed through me like wildfire through a forest as Willow regarded us, her makeup enhanced face oddly calm, and devoid of any sort of emotion.“Grandpa, wait,” She said, placing her hand on the shoulder of the old man, who'd been barking like a rabid dog as soon as he saw us.Like we’d murdered someone or committed an act tantamount to it.Although he still looked extremely pissed by the sight of my family and I, he nodded, putting his hand on Willow’s, as her three brothers came to stand behind them.“What is going on here? Who let them in?” Seth spat, irritation written all over his face.“You heard him,” Willow uttered to my complete shock, “Why are you here?”So she’d hidden her confrontational attitude, until her biological family showed up.“To apologize,” Dad began, guilt brimming from his voice, “We have wronged you, Willow, and we would like to atone for our mistakes in any way you want.”“You truly have such unbelievable guts,” The old man retorted, “Then a