My Outstanding Adoptive Brothers Are Supporting Someone Else

After graduating from college, I set out to make a new life in Kingshaven with my parents, who had just wrapped up over two decades of teaching in an underserved rural community. To our surprise, as soon as we stepped off the train, we ran straight into Kingshaven’s infamous little tyrant. She clearly had a woman’s appearance, yet she kept insisting she was a man. Of course, I glanced at her a couple of times. “What are you staring at? Never seen a man before? I can’t stand women like you, using your looks to seduce men wherever you go.” We had only just arrived in the capital, so I did not want any trouble. I took my parents by the arm and turned to leave. As I turned, however, she spotted the little wooden bird hanging from my backpack. She suddenly grabbed me and tossed a switchblade at me. “So, you’re another one of my brother’s pathetic admirers. Do you women ever know when to quit? Cut your face so you can’t seduce men anymore, and I’ll let you go.” Mom’s expression darkened with anger, while Dad stepped protectively in front of me. I did not back down. “What makes you think I need your permission to leave?” The tomboy reacted as though I had just told the funniest joke in the world. Even the thugs gathered behind her burst out laughing. “Because my eldest brother, Damian Kane, is the richest man in Kingshaven. My second brother, Antonio Cross, practically owns this city, and my third brother, Julian Reed, is a top superstar. “I’m the beloved little sister of all those men, Sienna Quinn.” Hearing that, my eyes widened in disbelief. Those three names she had just said were the ridiculous names I had jokingly invented for my foster brothers ten years ago. Chapter 1 When Sienna Quinn saw the disbelief on my face, her smug smile widened. “Well? Scared now? Be a good girl and do exactly as I told you.” I was still reeling from the revelation. Mom and Dad were also stunned upon hearing those three familiar names. A food cart vendor behind us took pity on me and whispered, “Listen, miss, you folks aren’t from around here, so you don’t know how things work in Kingshaven. “Maybe you should just swallow your pride and apologize to Ms. Quinn. Tell her what she wants to hear, and you may get out of this with your face intact.” I stood still and even straightened my back without thinking. When the onlookers saw how “stubborn” I was being, they shook their heads and turned on my parents instead. “She may be young and foolish enough to cross Ms. Quinn, but her parents are old enough to know better.” “You can tell they’re ignorant country bumpkins who have never been anywhere. They have no idea how things work around here.” “At their age, they still have no common sense. Maybe Ms. Quinn should teach them a lesson.” The murmuring around them made Mom look troubled. She tugged gently at my arm. “Cassie, maybe we should let this go. Your dad and I are just teachers. We have no power. Let me apologize to her. We can’t afford to cross people like them.” I took Mom’s hand, ready to refuse, but the sight of my parents’ graying hair and lined faces stopped me. I could not bring myself to put them through any more of this. From Sienna’s attitude, she had no intention of letting us go unless I gave in. Even though I knew the three men she mentioned were the very adoptive brothers who had watched me grow up, there was no way they would magically show up to stand up for me and my parents. Taking the humiliation quietly was better than making my parents worry. “Mom, I’ll apologize to her.” I took a deep breath. Then, I swallowed the humiliation and walked over to Sienna. I lowered my head to make myself appear as meek and respectful as possible. “I’m sorry, Ms. Quinn. I didn’t know any better, and I never meant to offend you. Please forgive me.” I was just about to raise my head to look at her when she slapped me. The next second, my left cheek was burning with pain. The force of the blow knocked my head to the side. Still dazed, I instinctively covered my cheek. Something warm and slick spread beneath my palm. When I pulled my hand away, my palm was covered in blood. Sienna’s long, pointed acrylic nails had left several deep gashes across my face. Chapter 2 “Do you think one apology makes everything okay? Women like you are all the same. Stupid, shameless, and always pretending to be innocent victims. “You should consider yourself lucky my brothers aren’t here. Scar your face now, and I might call it even. If they were here, you’d be dead before you knew what was happening.” Mom rushed forward to check my wounds. Furious at what Sienna had done to me, Dad lunged at her. Before he could reach her, Sienna’s men knocked him to the ground with two brutal punches. Furious and desperate, I yanked the metal water bottle from my backpack and raised it to strike back. Before I could swing it, two bodyguards seized me and pinned my arms. The bottle was still clenched in my hand, but I could do nothing except scream in fury. “Bring your brothers here! When they show up, I’d love to see what they’d do to me!” I thought. “That’s right. When they get here, I’m going to demand an answer from them face-to-face.” When they left our small rural town all those years ago, they