Spoiled By My Brothers: Return of The Lost Heiress-Chapter 99: You Were Waiting For Me To Fail!

Author’s POV

Melissa stepped out, clutching the cell phone tightly in her hand. Her steps were quick with excitement. She was finally ready to expose Seraphina. To tell her brothers everything.

But the moment she reached the edge of the garden, she froze.

Her smile faltered, and her breath caught in her throat.

Because Seraphina was there!

She was standing silently between Alistair and Asher, her expression unreadable, her posture calm, as if she had been there the whole time.

Melissa’s heart skipped a beat, disbelief flashing across her face. "Sera!?" she blurted out, the shock in her voice impossible to hide.

She hadn’t expected her to be her at home. Melissa had made sure of it!

Melissa’s mind raced.

No... no, this isn’t how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to be missing.

Melissa quickly straightened her posture, masking the panic bubbling in her eyes with a flash of innocent concern.

"Oh, thank God!" Melissa exclaimed, stepping closer with a false smile. "You had everyone worried, you know! The dorm called, and no one knew where you were. Why didn’t you inform anyone, Sera? What if something happened to you?"

She turned toward the brothers as her voice was dripping with sweetness. "I was just about to come tell you both. I thought maybe something terrible had happened to her... After all, how could we not be worried about you?"

But Seraphina’s eyes didn’t flinch. Her gaze was steady, and her heart was coldly unmoved by Melissa’s act.

She looked at her, slowly, then let out a quiet breath.

"You didn’t come to help me," Seraphina said softly, her voice almost too calm. "You came to expose me."

Melissa’s fake concern cracked for a second. "W-What? That’s not—"

"I didn’t tell anyone where I was," Seraphina continued, cutting her off gently, "because I didn’t owe anyone that explanation, especially you."

Her words weren’t loud, but enough for them to hear. And then she turned back to Alistair and Asher and added, "And if anyone truly cared, they wouldn’t wait for a call from the dorm to know I was gone."

Melissa’s lips parted, but no words came out.

For once, she didn’t know what to say. Because this time, Seraphina didn’t look like the fragile, broken girl she once was!

Seraphina looked strong and untouchable.

"What do you mean by that?" Asher asked as his brows lifted. His voice was steady and stern, but there was no coldness in his tone or sharpness in his eyes. He only sounded confused.

Alistair didn’t speak right away. Instead, he gently reached for Seraphina’s hand, wrapping his fingers around hers with a warmth that made her chest ache.

How could the world be so cruel as to make him lose everything? He was such a gentleman, but the world made him cruel.

"Sera, baby..." he said softly, "we truly didn’t know you weren’t at the dorm. If I had, I would’ve moved heaven and earth to find you."

His grip tightened slightly and protectively.

"If you ever get lost again, anywhere in the world, I’ll leave everything behind," he continued, voice laced with quiet conviction. "I’ll look for you. And I won’t stop until I find you."

Seraphina’s eyes turned, but she held back the tears.

"I trust you," she whispered, her heart fluttering at his words. For a moment, she saw the brother she remembered, who was gentle, loyal, and full of love.

"Really? And me?" Asher interrupted. He didn’t want Alistair to grab all her attention. He’d make Sera see him, too!

Melissa stood still as her grip on the phone tightened, watching how Alistair held Seraphina’s hand and spoke with rare softness in his voice that she had never heard, not even in the dramas he had acted.

People who knew him could tell that this was not his gentlest look at all. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Why did he never look at her like that? Why did he never speak to her with such tone?

She had always been there. At every family dinner, every fundraiser, every photo. She worked hard to earn his attention and all the praise. She played the perfect daughter and the loyal sister.

But Seraphina came back from nowhere, dragging in her broken self, body full of bruises, and heart full of wounds. Suddenly, she was the one they all cared about?

Melissa’s smile wavered for a split second.

She quickly recovered, masking the rising sting in her chest with a polite expression.

"Oh, how sweet of you, Brother Alistair," she said with a smile, folding her arms across her chest. "What a lovely moment for the real family."

Melissa’s smile faltered, but it was for just a second. She wasn’t someone who backed down so easily. If they wouldn’t notice her, she would make them!

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she took a step forward, brushing invisible dust off her sleeve with fake elegance.

"Well," she said with a light laugh, "I’m sorry if my concern came across the wrong way. I just thought that maybe your safety was something we should care about. But clearly—"

"—I overestimated my place in this family."

There it was again... twisting the situation in her favor, that act of being the ignored and the sweet daughter who was never appreciated. Her voice trembled a little to make herself look pitiful.

Seraphina took a calm and measured step forward.

"You didn’t overestimate anything, Melissa," she said plainly. "You knew exactly what you were doing."

Her eyes met Melissa’s without hesitation.

"You were never worried about me. You were waiting for me to fail... so you could run to them and pretend to be the good sister." She turned her gaze briefly to Alistair and Asher, repeating herself, but this time adding more words. "But good sisters don’t try to destroy you behind your back."

Silence spread between them.

Melissa clenched her jaw, but smiled again with a flicker of venom behind it.

===

Please don’t forget to comment and review the book.