After a Decade of Betrayal, I Found My Real Family

Brendan Gilbert stepped outside to smoke.

At one in the morning, his phone lit up right on schedule.

It was a repayment notice. The loan had been paid off this month.

I thought it was spam, but my fingers moved on their own and tapped in.

One notice.

Ten.

A hundred and twenty repayment records.

0-05,000 a month. Brendan had been paying it for ten years.

Every muscle in my body locked.

A new message popped up.

My little mouth down there misses you sooo much. Don't get too into your act with that broke nobody, okay? Oh, and I got the new bag. Love it.

A draft slipped through the cracked window and crawled over my skin, cold enough to make me shiver.

An act.

So all those years of suffering beside me were just an act.

Yesterday, the lease had come due. I'd just paid a full year's rent. Ten thousand dollars.

Split into twenty-four credit card installments.

"Your phone just lit up. Is something going on?"

My voice came out hoarse.

He hated ads and spam. Every time he got one, he'd complain to me about it.

He'd say the same thing this time. He had to.

Brendan picked up his phone, glanced at the screen, and frowned.

"Something urgent came up at work. I need to head out."

A high-pitched ringing flooded my ears. Everything in front of me blurred.

Words fell out of my mouth before I could think.

"Brendan, next month's grocery money. Eight hundred dollars."

"I don't have anything left. Could you maybe"

He leaned down and cupped my face, cutting me off.

"I don't have anything either. But I know you. You're amazing. You'll figure something out."

Then he changed into the new shirt I'd just bought him.

My hand shot out and caught the hem.

There was hope in my eyes I hadn't even realized was there.

"But you scratched someone's car the other day. I paid twelve thousand for that. I really have nothing left."

I looked up at him, fighting hard against the sting building behind my eyes.

Brendan paused. "Babe, are you blaming me?"

"Or do you think my depression is dragging you down?"

Before tonight, I would have pulled him into my arms without a second thought.

But now, all I could think was:

The good life he kept promising.

Did he mean living in the most expensive house, carrying the most expensive bags?

I let go of his shirt. My hands curled into fists to stop the trembling.

"Are you seeing someone else?"

I bit down on my lip until it ached, my gaze hard and unblinking.

Brendan looked at me for a long moment. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm broke. What woman would want me?"

"If I don't get to the office, they'll dock my pay."

I didn't look up, but I knew exactly what was in his eyes.

Contempt. Disgust. And the lie holding it all together.

He left with a quiet laugh.

Dock his pay.

Was I really that obsessed with money?

I lifted my head and took in the cramped, shabby room around me.

A water-cooler jug repurposed as a trash can. A plastic bottle crushed flat to make a showerhead. A bedding set I'd spent days comparing online before I could justify the price. A table and chairs our neighbor had thrown out.

My breath caught.

When I bragged about how the showerhead was cheap but still had great pressure, was Brendan's praise really mockery?

When I told him I'd found a plastic jug that could work as a trash can, did he turn away because I disgusted him?

All those hours I spent clicking from site to site, link to link, hunting for the cheapest bedding set I could find, was he laughing at me for thinking this was all I deserved?

Tears were already running down my face. I didn't know when they'd started.

I cried for a long time, then grabbed the bedsheet and scrubbed my eyes dry.

I needed to know why. I needed to know who she was.

Ten years of my life. I wasn't going to let them disappear without answers.

The moment my foot hit the floor, a sharp ache shot through it.

That foot had been broken once.

A year ago, a car swerved into me while I was out making deliveries.

At the time, Brendan had just been scammed out of his entire savings by a coworker and was buried in debt on top of it.

He'd cried when he told me. Apologized over and over. Even offered to break up so he wouldn't drag me down.

So I handed over every cent of my settlement money to dig him out.

All I kept for myself was the pain that never went away.

Looking back now.

It was all for nothing.

I couldn't let myself keep thinking. I got dressed and went downstairs.

The ground floor was ringed with barbecue stalls, loud with drinking games and shouting.

I pulled my jacket tight and walked fast.

When we first looked at this apartment, I didn't want it.

Too expensive, and the day we came to view it, a group of drunk men had blocked my path.

What had Brendan said?

"It's got character. Besides, I'm your knight in shining armor. I'll walk you home every day."

I'd believed those bright, earnest eyes.

But I felt bad making him do it, so I always slipped past those leering stares on my own.

"Well, well! Told you tonight was my lucky night! Got a pretty little thing throwing herself right at me!"