had promised to make something of themselves. Was this what success meant to them? Did they plan to use their power to bully innocent people? As I struggled against the guards, the little wooden bird hanging from my backpack fell to the ground. One of Sienna’s men picked it up. “Boss, this wooden bird looks familiar.” Sienna took from him the wooden bird my second brother had woven for me on the day he left our hometown. “Of course it does. Antonio has six wooden birds of different sizes lined up on his desk. When I saw yours earlier, I knew you were up to something. It looks exactly like the ones he has.” As she continued, she gave me a contemptuous look. “Are you still going to deny that you’re trying to throw yourself at Antonio? You women are harlots. “You’re jealous because my brothers adore me, so you cut your hair short and tried to copy me. Let me tell you, I’m the only one who can call them brothers. You women will never have that!” Until she mentioned it, I had not even noticed how similar our haircuts were. I had kept my hair short and practical for as long as I could remember. It was not that I did not want long, flowing hair. In the remote town where I grew up, proper showers were a luxury. Long hair would also have gotten in my way whenever I did farm chores. I stared at her smug, arrogant face as she sneered “you women” again and again. Something inside me finally snapped. “Aren’t you a woman yourself? You can call yourself a man all you want, but if every woman is a harlot, what does that make you?” Apparently, Sienna had not expected me to talk back. Enraged, she grabbed a fistful of my hair. “Are you still trying to mouth off to me? Hold her down. I’m going to shave her head. Let’s see her try to charm Antonio when she’s bald.” Sienna picked up the switchblade from the ground and came at me to cut my hair. I struggled with everything I had, but I was no match for the three of them. Mom rushed forward to help me. She grabbed Sienna by the wrist and cried out, “I remember now! Were those three boys’ original names Bubba, Cletus, and Skeeter? “My husband and I were their teachers. We practically raised those boys ourselves. Even the names they use now were made up by our daughter.” She was right. I had named them. Ten years ago, when I was just entering adolescence, my favorite pastime was curling up with my phone and reading billionaire romances. I would look at the sophisticated names of the male leads, then compare them with the painfully backwoods names of my three foster brothers. Eventually, I marched up to them and made a formal announcement. “Bubba, since you can’t even remember your last name, I’m replacing the whole thing. From now on, you’re Damian Kane. “Cletus Cross, you’re tall and intimidating, and you already carry yourself like a mob boss. From now on, you’re Antonio Cross. That name suits you perfectly.” Chapter 3 “Skeeter Reed, you’re the best-looking of the three, so you’re obviously destined to be a movie star. From now on, you’re Julian Reed. With a name like that, you’d be the hottest guy on the planet.” Mom came out of the kitchen carrying dinner and told us to set the table. “All you ever do is fool around and pick on your brothers. Julian, Julius, whatever you called him. Skeeter is much easier to remember.” Mom could never remember any of the three names I had chosen. My three foster brothers, however, loved them. They said the names made them sound like they were destined for great things. It seemed like they had really made something of themselves. However, they had also allowed someone like Sienna to use their names to bully and intimidate others. They had forgotten their roots. There was another loud slap. Sienna had slapped Mom. “How did you find out something that personal? You disgusting old hag. Have you been snooping into my brothers’ lives so you could help your harlot of a daughter throw herself at them?” I was furious beyond reason. We had just arrived in Kingshaven. We had done absolutely nothing to her. Yet Dad had been beaten to the ground, and she had slapped Mom. Sienna had gone too far. “We were just passing through! What gives you the right to do this to us? Does the law mean nothing in Kingshaven?” Before I could finish, Sienna started hacking at my hair with the switchblade. “The law? In Kingshaven, I’m the law.” She yanked my hair so hard that my scalp burned. The violent jerking left me dizzy. Locks of hair fell around me as Mom cried out and tried to protect me. One of Sienna’s men shoved her to the ground. The crowd around us kept growing. Some of the nosier onlookers had already pulled out their phones and started filming discreetly. As the scene drew more attention, one of Sienna’s men began to look nervous. He walked up behind her. “Mr. Kane and the others are waiting for you to join them for dinner. Maybe we should leave it at that. We shouldn’t keep your brothers waiting too long.” However, Sienna showed no intention of stopping. Her face twisted into a vicious grin, as though she were savoring every second of it. About ten minutes later, Sienna finally grew bored. She stepped back to admire her handiwork, then laughed with satisfaction. “There. Much better. Now that you’re not so pretty, you don’t look like quite as much of a harlot.” She tossed the knife aside and brushed the hair clippings from her hands. Then, she took out her phone and snapped several pictures of me. I lowered my head and stared at the clumps of hair scattered across the ground. I looked at Mom and Dad. They were both still being held down. I raised my head and glared at Sienna. My eyes were bloodshot with rage. “When I see Damian Kane, I’m going to make sure you regret everything you did here.” At that, Sienna burst out laughing. