Chapter 161: Worse Than a Servant
With a stubborn tone, Yelena said, “Cale, I’m your sister. How could I ever hurt you?”
With clear disappointment in his voice, Caleb replied, “Since you won’t admit to anything, then there’s nothing left for us to talk about. Please go back, Ms. Quixall. In this life, I swear I’ll never step foot in the Quixall residence again. I don’t ever want to see your disgusting face, Yelena.”
As Caleb turned his face away from her, Yelena suddenly panicked, and without thinking, the truth slipped out. “I was just testing you. I didn’t think Mom and Dad would actually take it seriously!”
The moment the words left her lips, the room fell into stunned silence. Yelena instantly regretted saying it, while Caleb looked at her in disbelief.
“Testing me? You faked the HLA matching report just to test me? Did you ever stop to think what might happen if people actually believed it? How they’d treat me?”
He rushed the words out, triggering a sharp pain in his injury, causing him to cough twice, hard. Watching her younger brother in distress, Yelena felt a wave of guilt. Without even thinking, she moved closer and gently patted his back to soothe him—an old habit. Back when he used to catch colds as a kid, she’d do the same thing—pat his back gently and whisper reassuring words. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here…”
But this time, things weren’t the same. Once Caleb managed to stop coughing, he looked at her with eyes full of resentment.
“Don’t touch me!” he said, practically yelling.
His words sent a shiver down Yelena. “Cale, don’t look at me like that… I’m your sister. Ever since we were little, no one’s loved you more than I have!” Her voice cracked, and tears filled her eyes.
But to Caleb, it was all just another performance.
“Don’t pretend like you care. Maybe you used to… but ever since Jesse came back, all you’ve done is lash out at me. You’ve treated me like your personal punching bag! In your eyes, I’m just Jesse’s shadow. Even the servants in the Quixall residence haven’t been humiliated like I have!”
His voice was hoarse and tired, as though he was trying to empty all the pain and resentment he’d kept bottled up for days. And for the first time, Yelena found herself face-to-face with his full anger, and she didn’t know what to do.
Did I really make a mistake? But… Caleb’s the one who messed up, isn’t he?
Unable to hold it in, she spoke up to defend herself.
“Wasn’t I good to you? When you got out of prison, I was the first one waiting to pick you up. When you said you wanted to leave the family, I chased after you, worried you’d be mistreated out there. But in your… all that was fake? It’s like having a… you know. You feed it and take care of it for a whole month, it should at least wag its tail a little, right? But you, Cale… how could you—”
Be worse than a dog?
Caleb caught the bitter meaning behind her words. He snapped, “Even a dog, if it finds out its owner’s…”
Yelena didn’t say anything. After a pause, she opened her mouth. “Cale, I didn’t mean to. I just—”
“You’re just scared of dying, aren’t you?” he cut in, his voice sharp.
His words hit Yelena like a jolt. For a moment, she was speechless. It was true. She had never realized until now just how terrified she was of dying—how desperately she clung to life. And it was that fear that had pushed her to falsify the matching report.