CHAPTER 534: YOU ARE NO LONGER PART OF US (2)

It was all from what should have been a simple phone call.

The first call went unanswered. That alone was strange. Molly exchanged a glance with Sally. Katie, or rather Kate, as she preferred to call herself now, had always answered on the first ring. By the third attempt, Sally was pacing furiously. On the fifth, the line finally connected.

It was not clear what the sisters wanted, but they, especially Sally, were grasping for anything to hold on to. They, more than anyone, understood that the loss of their status was causing a ripple effect, and they needed to curb the issue at the source, but all avenues were failing them. The last resort, in Sally’s mind, was Katie, but even that was not going as they expected.

"Hello?" came the voice, curt, clipped, and laced with distance.

"What the hell is going on?!!!!" Sally barked. "You told us about that brat Ian and his mother’s infidelity! Why can’t you come out and say something?! ANYTHING!!!!"

There was a pause. A long, too-calm pause.

"Ma’am, I can’t be sure of what I heard anymore. Why would you even trust the words of someone who lost her memory? I can’t even remember my own name or the people I have been serving for so long.... So why would you take my words as is and not with a grain of salt?"

"WHAT?!!"

Sally could not understand what was going on. But she had forgotten that loyalty doesn’t follow maybe-blood. It follows power. It follows the truth. And the truth was always written by the victor or the one with the most power.

"Hahahahahaaaa...." Kate let out a humourless laugh on the phone that made Sally grow angrier

"You told us everything! And what? I should have taken your words with a grain of salt. What the heck do you mean?!!!"

"Because I was ordered to. But now that order is null. And so is your status."

Click.

The silence that followed was deafening. Not even the grandfather clock in the hall dared tick. They had thought betrayal stung. They hadn’t known it could burn that much. But Kate’s indifference and coldness over the phone were not imagined.

"If she was ordered, then did that mean that we fell into a trap set by them? Are we really not of the same blood? Molly?"

Sally looked pale, her hand still holding the disconnected phone.

"Even she thinks we’re nobodies now..." she whispered, more to herself than anything. Because Kate had always been the humblest of all the workers under them. One fact was that Kate had also undergone the same training: loyalty to the family, not individuals. The training was so powerful that this occurrence did not come as a surprise to Molly. She was only sad that it had come to bite her.

Molly turned to her sharply, venom in her eyes.

"Do you think he doesn’t know about this? You think we were just tripping over rocks and coincidentally walked into a DNA ambush on national television? How did you grow up in such an influential family and end up so blind?!"

The slap of words landed louder than a hand ever could. "So, we’re really not from the family then?" Sally still asked, dazed.

"Oh, for God’s sake, are you made of air?" Molly snapped, finally understanding where the dumb kids got their traits from. "Pull yourself together. You think this was all a coincidence?"

It was the first real crack in the lifelong union they had shared — not born of rivalry, but of pressure and the helplessness of being outclassed, outplayed, and outcast. For the first time, the grand estate they had once commanded felt like a cage.

Molly turned and stormed off as fast as her old bones could carry her.

***

On the other end, as soon as the call cut off, Kate fell to her knees before the man standing at the end of her bedroom in her cottage. Her body trembled like a leaf in a storm, and for the first time in her life, she looked utterly broken.

"I—I promise! I’ll never speak of it again! Never!" she cried, bowing her head, her palms slapping the marble floor in supplication. "Please... please forgive me! Don’t hurt me!"

Curry tilted his head. He had not moved an inch — but something about the silence that followed made the very air bend with pressure. Kate was beside herself because he had come not through the door or window. He had just appeared there, and that had truly shaken her!

She had woken up one day, and she could remember everything that happened in the mansion. Kate was unsure of what had happened, but it all felt like a terrible dream. Most importantly, she had also seen the same broadcast of the sisters, and she knew how powerful those two were, so if they had been brought down like that, then who was she?

On one side, she was also very scared of this particular man, Ian’s assistant. He played a pivotal role in her bad dream. Kate wished with all of her heart that she had never remembered the events that had happened. She was happier in those times.

