Page 62 of What Goes Around

Mom shifted uncomfortably, already trying to smooth the moment back into something manageable.

“Ashley… Apple probably got dizzy from skipping dinner. It wasn’t intentional. We were wrong. We’re sorry for accusing you.”

Dad’s shoulders sagged under the weight of his guilt.

He turned back to me, voice low. “Ashley… I’m sorry. That slap… I shouldn’t have…”

He took out his wallet. “Here. Take this.”

He pressed a stack of cash into my hand.

“Buy yourself something.”

Convenient.

How quickly their moral outrage dissolved when the blame shifted.

I didn’t bother replying. I simply took the money.

In the middle of the night, when the house was already quiet, the screaming began.

“Daddy! Daddy, save me!” Apple wailed.

Mom rushed into her room.

Dad followed.

I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to the familiar chaos unfold. The hushed voices. The soft reassurances. The careful, endless soothing.

It was always the same.

Apple’s nightmares always came when the world didn’t bend far enough in her favor.

In my last life, those screams terrified me. They dragged up the guilt I tried so hard to bury… guilt over the past, over the reason she had those nightmares where she begged Daddy to save her.

But now?

Now I felt nothing at all.

Chapter 18: Not Her Daughter

The DNA results arrived on a Thursday afternoon. A simple email notification.

Subject: Your DNA Results Are Ready.

I stared at it for a full minute, frozen, thumb hovering, mind blank, before I finally opened it.

Four test panels against a white background.

Four different tests.

Four answers I couldn’t take back.

Test 1 — Apple Richards ↔ Brandon Richards

Probability: 99.996% — Inclusion

Test 2 — Apple Richards ↔ Marissa Richards