A man reeking of cigarettes and liquor grabbed me from behind.

Laughter erupted from every direction.

"Hahaha, looks like you hit the jackpot tonight, buddy!"

"Damn, I missed my chance."

"Don't be scared, sweetheart!"

"Let go of me!"

I thrashed against him with everything I had.

But my struggling only seemed to egg them on.

"Ooh, feisty one!"

"She's all yours, bro!"

The crowd clapped and hollered like it was a show.

Smoke, alcohol, malice. All of it closed in on me like blades.

The man's arms were locked around me, and no matter how hard I fought, his greasy face kept inching closer.

The crowd cheered louder, waiting for the spectacle.

Then the man screamed and lurched backward.

His hands clamped over the fleshy roll of his waist, blood seeping between his fingers.

My hand was shaking around the fruit knife, but my eyes swept across every single face in that circle.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but not one of them made a sound.

The only noise left was the man howling and cursing.

"C-come on, girl, no need for that. We were just messing around."

"Yeah, that was way too far."

I couldn't hear any of it.

I pushed through the crowd, gasping, walking faster and faster until there were no more lights, no more stench of liquor.

Tears had long since soaked my face.

I dropped the knife into a trash can with trembling hands, crouched on the ground, and cried.

When I had no tears left, I looked up and saw the high-rise looming right in front of me.

The most expensive luxury complex in the city. The property Brendan had been making payments on.

This was why he'd insisted on that apartment. So he could be close to this place.

Even if it meant leaving me in that environment.

Even though we'd been together since we were eighteen.

Even though he'd promised to marry me more times than I could count.

Lies.

All of it, lies.

Maybe he never loved me at all.

The delivery uniform I'd grabbed on my way out got me past the gate.

No elevator key card, so I took the stairs.

I climbed one step at a time, and a memory surfaced without warning.

I was sixteen the first time I met Brendan, and it was on a staircase just like this.

"Hey there. One more step and you'll be in my arms."

I'd snapped out of my daze and looked up, straight into Brendan's smiling eyes.

The sunlight caught them and turned them amber.

My face went red on the spot.

Over the next ten years, I watched my parents divorce and became the kid nobody wanted.

His family went bankrupt. He fell from the top of the world and nearly lost himself to depression.

But we'd made it through together.

At eighteen, I thought we'd be married soon.

Ten years later, I was still a failure who couldn't even cover rent.

My feet stopped mid-step.

Memories surged up from somewhere deep, one after another.

At nineteen, the day after we made things official, his family went bankrupt.

At twenty, I landed a great summer internship.

The day after I got the offer, he said he'd been diagnosed with depression. That he wanted to die every single day.

I gave up the internship to stay by his side.

At twenty-one, an executive invited me to join his company.

That same night, Brendan was hit by a car and left fighting for his life. I gave up my ticket into a company about to go public and stayed at his bedside around the clock.

I wanted to count every instance, but there were too many.

The car accident. His parents dying. Acute pneumonia. Even thyroid cancer.

Every single time.

Every single time I thought life was finally looking up, something would happen that drained every cent I had.

The questions that had plagued me for years suddenly had an answer.

Why were we so unlucky.

Why was I still this miserable after trying so hard.

Because all of it was a lie.

I braced my hands on my knees and watched sweat drip from my face, one drop at a time.

Then I laughed.

Deceived for ten years. Working three jobs to keep us afloat. Giving up every chance to climb out, over and over again.

Hilarious. Truly hilarious.

When I was done laughing, I looked up toward the exit.

My floor.

The instant I stepped out of the stairwell, it hit me.

I'd been here before.

Six months ago, I'd delivered food to this unit.

A few drops of soup had spilled.

I was apologizing, offering to pay for the damage, when the woman at the door pulled out her phone and aimed it at me. She was all curves and red lips.

"Get on your knees and lick the soup off the floor. Otherwise I'm reporting you."

She was smiling the whole time.

Every instinct told me to refuse.

But the day before, Brendan had just broken his leg and gotten fired.

One complaint would cost me five hundred dollars.

I couldn't afford to lose it.

When my tongue touched the floor and the cold soup,

her shrieking laughter drove into me like a thousand needles.

Through my eardrums, straight into my skull, and lodged there.

She'd pouted into the phone, voice dripping sugar.

"Do you think I'm being mean?"

"Not at all. She should feel lucky she gets to entertain you."

