After that, she changed. Went quiet. Stopped coming to me. Stopped going to Noah and Jace too.
I don’t know what happened between the two of them, but whatever it was, it left their relationship worse than
mine and hers
Noah… well, Noah was always quiet. But he was the one said we owed it to Sylvie. That we were responsible for her, after what happened to Ary.
Kaia didn’t fight with us about Sylvie later. She just enrolled herself in boarding school.
When I asked her if it was because of Sylvie, she said no.
Said it was her stepping stone to the Ivy League.
I believed her.
Kaia barely stayed at the mansion after that–but her things remained.
With Sylvie’s condition worsened, she needed medical supervision, closer monitoring. And Kaia’s room was perfect–bright, spacious, close to ours.
So I proposed she give it up.
Kaia threw a tantrum. The biggest since her sixteenth birthday.
That fight almost severed everything between us. We didn’t speak for weeks. And when we did, it was like talking to someone I didn’t recognize.
3/7
5
+15 Bonus
But in the end, I never brought up moving Sylvie again. We swept the argument under the rug and pretended it hadn’t happened.
That was our pattern–deny, smooth over, move on.
Just before our trip to France, she proposed to let Sylvie have her old room. There was something in her eyes when she said yes—something too calm, too final. It almost looked like relief.
Strange.
“Asher?” Noah’s voice pulled me out of the thought. ” I’m catching a flight tonight.”
“I’m heading back, too,” I said. “Something came up at Renner–urgent.”
Jace shrugged. “Well, if everyone’s leaving, I’m not sticking around either.”
And just like that, all four of us booked return flights for that night.
Back at the Renner office, I sat behind my desk and considered giving Kaia a call. Just a check–in. Maybe an update on the Cuba lab–she’d been there as long as we’d been in France, and I hadn’t heard a single word from her.
The call went straight to voicemail.
I tried her personal line. Nothing.
I buzzed my assistant. “Have you heard from Kaia? Any updates on the Cuba lab?”
+15 Bonus
He blinked. “Cuba Lab? Mr. Renner, that lab was shut
down over a month ago. The closure report should be on your desk.”
I froze. “Shut down?”
Where the hell was Kaia, then?
I called Jace. He picked up, the usual noise of Sylvie’s laughter in the background.
“Can you try calling Kaia?” I asked. “She’s not answering
me.”
Sylvie piped in. “Kaia? She’s probably buried in some lab work again. Isn’t that her thing? Disappearing into her own little world?”
Jace chuckled. “She’s always been that way.”
Their words grated. Especially Sylvie’s. Her tone was too light. Too dismissive.
Something in me snapped. “You could at least pretend to care,” I said coldly. “She’s our sister.”
There was a beat of silence. Then Sylvie’s voice, soft and shaking. “Did I do something wrong, Asher…?”
“She didn’t mean anything by it,” Jace jumped in, defensive. “What’s going on with you tonight? Scolding Sylvie over Kaia?”
I didn’t answer. Just hung up.
But the unease didn’t lift. It only got heavier.
I called Noah. He hadn’t heard from her either.
5/7
+15 Bonus
Where are you, Kaia? Are you too busy to answer us?
When I got back to the Renner mansion, the living room lights were still on. Sylvie sat curled up on the couch, watching TV like nothing was wrong.
“It’s late,” I said. “You should sleep.”
Same words I always used. But this time, the tone was different. We both heard it.
“Did I… upset you?” she asked, blinking at me like I was a stranger.
I didn’t know how to describe what I was feeling now. It was something between regret and guilt. Like I’d spent the last few years focused on making sure Sylvie felt like family–only to forget the sister who actually was.
I’m just tired,” I muttered and turned away.
My room was still next to Kaia’s. Out of habit, I walked past her door and stopped.
I pushed the door open, and the room was empty. Completely empty.
Even the little princess dress I once mocked her for- gone. It looked like no one had ever lived there.
She really packed everything and meant it when she offered Sylvie to take her room.
A wave of something cold and nauseating surged through
- me.
Panic. And I don’t panic. But I was now.
Looking at this empty room, I felt like I have lost everything connected to Kaia.
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