\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
My family was\u2026 off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mason was Dad\u2019s son. Chloe was Mom\u2019s daughter. After that, they had me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019d both been married before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s first wife got sick. She killed herself so she wouldn\u2019t be a burden to anyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s first husband died in a car accident. He\u2019d been hauling freight in the rain, trying to give his family a\u00a0<\/p>\n
better life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They died saints. Frozen in time as the perfect spouses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My parents didn\u2019t marry out of love. They married so their kids could have a \u201cnormal\u201d family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was a framed motto hung on our living room wall: [LOVE THEM LIKE YOUR OWN.]\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom and Dad poured everything into each other\u2019s kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you buy my daughter a new dress today, I\u2019ll buy your son a new pair of shoes tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll treat your kid exactly as well as you treat mine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They kept score. Everything had to eve\u00a0<\/p>\n
Auto-added to the Library\u00a0<\/p>\n
At first, they didn\u2019t plan on having more kids. But as Mason and Chloe grew up, they started doing what they wanted. They weren\u2019t scared of their actual parents. They kept pushing and pushing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Mom disciplined Mason and Dad disciplined Chloe, they might listen, for a minute. But being a stepparent was hard. They were afraid to be too harsh. People would say they were abusive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t be too hard on my stepchild, but I can discipline my own kid however I want.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was the point of having me. Even my name was an afterthought. Lily Bennett. Simple. Generic. A blank\u00a0<\/p>\n
slate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was plain. They didn\u2019t put much thought into it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was the third wheel, wedged between my brother and sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They gave me a little attention, but not much. They were used to loving Mason and Chloe first. There wasn\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
much left over for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But if Mason or Chloe did something wrong, I was the one who got punished. The louder I screamed, the\u00a0<\/p>\n
longer Mason and Chloe fell in line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom said she was making an example out of me to keep them in line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
33.33%\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I was just a kid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom carried the dishes to the table, but Mason\u2019s hands were shaking so badly he could hardly grip his fork.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He must\u2019ve told Chloe what happened. She sat as far from Mom as she could, trembling. They were both\u00a0<\/p>\n
scared stiff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom didn\u2019t see it that way at all. She thought her \u201cmethod\u201d was working. The two of them were finally\u00a0<\/p>\n
behaving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She heaped their plates high with their favorites.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before, Mason would have thrown a tantrum and refused to eat anything Mom served, forcing her to beg him\u00a0<\/p>\n
to take a bite.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This time, Mason ate everything Mom put in front of him in silence. He didn\u2019t even hesitate over the\u00a0<\/p>\n
vegetables he hated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom and Dad exchanged a look, pleased with themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I heard Mom murmur to Dad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019d known sending Lily away would make them listen, I would\u2019ve done it years ago.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dad nodded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood off to the side, staring blankly at the food on the table. Their words didn\u2019t reach me anymore. I was dead already.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every time we sat down to eat, I wasn\u2019t allowed to eat the dishes Mason and Chloe loved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t about the food running out. It was about the principle. If I touched their favorites, I was stealing from the \u2018real\u2019 children. I was disrupting the perfect balance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So I could only pick at whatever they didn\u2019t like.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now it didn\u2019t matter. Mom and Dad didn\u2019t have to worry about Mason and Chloe\u2019s portions being uneven.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d seen it too many times. It hurt to look at. I couldn\u2019t take it anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I drifted back to look at my body.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The blood had dried into a dark, rusty crust. The room was pitch-black. I didn\u2019t know when anyone would find\u00a0<\/p>\n
I drifted for a while before I went home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I got there, I found my brother and sister crying and begging Mom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, we\u2019ll be good. Can you bring Lily back? Please?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
33.33%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mason took out his piggy bank and handed it to Mom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, I\u2019ll give you all the money I saved. Even my birthday money\u2019s in there. Is this enough to get that\u00a0<\/p>\n
woman to bring Lily back?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mason looked at Mom, hopeful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
33.33%<\/p>\n
Cedella is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a flair for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cedella\u2019s storytelling style is immersive and addictive\u2014perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.<\/p>\n
Mom, I don\u2019t want to be stuck in the middle anymore by Mark Twain 3 \u00a0 Chapter 3\u00a0 My family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sweet-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}