The humiliation of having my dignity ground underfoot was so total that I never stopped to wonder why the man's voice on that call sounded so familiar.

By the time I ran home in tears,

Brendan was checking me over in a panic, looking for injuries.

Had he been laughing at me then? At how badly I hid it?

Not like him.

He'd been hiding for ten years.

I stared at the doorbell.

My hand was shaking, but I pressed it anyway.

The moment the door opened, I heard that familiar voice.

"You bought durian? Perfect. Bring a piece back for that little beggar at home. She loves it but won't spend the money."

My whole body started to tremble.

So that's where all those "treats" he brought home came from.

How many times had he humiliated me without my knowing.

Winona Swanson leaned against the doorframe and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, look who's here."

"Brendan, your little girlfriend tracked you down."

My nails dug into my palms so hard it hurt.

A few seconds later, Brendan appeared.

He looked at me. Not a trace of surprise on his face.

He lifted his hand and held out a piece of durian.

"Durian. Your favorite. Want some?"

Something taut inside my skull snapped, and the world tilted sideways.

I bit down on the inside of my lip so hard I tasted copper, forcing the words out through clenched teeth.

"Why did you lie to me."

My voice was so faint it barely held together.

Brendan blinked, then laughed out loud.

"I thought you were going to say something harsh."

"There's no grand reason. I just thought it was fun."

My throat seized. The sheer absurdity of it made me repeat his words before I could stop myself.

"Fun?"

Brendan's smile deepened.

"Yeah."

"Watching you choose between me and everything else in your life. That was fun."

"Crushing your hopes over and over, watching you force yourself to keep going. Fun."

"Faking sick, lying in a hospital bed while you ran around taking care of me. Fun."

"Placing delivery orders so you'd bring food right to our door. Also fun."

Through the agony tearing me apart, a memory surfaced. The second day after we met, something he'd said.

Everyone around me is only here for my money.

Vanessa, are you the same?

A high-pitched ringing flooded my ears. The edges of my vision were going dark.

"You were afraid I was after your money."

Brendan pulled the woman beside him close and buried his nose in her hair, breathing her in.

When he looked at me, his eyes were full of contempt.

"You're too stupid for me to worry about that."

He was right. I was that stupid. Fooled for ten years and never knew.

It took me ten years to prove he never loved me.

My chest felt hollowed out, a gaping wound where something vital used to be. I fought to keep my body from shaking.

I didn't know how I left. I didn't know how I ended up downstairs.

When I came back to myself, I was standing under a streetlamp.

Then, quietly.

Something slipped off me and fell.

I looked down.

A small stone lay on the ground, split clean in two.

On my wrist, only the bare red cord remained.

When I was eighteen, Brendan confessed his feelings to me on a mountaintop.

He'd spent a long time searching for that little stone.

"This is a lucky stone. It wards off evil and keeps people safe. Let it be the witness to our love."

Over the eight years that followed, the red cord had been replaced more times than I could count.

The stone itself had been worn smooth and round.

Every time I felt like I couldn't go on, I'd rub it between my fingers.

Don't be scared. It'll pass. It'll get better. This stone will watch over us.

But now.

It had broken in half, just like that.

You couldn't hold on either, could you.

You're telling me I was wrong too, aren't you.

When Winona came out of the bathroom, she asked Brendan casually.

"Weren't you a little too cruel? Aren't you worried the girl's actually going to be angry?"

Brendan's hands stilled for a moment.

"She'll be fine. She's easy to win back."

The moment the words left his mouth, there was a flicker of regret.

But since everything was out in the open now, it was time to give Vanessa the title of Mrs. Gilbert.

A position countless women would scheme and claw for. She'd be thrilled.

"Come with me to the auction tomorrow. I'll bid on that jewelry set and have it sent to Vanessa."

The woman immediately slid onto Brendan's lap.

"Oh, but I love that set too!"

Brendan let out a low chuckle.

"She's already let you have ten years."

"We agreed. One last night. Tomorrow I pay off your mortgage, and the debt your family owed mine is settled."

The woman's face broke into a radiant smile.

"Deal. Thank you, Brendan."

As Brendan stood and guided Winona toward the bedroom, his arm around her waist,

he glanced back at the front door.

Something uneasy stirred in his chest, formless and without reason.

Before he could pin it down, a pair of smooth arms wrapped around his neck.

"Brendan, every second counts on a night like this. Hurry up."

Brendan's lips curved into a smile.

"What's the rush? I'm coming."