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to let you anywhere near them? I bet you’re already fantasizing about playing the damsel in distress so one of them can swoop in, save you, and fall madly in love. Dream on!” After saying that, she glanced down. When she spotted the metal water bottle I had dropped, a smile spread across her face. She picked it up and felt its heft in her hand, apparently pleased with its weight. “Looks like shaving your head wasn’t enough. I should ruin that face for good.” With that, she raised the heavy metal bottle and swung it at my head. Dad had recovered from the two blows he had taken earlier. When he saw Sienna swing, he instinctively threw himself in front of me. The bottle struck the side of Dad’s head with a sickening thud. Blood immediately streamed down his face. I wrenched myself free and caught Dad as he collapsed. He managed only a weak smile. “Sweetheart, I spent my whole life teaching. I never amounted to much. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you and your mom.” I sank to the ground with Dad in my arms as his strength gave out. Sienna kicked him out of my arms. “Worthless hick. You knew you couldn’t do anything, but you had to get in my way. Just die already.” Chapter 4 She turned her attention back to me. “You like throwing yourself at men, don’t you? When I’m done with you, I’ll find some homeless men and let them have their way with you.” She yanked the belt from one of her men and lashed me with it again and again, pouring all her rage into every blow. The immense pain wracking my body made me tremble uncontrollably. I could not understand it. My parents and I had only come to Kingshaven to build a new life. What had we done to deserve such cruelty? Just as despair threatened to overwhelm me, Sienna’s phone rang. She finally stopped. She glanced at the screen of her phone and transformed into a completely different person. “Damian, are you getting impatient? Just give me a few more minutes. I’ll be there soon.” As soon as I realized Damian was on the line, I desperately tried to call for help. “Damian, it’s me, Ca...” Before I could finish saying my name, someone clamped a hand over my mouth. My cries came out muffled, but I knew it was my only chance to get help. I bit down hard on the hand covering my mouth. The man cried out in pain and immediately let go. Before I could shout again, Sienna ended the call with a smug smile. “Did you really think I wouldn’t know what you were up to? Go ahead and scream. Let’s see who you think is coming to save you.” One of her men glanced at his watch, then at the steadily growing crowd. He lowered his voice and tried again. “Boss, I think this has gone far enough. We shouldn’t keep Mr. Kane and the others waiting over some worthless woman. Besides, if this gets any more out of hand, it could get hard to contain. Maybe we should...” Before he could finish, Sienna slapped him. “If I want to teach some harlot a lesson, who are you to stop me? I could cripple her right here, and my brothers would still clean up the mess for me. They adore me. I can do whatever I want.” Half-crazed with excitement, Sienna moved to my side and seized me by the back of the neck. Her long nails dug into my skin as she forced me down. “Fine. Let my men slap you a hundred times, and we’ll call it even. But if I ever see any of you in Kingshaven again, I’ll beat you every time.” She motioned to her men. Two of them immediately stepped forward. One restrained my arms while the other grabbed my hair and forced my head up. Sienna took a few steps back, folded her arms, and looked down at me. “Start. Don’t let her go until you reach one hundred.” One man held my head still while the other slapped me again and again. The rest jeered and counted aloud. Some of the onlookers could no longer stand by and watch. One after another, they began speaking up for me. “This is a civilized city. How could she just attack someone like that?” “Exactly. That family was just passing through, and she attacked them for no reason. Does the law mean nothing anymore?” “Someone called the police. They should be here any minute.” The crowd’s comments did not faze Sienna at all. If anything, they only made her more brazen. “So what if the cops come? My brothers have connections everywhere, both legal and otherwise. No one would dare touch me. I’m warning you, anyone else who speaks up is getting a beating too.” Sienna turned her attention back to me. A vicious smile spread across her face. She lifted one foot and aimed a kick straight at my face. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for the agony of a shattered nose. A commotion rippled through the crowd. The kick never came. “Cassie, I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner...”