Genius Kids Scheme: Claiming Daddy’s Billionaire Empre
Chapter 142
Ethan frone’s voice softened ith concern. “What are you doing here?”
The boy shifted awkwardly, hand tight around the suitcase handle.
“Can 1… can I come in?” he asked, his voice barely audible.
looked smaller somehow, despite his recent growth spurt.
“Of course.” Irene stepped aside immediately, ushering him in. Come on, let’s get you inside.”
Ethan dragged his suitcase over the threshold, the wheels making a living room, she guided him to the couch, noticing how his shoulder down without a word, staring at his hands.
“Stay here,” she said gently. “I’ll be right back.”
ft rumbling sound against the hardwood floor. Once in the hunched forward as if carrying an invisible weight. He sat
In the kitchen, Irene filled a glass with warm water, her mind racing Ethan had always been the stable one–rational, even- tempered, responsible. For him to show up unannounced with a suitcase in tow meant something serious had happened.
When she returned, Ethan hadn’t moved an inch. She pressed the glass into comfort but giving him space to breathe.
“What happened?” she asked gently. “Is everything okay?”
his cold hands and sat beside him, close enough to offer
Now that they were in better light, she could see the faint redness around his eyes. He’d been crying. The realization sent a stab of protective anger through her chest.
Ethan stared down at the glass, his fingers slowly warming against its surface. The silence stretched between them, but Irene didn’t
rush him. She knew when to wait.
Finally, he spoke, his voice rough. “Sis, I want to quit school.”
Irene’s eyebrows shot up. “Quit? You’re in your senior year, Ethan. Graduation is just months away. What’s going on?”
He took a small sip of water, still avoiding her eyes.
“Please talk to me,” she prompted. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together.”
Ethan took a sip of water and winced like it hurt to swallow. “School says I faked recommendation letters for the Sterling scholarship.
“You?” Irene couldn’t hide her disbelief. “That makes zero sense.”
“Right? He looked up, eyes flashing. “I didn’t do it! But they dragged it to the ethics committee anyway.” He ran a hand through his already messy hair. “Guess who they called as the Sterling rep?”
“Anna,” Irene said flatly. Her gut twisted as pieces clicked into place.
“Bingo.” Ethan’s laugh came out hollow. “She should’ve stepped aside because, you know, we’re supposedly family. Instead she played the ‘impartial judge card.” His voice hardened. “Showed up at our house today, told Mom and Dad I’m basically trash with ‘no integrity‘ and blamed my ‘common background‘ for making me morally defective.”
Irene’s blood simmered, but she kept her expression steady.
“Called me a fraud trying to use the Sterling name to climb the social ladder.” His voice cracked, and he stared at the ceiling,
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blinking rapidly
Irene wordlessly pushed the tissue box closer. Ethan grabbed one, crumpling it in his fist without using it.
“Mom actually stood up for me at first,” he continued, picking at a lose thread on his feans. Said she knows her son wouldn’t pull that crap. Then Anna dropped the bomb about how this might damage Sterling family relations with us, and Mom folded like cheap
cardboard.
He squeezed the glass so hard frene worried it might shatter. “Dad n’t even pretend to have my back, just went straight to apologize and move on mode. Said I shouldn’t tank the family’s chances by being difficult. Each word came out sharper than the last. “I told them you were my real sister and you’d believe me?
A bitter laugh escaped him. “Anna loved that. She actually laughed my face and said, Irene’s big–time now. No way she’ll risk pissing off the school for a problem child like you.“”
Irene’s teeth ground together, jaw muscles jumping.
“Then Dad dropped the hammer–said he’d cut me off completely if didn’t play ball.” Ethan’s shoulders slumped. “My whole future for an apology I don’t owe. All so they can suck up to Anna and her precious Sterling connections.”
He finally looked up, eyes raw with hurt. “I grabbed my stuff and bolted. Couldn’t breathe in that house another second.”
Irene clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached. The picture couldn’t be clearer if Anna had signed her name to it. This wasn’t about some scholarship or recommendation letters–this was Anna using her Sterling connection to punish Ethan just because he was Irene’s brother. Pure revenge by proxy.
“You’re staying here,” she said, the kind of firm that doesn’t invite debate. “School, scholarship, all of it—I’ll fix it.”
The Sterlings meant zero to her now. She’d cut those ties clean. And the Claires‘ choices about Anna weren’t her business anymore. Ethan, though? Different story. This was the kid who’d grown up beside her, who’d looked up to her his whole life. Actual family, not just blood or paperwork.
No way in hell she’d let Anna weaponize the Sterling name against a sixteen–year–old kid just to get back at her.
Ethan grabbed her sleeve, suddenly looking about ten years old again. “I swear I didn’t fake anything, Sis.” His voice cracked, raw with need. “You believe me, right?”
Irene’s chest tightened. She reached out and messed up his hair, just like she used to when he was small. “Obviously I believe you,
dummy.”
This was Ethan–the kid who’d found forty bucks on the sidewalk when they were broke and insisted on turning it in to the police. The idea that he’d suddenly start forging documents was laughable.
The fact that, he sat here looking shattered, desperately needing someone–anyone–to believe him only proved what she already knew. Anna had deliberately targeted him to hurt her. A teenage boy entire future was just collateral damage in Anna’s revenge fantasy.
That’s it, Irene thought, something cold and hard settling in her chest. She’s gone too far on this after I warned her
“Let me get you settled in the guest room,” she said, standing up. “You look exhausted.”
In the guest room, she helped him unpack his hasty escape kit–mismatched socks, random t–shirts, one dress shoe paired with a sneaker, and textbooks but no notebooks.
“Crash for a while,” she said, squeezing his shoulder. “We’ll sort this mess out tomorrow.”
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ethan modded, dark circles under his eyes making him look older and younger all at once. He sank onto the bed like his bones had suddenly turned to water.
Irene slipped but and eased the door shut, then stood motionless in the halfway, breath coming in short, controlled bursts as fury pulsed through her veins
Time to make a stand, she thought, her hand closing around her phone. The Sterling name might open doors, but Anna was about to learn what would happen when she messed with frene’s family.
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