Chapter 4
Jillian sent another video right away. I hit play, and it showed this clip she’d taken with her phone. Dad was on the couch with Mom, watching TV while hugging Jillian’s dog.
Jillian’s voice piped up from behind the camera. “Mom, Dad, Wanda says she’s leaving us for good. What do you think?”
Dad scoffed. “Good riddance. Now we won’t have to deal with her crap anymore. Honestly,
just the sight of her pisses me off.”
Mom gave him a weak glare but didn’t push back. “Let her go and struggle out there. Maybe
then she’ll figure out how easy she had it here and how clueless she really is.‘
Harvey walked out of the kitchen with a platter of fruit and saw Jillian pointing her phone
at him. He flashed a grin and leaned into the camera. His face lit up with this bright,
beaming smile–one I’d never gotten.
“Babe, what are you filming? Do I look good today?” he asked. The video ended there. Then, Jillian’s next message popped up.
“See? Nobody in this family cares about you. Do yourself a favor and get lost–the sooner, the better. And don’t even dream of replacing me.”
Her words were so nasty that I could practically feel the venom through the screen. I read it and didn’t bother answering. Instead, I pulled out the SIM card and sent it straight down
the toilet.
As soon as my flight landed at the research base, I jumped straight into work with the team and basically forgot the outside world existed.
They confiscated all our phones and banned us from leaving, but honestly? I was totally fine with it. Not having people up in my business every second made life way easier.
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At night, when everyone got bored, my coworkers would whine to me about how much they missed their families. I didn’t get it. I was mapping out my life after this research.
And in my plans? Mom, Dad, and Jillian weren’t invited.
The first week after I left, the Swains couldn’t be bothered to come looking for me. Mom,
Dad, and their adopted daughter, Jillian, were too wrapped up in playing happy family. They even dragged Harvey along to get their newest family portrait done.
Mom was in her gown, Dad was in his suit, and Jillian and Harvey stood behind them like the flawless little unit they were. Jillian’s dog even got a spot in the picture.
But me? I wasn’t in it. Mom, who practically never posts on Instagram, suddenly acted like that family portrait was some huge announcement. The caption said, “Having you all by
my side is all the happiness I’ll ever need!”
A flood of likes rolled in from friends and family. Mom couldn’t wipe that grin off her face,
basking in all that happiness.
Normally, I’d be right there liking her post the second it went up. But not this time. I ignored it completely like I was already gone.
Mom waited three days before her smile disappeared. She looked confused as she put down her phone and grumbled, “That ungrateful brat. I hardly ever post on Instagram, and she couldn’t even pretend to care!”
She hesitated for a second, then called me, but she couldn’t get through. She tried again a
few times, but still nothing.
Mom rushed over to Dad, gripping her phone. “We should check with Wanda. She’s been gone for days without saying a word, and now her phone’s unreachable. What if something’s wrong?”
Dad let out a dismissive snort.
“Where else would she even go? This is the only place she’s got. She’s just throwing a tantrum. Once she figures out she can’t handle things on her own, she’ll come slinking
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back like a kicked dog.”
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Mom was just about to say something else when Jillian jumped in, looking all concerned. “Mom, Dad, don’t freak out. Wanda’s totally fine. She’s probably just stuck on how you
sided with me for my dog’s birthday celebration.
“Ever since then, she’s been going on and on about running away to ‘teach you a lesson.‘
Honestly, she’s just throwing a tantrum.”
When Mom heard that, she blew up. “What? So this is just some empty threat? And here I was, actually stressing oyer her! I’m telling the butler to change the locks right now. Let’s see how she plans to waltz back in after this!”
3
She bought Jillian’s story without even a second thought and decided my vanishing act was
othing but a bratty little power play. Jillian’s smile flickered for just a second before ading into sadness.
Mom caught it right away. “Jilly, what’s going on? Is something upsetting you?”
“Mom, Dad, Wanda’s gone. So what does that mean for her arranged marriage? I love
Harvey.
“He says he wants to be with me forever, but I can tell he’s still stuck on that deal his grandfather made for him back in the day. That’s why he won’t let me get too close.”
Back when he was alive, Mr. Schumer Senior promised Harvey to me. After I went missing, nobody could prove I was dead, so the arranged marriage just stayed on the books.
But when I finally came back, nobody even mentioned it–probably because it was obvious to anyone that Jillian and Harvey were into each other.
When Dad heard this, he banged his fist on the table and declared, “This is my call! Wanda and Harvey’s arranged marriage is canceled. You two are getting engaged next week.
“I’ll make sure it’s a huge spectacle to show everyone in our circle what a pathetic joke Wanda turned out to be. You’re the daughter we actually care about!”
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Jillian got exactly what she’d hoped for but still pretended to worry. “But what if Wanda won’t accept it? She always seemed so bitter whenever she caught me with Harvey. She’d even push her way between us…
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This just made Dad even angrier. He grabbed his phone and barked at Bernard, “Drag Wanda back here right now. I want her at Jilly and Harvey’s engagement party, and she’d
better congratulate them in person!”
After that, Dad dove headfirst into planning the engagement, micromanaging every little thing himself.
Bernard, who was supposed to get in touch with me, called nonstop for three days, but all
he got was nothing.
Even when he tried to track me down, the only thing he dug up was my last connecting flight. It was like I’d just disappeared off the face of the earth. Everything about me stopped
cold the day I left home.
Bernard began sweating bullets and could barely spit it out to Dad. “M–Mr. Swain, Wanda’s… I think she’s missing. I can’t find
her.”
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