’Why did I even tell the sisters? What drove me to do such a stupid action?’ She wondered when Currey’s voice pierced her thoughts,

"You said it yourself," Currey finally murmured, voice smooth as a blade. He lifted a hand lazily — and with a faint hum of something unseen, a small, obsidian-black container materialized mid-air, hovering ominously.

Kate’s breath hitched. Her eyes widened. She began to shake her head frantically.

"No... no, please, I didn’t mean it—!"

But in the blink of an eye, he was no longer where he had been. He was in front of her.

She didn’t even have time to scream before his hand shot out like lightning. He yanked her head back with terrifying ease and uncorked the container. A glimmering, shadowy liquid — black with iridescent streaks — poured down her throat. She thrashed, tried to resist, but her limbs betrayed her. It was as if even her own body had bowed to his will.

She gurgled, coughed and clawed at her throat when he finally let her go, but nothing happened, and she could not bring out whatever she had been made to swallow.

And then, silence. Utter, cruel silence.

Kate opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She grasped her throat. Panic. Desperation. She turned to Currey, gesturing wildly.

But Currey merely leaned in close to her ear and whispered:

"I know you can still write. But the moment you try—with your hand, with your eyes, with your blood—you’ll lose that too. Just like your voice. You did opt for that, though... so I don’t count that as a punishment."

And with that, he vanished into a wisp of darkness.

The terror Kate felt was not the kind that made one faint — it was the kind that kept you awake for years, replaying that moment over and over.

Kate regretted her actions, but it was too late.

***

Molly didn’t have time to process anything further when she pushed the door open and met the three people that she was in no mood to see.

"Oh hey, Mum!" came a too-loud voice. "Why are so many people out there? Are we going to throw a party?"

It was the tallest of the three — all legs, no brain.

Right behind him stumbled his brothers, carrying fast food bags and milkshakes. "We brought food! Thought y’all might be starving from all that dramatic TV stuff. Crazy, right? You were on the news! Can we be famous too?"

Molly blinked once. Then twice.

"Did I hear a parrrttttyyyy! I love parties! When is it?"

"Do you idiots—" Moly began, her voice cracking under strain, "—have any idea what we’re going through?!"

One clad in a white polo shirt shrugged. "I mean, you lost the CEO thing, right? But it’s okay, I still think you’re the real winner in my heart, Mum."

"You brought fries and we’re going to have a party!" said the youngest of the three, grinning. "That’s what matters!"

Molly let out a strangled scream and hurled a vase beside her. It shattered just inches from their feet.

They froze.

"Do you know what it means to be disowned?" she screeched. "We are nothing! We have nothing! And you... YOU THREE are prancing in here like clowns at a funeral!"

"But like," one began cautiously, "does this mean we’re not getting our trust funds? I already started spending the one that was released last year, though...."

He said, genuinely puzzled.

That did it.

Before Molly could react again, footsteps echoed behind her.

A line of uniformed staff had gathered near the hallway — not just maids and butlers, but security too. Their eyes were cold, resolute.

"I’m sorry," the head of household staff who had been employed by Molly herself said, voice clipped. "We’ve been instructed to remove all unauthorized occupants from the premises. That includes the young masters."

"Unauthorized?!" one of the sons gasped. "But I live here! That’s my room upstairs with the neon lights and the rotating shoe rack!"

"I suggest you collect your belongings now," the guard cut in, stepping forward. "And quickly."

"But—"

"NOW."

The three brothers, thoroughly confused and whining in disbelief, were herded out — one clutching a burger, another examining his new designer wallet, and the last protesting about some nonsensical things.

Molly stood trembling, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails bit into her skin. The silence that followed was deafening. Sally came out right then, to hear....

".... And you too, madams!"

"WHAT!"

Molly had once commanded this house.... Only a few days ago, her words were the law. How did they get here? Because now, even the doorman wouldn’t make eye contact.

It took only half an hour for all their personal effects to be packed, and the family of five stepped out to face the multitude of flashes in the night light.

The media erupted in a roar, but it was just then that a person alighted from a car parked at the gates, temporarily taking the attention of the reporters.

*********

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