Her big brothers

Chapter 68: unravelled

"Don't you think we'll keep you safe here?"

I bite my lip, starting to believe that everything that Daisy told me was a huge lie.
"Well?" He asks softly, after a minute of silence.

I shuffle off of his lap. "I thought you didn't want me," I admit. "I was scared that if aunt and uncle kept asking to take me back, you actually would send me," I explain, realising how stupid my worries sounded.

"Why would you think that? Girly, no matter what they do, you're stuck with us. There's nothing in this world that they could do to have you go back. You don't need to worry about them at all," He told me softly. "But you didn't answer my question, why are you suddenly worried? Why wouldn't we want you?"

"It's nothing," I mumble, fiddling with my nails.
He takes my chin and turns my head gently to face him. "Please Emma, I need to know what's wrong, so I can help. Did we do something? Did Cole say something?"

I shake my head. "No, it wasn't any of you.."
He raised a brow, silently telling me to continue.

I look down. "Well me and Cole were going through our old pictures today, the ones we took when Mom and me came here."
"Mhm,"

"And I posted one on Instagram, the one where we're all at the beach," I say, whipping out my phone to show him. He smiles. "I remember this day,"

I smile back, before frowning. I continued telling him what happened in detail, as he patiently listened, his expression becoming more and more unpleasant.

"It sounds like Aunt and Uncle set her up to this, my girl," he says, once I told him about how she decided to call me. I nod. "Maybe,"

"But did you genuinely believe her when she said we didn't love you?" He asks me, sounding upset, making me feel guilty.

"I didn't at first... until she told me the next part,"

"Which was?" He asked, not sounding eager to hear what she said.

"She told me that Mom had an affair, and I was the result of it. She said that's why mom only took me... because dad didn't want me," I say sadly.

"What? Emma, that's a total lie." Alex says, lifting my chin. "Is that why you thought we didn't want you?"

I sniff, tears springing to my eyes. "Then she said that Dad and all of you hated me too because I'm the reason Mom left!"

His expression softened, and he pulled me in for a hug. "Daisy's spouting nonsense, okay?"
"Are you sure?" I ask, my voice wobbling.

He gently pulls me off of him and puts his hands on my shoulders. "Mom and Dad never had an affair, You aren't the reason they got divorced, and none of us ever hated you. We hated the fact that Mom took you away from us, though. We missed you like crazy, it always felt like our family had a giant gaping hole in it. Our parents decided to get a divorce, it was not about any of us at all. You hear me?" He says firmly. I nod, truly believing him.

"Is there anything else she said?" He asked.
I think for a moment. "Yeah. She said that you guys never fought for me. She says you never wanted me in the first place."

He looks mad. "I'm so sorry that she said all this to you, Emma. It's our aunt and uncle behind this, trying to convince you to come back."

I nod. "It sounded like that. But why do they even want me back so badly? I wasn't the nicest kid..." I trail off.

He chuckles and ruffles my hair. "I'll tell you when you're older, okay?"
I groan. "Come on Alex, pleaseee?"

He shakes his head, adamant. "No. I won't change my mind about this either." He says firmly.
"Fine," I mumble, not wanting to get into any more trouble.
He smiles and kisses my forehead. "Can you promise me one thing?"