Not A Small-Town Girl

----

Audrey, feeling even more wronged,

could hardly fiide her

embarrassment. She glanced at the_

several brothers around her, hopidg

one of them might say something to

eased tension, but it was like they

hadn’t received the memo. ey just

stood there, as if nothing.was

happening at all.

“Xavier, don’t say things like that," Audrey said, her

voice tight with emotion. "We grew up together, you

know how much my brothers love and spoil me. | was

just anxious, that’s all."

----

She glanced meaningfully at Danielle, but Danielle

didn’t even look up from her phone. It felt like hitting a

wall.

Joseph’s face darkened at Audrey’s words, his eyes

flicking to Danielle, before glaring at Audrey.

At that moment, Audrey’s assistant stepped forward,

trying to defend her. "How can you treat your own

sister like this? Audrey came straight from shooting

her night scenes, barely had time to rest, and rushed

over here. Why are you being so harsh with her?"

The assistant’s words were sharp, and the room fell

into a tense silence. The Darling brothers’ expressions

hardened at the audacity of the assistant’s defense.

----

Danielle fina

and glanced

ly put her phone down

at Audrey, her

expressionold. "Audrey, if you’re ~

really here to check on Xavier, ther’

stay quietly

ora while. If you ‘rejust

here tomake a scene, you can‘éave.

Do you even

regm? Stop

know this is a KOspital

crying and actirig like

this isn’t ap

ace for others to see."

----

Audrey’s eyes flashed with fury. ‘Finally showing your

true colors, huh? Trying to rally the brothers against

me, aren’t you? This little schemer, she’s getting more

and more unbearable.’

But deep down, Audrey didn’t mind that Danielle was

being cold to her—she actually wanted it. If Danielle

kept antagonizing her, the brothers would see who the

real troublemaker was.

“| was just concerned about Xavier. I’m also your

sister, how can you stop me from seeing him? You’re

so selfish! You never want me around at home, and

now you’re stopping me here too. What do you want

me to do? You’re so unreasonable!"

----

Her eyes were red-rimmed, her voice quivering, and if

one didn’t know the truth, it would seem like Danielle

was the one being oppressive.

“Audrey, stop twisting Danielle’s words. If she were

really as selfish and domineering as you say, she

would have been out of this family the moment she

returned,” Austin replied, his tone firm. He knew

exactly what Audrey was doing.

“Audrey, you’re really something. Always acting like

we owe you something. Let’s be honest—f it wasn’t

for the Darling family adopting you, where would you

be now? We’ve given you everything.

“How many rich daughters have a life like yours?

Anything you want, you get. Meanwhile, everything

that was meant for Danielle was stolen from her. If she

hadn’t been lost, our parents would never have

adopted anyone else. But we did, and we gave you

everything we could.

----

“But you still can’t stop being jealous of her. You’re

upset because Danielle’s back and now you think we

don’t need you anymore. This isn’t about her—it’s

about your lack of gratitude."

Xavier’s chest heaved with anger, his body tensing, as

he listened to the conversation. He had wanted to say

these things for a long time, but never had the chance

until now. No one, not even Audrey, was going to bully

Danielle anymore.

The room fell silent, with everyone

reflecting onSavier’ s words. The

Darling facaity had always rallied oS

behind ielle, but no one had ever

stoo for her like that. Danielle,

nova the one to protect theth, had

never known what it was like to have

s6meone speak up for her.

----

But Audrey, in her own twisted way, thought, "So this

is how it is now? They think I’m in the way? Well, |

won’t go down without a fight. Just because they

found their biological daughter doesn’t mean they can

cast me aside. | won’t let them."