“Let’s see you try to take what’s mine. You don’t stand a chance!” Rosie gloated inwardly.
Brenna felt her anger burning, but she forced herself to stay calm. She needed to see how Luther and Tessa would react. If they sided with Rosie without hesitation, she would have no reason to stay in this family.
Tessa caught the restraint in Brenna’s eyes and frowned slightly. Something about Rosie’s behavior seemed unusual today-almost deliberately provocative.
“Look at you, all dirty,” she said to Rosie. “Shouldn’t you go change now?”
Rosie wasn’t ready to let the matter go. She folded her arms across her chest, her voice rising. “Grandma, she bullied me, and you’re just dismissing it?”
Tessa turned to Brenna, taking her hand in a rare gesture of warmth. “Don’t mind her. She’s not usually like this-I don’t know what’s gotten into her today. Come on, let me have a good look at you. Oh, you do have your mother’s features,” she said.
Just then, two more cars pulled into the driveway. The door of the first swung open before a gorgeous woman rushed out, running straight for Brenna. Tears streamed down her face as she wrapped her arms around Brenna, holding her tightly.
“My daughter… I’ve been searching for you for twenty years. You’re finally home. I owe you so much…”
Brenna froze. She had spent years calling Ruby “Mom,” only to be met with coldness and neglect. She had learned not to expect warmth.
Now, Giselle was holding her like she was something precious, but the embrace felt unfamiliar. Brenna stood stiffly, her arms hanging awkwardly by her sides. She was unsure of what to do. The word “Mom” stuck in her throat.
A refined-looking man stepped out of the second car, his eyes locked onto Brenna. Shepard Harper believed he didn’t need a DNA test to confirm Brenna’s identity. She was the spitting image of his wife.
With a gentle smile, he reached for Giselle’s shoulders and pulled her back slightly from Brenna. “You’re overwhelming her,” he said.
Giselle blinked through her tears and gave an awkward laugh. “I can’t help it,” she admitted. “For twenty years, I’ve thought about my daughter every single day. Wondering where she was, if she was safe, if she was eating well… And then I-
“I found out she didn’t even finish grade school? It felt like a knife to my heart. How could the Barretts do this to her?”
Shepard turned to Brenna, looking at her. He wanted her to call him Dad and call Giselle Mom. But she remained silent. His heart sank a little, though he understood her. How could she be expected to call two strangers her parents?
Rosie also picked up on Brenna’s hesitation immediately. She nudged Brenna with her elbow, her voice thick with disapproval. “Mom and Dad are standing right in front of you, and you don’t even greet them? That’s so rude!”
Then, slipping smoothly into place between Shepard and Giselle, she hooked her arms around them both. “Dad, Mom, I was the one who brought Brenna home, but she was so mad about me being late that she pushed me, and now I have this sprained ankle. And when I offered her ice cream, she threw it at me and ruined my dress. But it’s fine-I won’t hold it against her.”
She wasn’t even pretending to be nice anymore, looking at Brenna provocatively.
In fact, she was lying outright about Brenna in front of the entire family, just to see whom everyone would believe.
Brenna just shot Rosie a sharp glance and remained silent.
Giselle gazed at Brenna expectantly. After a long pause, Brenna finally said, “Nice to meet you all; I’m Brenna.”
The Harper family members exchanged uncertain glances, their silence heavy with doubt. Brenna’s lack of immediate response seemed like an unspoken admission of Rosie’s words.
Seeing their hesitant expressions, Brenna knew she needed to clarify the situation before they made any assumptions. She hadn’t come back just to be falsely accused-she wanted to reconnect with her real family.
Without hesitation, she scrolled through her phone, quickly pulling up the surveillance footage from the Flavor Restaurant.
“You can watch this,” she said, holding out her phone. The screen played the events exactly as they had happened.
Giselle and Shepard watched. Luther and Tessa also leaned in. Their faces darkened as the video progressed.
Rosie watched the video as well, her expression twisting with frustration. “How did you even get that footage?” she snapped.
“Rosie!” Giselle’s voice was sharp with disappointment. Her heart ached-her daughter had suffered for twenty years, only to return and be met with hostility from her real family.
Tears filled Giselle’s eyes as she took Brenna’s hands in hers. “I should never have let Rosie be the one to pick you up. I should have canceled my speech at the United Nations forum. Nothing is more important than you finally coming home,” she said.
Now, she understood why Brenna had kept her distance from them, why she had refused to call them ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’. Brenna had been mistreated before even stepping foot inside the house.
“Rosie, Brenna deserves an apology from you now,” Shepard said firmly.
Rosie pouted. “Dad, I already apologized to her at the restaurant! I even went to the hospital because of my sprained ankle. As soon as I got home, I tried to explain myself to her, but she wouldn’t let the matter go! I even offered her ice cream to smooth things over, and instead, she threw it at me. She’s being completely unreasonable!”
Rosie was still being smug. She believed that since she had spent more than twenty years in the Harper family, Brenna couldn’t compare to her in the Harper couple’s eyes.
From the side, Rachael saw an opportunity to speak up. “Yes! Miss Brenna Harper is overreacting. Miss Rosie Harper was only joking-“
“This is none of your business!” Shepard interrupted her coldly. “Did you finish preparing dinner for Brenna?”
Rachael flinched at the reprimand, her resentment toward Brenna growing. She had worked for the Harper family for years and had always been treated with respect. Now, because of Brenna, she was being dismissed like a common servant.
“Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, I really didn’t mean it,” Rosie said sweetly, tugging at Shepard’s arm.
Shepard had always treated her as his own daughter, ensuring she never felt like an orphan.
Shepard hesitated. He wanted to be firm, but it was hard to be too harsh on the girl he had raised, especially now that he had just found his biological daughter.
Luther, however, was unmoved. “You crossed the line,” he said to Rosie. “Apologize to Brenna now.”
Rosie scanned the elders’ faces, hoping for support, but no one defended her. The video evidence had stripped her of any plausible deniability. With no other choice, she clenched her jaw and forced out the words.
“Brenna, I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” she said.
Brenna smiled faintly, her tone dismissive. “I forgave you a long time ago. You’re immature-I won’t take your actions or harsh words to heart.”
Rosie’s nails dug into her palms. She had been waiting for the perfect moment to bring up Brenna’s extravagant spending, but now, how could she shift the conversation without looking bitter?
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.