Chapter 6 - The Unwanted Visitor
Autumn bled slowly into a crisp, biting winter. Snow dusted the rolling hills around Daniel’s farmhouse, turning the landscape into a serene, glittering wonderland. My strength had fully returned; the scar on my abdomen was fading into a faint silver line, a badge of survival rather than a mark of trauma.
I had changed my phone number, deleted my old social media accounts, and started working remotely as a freelance graphic designer—a career I had always wanted to pursue but was discouraged from doing by my adoptive family, who insisted I needed a "respectable corporate job" to fund Chloe’s lifestyle choices.
One afternoon, while Daniel was out in the massive workshop behind the house cutting timber for a new bookshelf, a dark sedan crunched up the snowy gravel driveway.
I paused from my design work at the dining room table and peered out the window. My stomach tightened.
It wasn't Margaret's white SUV. It was a sleek, unfamiliar luxury sedan.
The door opened, and a heavily pregnant woman stepped out, shivering in a high-end designer winter coat that looked entirely impractical for a country snowstorm. It was Chloe.
My sister—or rather, my stepsister—stumbled slightly in her high-heeled boots, catching herself against the hood of her car. She looked around wildly, her face pale, her hair slightly disheveled. She clearly hadn't expected to find a rustic farmhouse at the end of a long, isolated snowy road.
I stood up slowly, walking to the heavy oak front door. I unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door open just a few inches, stepping out onto the covered porch.
Chloe spotted me immediately. She burst into tears—the theatrical, dramatic kind of crying I knew all too well—and began trudging through the snow toward the porch.
"Ava! Oh, thank God!" she cried, sniffling loudly. "You have to help me. Please!"
I crossed my arms, leaning against the doorframe, watching her approach with a cool, detached curiosity. "What are you doing here, Chloe?"
Chloe reached the bottom of the porch steps, panting heavily, her face flushed red from the cold and emotion. "Mom and Dad are losing their minds! Dad's company is facing an audit, and Mom hasn't left her bedroom in three days because the neighbors are talking about how we 'abandoned' you in the hospital. And—and my husband left me last week!"
She paused, expecting me to gasp, to rush down the steps, wrap her in my arms, and promise to fix everything just like I had done every time she threw a tantrum growing up.
Instead, I just looked at her.
May you like
"I'm sorry to hear that your husband left," I said evenly. "And I'm sorry about your upcoming baby. But why are you telling me this?"
Chloe blinked, her tear-filled eyes widening in disbelief. "What do you mean, why am I telling you this? We're sisters! You always take care of me! You need to come home. Mom needs you to talk to that crazy old man you ran away with and get him to drop whatever legal threats he made. If Dad gets sued, we'll lose everything!"
