3
I slept until noon the next day, waking up in a completely unfamiliar room.
I wasn’t fazed in the slightest.
Once, when I was a kid, I went with my dad on a late-night butchering job. On the way back at dawn, I was so tired I saw a pile of hay on the side of the road, flopped down, and was instantly out. Dad was walking ahead and turned around to find his daughter had vanished into thin air. Scared the hell out of him.
Mom nagged him about it for a month, and young Leo was given a new, solemn duty: keep an eye on Mia, and don’t let her fall asleep in random places.
When I came downstairs, Ryan and Lily were already at the dining table. Ryan looked up at me, a flicker of what seemed like relief on his face. He’ d probably never seen someone sleep so much like a corpse-utterly unresponsive. If I wasn’t still warm to the touch, he might have called an am- bulance.
Once I sat down, he asked a few perfunctory questions about how I slept and told me to make a list of anything I needed so his assistant could buy it
Across the table, Lily bit her lip, looking like she was bursting to say something.
Naturally, I said nothing. Getting an extra word out of me was a feat of herculean effort. Leo could attest to the number of times he’d practically begged me on his knees just to acknowledge his existence.
When the food arrived, I focused on the dish directly in front of me, slowly picking at it.
мам
www.
Ryan glanced at me. Then glanced again. Finally, he couldn’t hold it in any longer. “There’s so much food. Why are you only eating that one dish?” He softened his tone slightly. “This is your home. Don’t be formal. Take whatever you want.”
It was the opening Lily had been waiting for. She immediately began piling food onto my plate.
“Sister, you’ve probably never had any of this before. You should try everything. I know your family… runs a butcher shop…” She let out a little “ah!” and covered her mouth, her eyes wide. “Oh, sister, I didn’t mean it like that! I’m not looking down on butchers, really. It’s just, living in a place like that, you must have suffered a lot. But now that you’re back with the Blackwells, everything is different. Just tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll have Auntie Liu make it for you.”
She stared at me, waiting for a reaction. I just gave a flat “Oh,” and added, “Thanks.”
She waited, but I offered nothing more. The smile on her face stiffened.
After a moment, I turned to Ryan. “It’s too far. Lifting my arm is tiring.”
Ryan blinked, taking a second to realize I was answering his earlier question. A look of mingled frustration and amusement crossed his face. “It’s
just lifting your arm…”
My phone buzzed with a string of notifications. Seeing me ignore it, Ryan prompted, “Aren’t you going to check that?”
“It’s nothing,” I said without looking up, continuing to eat.
Lily’s eyes darted. Suddenly, she reached out, picked up my phone, and put on an expression of thoughtful concern. “What if it’s something urge- nt? Just because you’re a Blackwell now doesn’t mean you should cut off everyone from your old life.”
With that, she unlocked the screen. A series of desperate cries immediately filled the room.
“MIA, SAVE ME! I’M BEGGING YOU! THIS WOMAN IS A DEMON! SHE STAYS UP ALL NIGHT WRITING BUSINESS PLANS FOR PIGS! THE POSTNA-
TAL CARE GUIDELINES FOR SOWS ALONE ARE A HUNDRED. ITEMS. LONG!”
“SHE’S TALKING ABOUT EXPANDING OUR BUTCHER STALL, AIMING TO INCORPORATE IN SIX MONTHS AND GO PUBLIC IN THREE YEARS!*
“SHE DRAGGED ME OUT OF BED AT 6 A.M. TO CONDUCT HEALTH ASSESSMENTS ON EVERY SINGLE PIG, AND THEN SHE MADE THEM DO
AEROBICS!”
“I DON’T WANT THE REST OF MY LIFE TO BE TIED TO PIGS! I DON’T WANT TO BE THE HEIR TO A PORK EMPIRE, EVEN IF IT’S PUBLICLY TRADED!
The string of anguished howls echoed through the dining room, painting a vivid picture of Leo’s mental breakdown.
