I Have Five Kick-Ass Brothers – Episode 03
The moment Raina stepped inside, Mrs. Lincoln’s restraint shattered. She pulled the young woman into a fierce embrace, tears spilling freely as she called over her shoulder, “Our daughter is home. Why are you standing there? Help her with the suitcase!” The sudden warmth caught Raina unprepared, and for several precious seconds she simply stood within it, remembering what it felt like to be wanted.
Mr. Lincoln hurried forward, flustered enough to bump the narrow entry table. His awkward smile was nothing like Mr. Smith’s practiced composure, but there was a sincerity in it that eased the knot in Raina’s chest. “Come in, come in. You must be exhausted,” he said, taking her suitcase as though carrying it were an honor.
Even so, Raina noticed the glance her parents exchanged when they thought she was not looking. It carried warning as well as hope. Their home seemed modest, yet their movements held a polish that did not match the worn furniture. She dismissed the inconsistency as nerves; after everything that had happened, suspicion felt like one burden too many.
The Lincolns had reason to be careful. They had raised Coco with devotion, saving every celebration and forgiving every sharp word, only to watch her leave the instant she learned the Smiths might offer greater comfort. Coco had treated their love like a temporary inconvenience. The memory made them terrified that their biological daughter might measure family by the same cruel scale.
Before Raina arrived, Mr. Lincoln had asked everyone to hide the family fortune. Lincoln Group’s name opened doors across the world, and each of their five sons had built an extraordinary reputation, but none of it would be mentioned tonight. They would appear ordinary until Raina proved she wanted people rather than privilege.
Mrs. Lincoln guided her to the dining table, where a simple meal had been arranged with nervous care. Raina took in the mismatched chairs and faded tablecloth. Compared with the Smith mansion, the room was cramped, yet the scent of home cooking and the anxious kindness in her parents’ faces gave it a warmth the mansion had lacked that evening.
“Did the Smiths treat you well?” Mrs. Lincoln asked as she covered Raina’s hand with both of hers. Guilt trembled beneath the question. “I’m sorry it took us so long to find you. If we had known—” Her voice broke before she could finish.
Raina thought of birthdays filled with gifts and affection, then of the silence that had sent her away. The truth was too complicated for a single answer. “There were good years,” she said carefully. “But tonight they chose Coco. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life begging anyone to choose me.”
Her father’s jaw tightened, and for a heartbeat the supposedly poor man carried the unmistakable authority of someone accustomed to commanding rooms. “You should never have been made to beg,” he said. Then he softened his tone and looked down, as though remembering the humble role he had promised to play.
Raina squeezed her mother’s fingers. “The past is the past. I’m a Lincoln now, if you’ll have me.” She tried to smile despite the ache behind her eyes. “That’s what matters to me.”
Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln stared at her, both shaken by how readily she offered what Coco had withheld. They had expected questions about property, status, or what compensation she might receive. Raina asked for none of those things. She wanted permission to belong.
“Life here may be difficult,” Mr. Lincoln warned, following the plan despite the shame it stirred in him. “We aren’t like the Smiths. If you decide you want to return to their comfort, we won’t stop you.” It was a test, but the prospect of her accepting the escape made his stomach twist.
“No.” Raina answered so quickly that both parents blinked. “I made my choice when I walked out of that mansion alone. They have Coco now, and I hope they make her happy. I came here because you’re my family, not because of what you can give me.”
Mrs. Lincoln turned her face away, unable to hide fresh tears. The word family had never sounded so precious. Mr. Lincoln placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder, and the secret they shared began to feel less like protection and more like a betrayal of the daughter trusting them.
Raina misread their emotion as worry over money. She surveyed the humble room and began assembling a practical future in her mind. She had education, energy, and two capable hands. Luxury had been taken from her, but those things remained.
“I’ll find a job,” she promised. “Maybe more than one, until we’re stable. You won’t have to support me; I can help support all of us.” Her smile grew with the plan. “A family of three can manage if everyone works together.”
Silence fell, followed by a strangled sound from the hallway that might have been laughter. Raina glanced toward it, but Mr. Lincoln coughed loudly to cover the noise. Mrs. Lincoln’s eyes widened at her husband, torn between amusement and alarm.
“Actually,” her father began, rubbing the back of his neck, “there is one detail we may have forgotten to mention.” Raina’s hopeful expression faltered. She had survived being disowned and crossing the city with one suitcase; she wondered what else the night could possibly demand of her.
Mrs. Lincoln managed a watery smile. “We aren’t a family of three, sweetheart.” When Raina asked how many mouths she had just volunteered to feed, her parents answered together. “Eight.”
Five doors opened deeper in the house, and heavy footsteps approached from several directions. Raina rose slowly as tall shadows stretched across the hallway floor. She had just promised to support two struggling parents, but the men coming to meet her revealed a far more daunting truth: she had five older brothers, and not one of them seemed ordinary.