I Have Five Kick-Ass Brothers – Episode 09
Silence held the food stand for a long moment after Coco’s attack. Then Mrs. Lincoln stepped between the two young women with a steadiness that made even Joshua remain still. She had endured Coco’s rejection in private, but she would not allow the daughter she raised to publicly torment the daughter she had finally found.
“You are not welcome here,” Mrs. Lincoln said. “Leave.” Her voice carried no shout, only finality. Raina instinctively reached for her mother’s hand, feeling the tremor hidden beneath that composure.
Coco laughed as if the order amused her. “A few days ago, you were still calling yourself my mother.” The reminder struck where she intended. Mrs. Lincoln had loved Coco through fevers, school troubles, and every ordinary day between. Biology had not erased that love; Coco’s choices were slowly poisoning it.
“I did not throw you away,” Mrs. Lincoln replied. “You left the moment you learned the Smiths had more money. You did not ask whether your father and I were hurt. You did not even look back.” Years of swallowed disappointment sharpened every word. She had kept Coco’s room untouched after the girl left, foolishly expecting a call that never came.
Coco’s face twisted. “Why would I look back at this pathetic family? I spent my whole life suffering while Raina enjoyed what belonged to me.” She swept a hand toward the stall, the workers, and the house beyond them as though modest living were a moral failure. Several customers who had grown up with far less bristled at the contempt. Raina felt embarrassed for Coco, but Mrs. Lincoln looked wounded in a way no stranger’s insult could have caused.
Pain flickered across Mrs. Lincoln’s face, but anger quickly replaced it. She and her husband had given Coco every affection they possessed, along with luxuries their disguise now concealed. Coco remembered only what she imagined she had missed.
“For all I know, you switched us deliberately,” Coco continued. “Maybe you sent Raina to the Smiths so your real daughter could have a better life.” The accusation shocked the crowd. Mrs. Lincoln went pale, then trembled with outrage.
“How dare you?” she whispered. “How could the child I raised become so cruel?” The question carried grief deeper than fury. Raina tightened her hold on her mother’s hand, anchoring her before the pain could break through.
“It’s all right, Mom,” Raina said. One word accomplished what argument could not. Mrs. Lincoln looked at her biological daughter and breathed, steadied by the trust Coco had discarded. Raina did not know every wound between them, yet she understood that defending her mother mattered more than winning a public quarrel.
Raina faced Coco without raising her voice. “You have your family and the life you wanted. Stop coming here to punish me for something neither of us chose. Please leave us alone.” The dignity of the request made Coco’s performance look uglier.
“Coco?” Theo’s voice drew every eye. She turned instantly, arrogance melting into sweetness as she hurried toward him. The speed of the transformation confirmed the calculation he had sensed at the Smith mansion.
“Theo, I didn’t know you were here,” she said. A handsome young man named Asher stood among her companions, close enough to suggest an intimacy she quickly tried to explain away. Theo observed the panic in her face without jealousy.
“I thought we were discussing marriage,” Theo said, glancing at Asher. Coco insisted they were only friends and reached toward him. He stepped out of range, his expression colder than she had ever seen.
“Your relationship with Asher is none of my concern,” he replied. The detachment frightened her more than anger would have. A jealous man might still care; Theo sounded as if their possible engagement had already become irrelevant.
He left without another word. Coco called after him, but the sedan door closed and the car pulled away. Humiliation burned through her, and she turned on Raina because blaming her was easier than confronting the lies collapsing around her. Around them, murmurs spread through the crowd, stripping Coco of the audience she had expected to control.
“This is your fault,” Coco cried. “If I lose Theo, the Smiths could lose everything tied to the Jones partnership.” Her complaint revealed that the relationship meant status and business, not affection. She stormed away with Asher following awkwardly behind.
Inside the moving car, Theo replayed the confrontation. Raina’s kindness to the workers, her loyalty to the Lincolns, and her history as the Smith daughter aligned too perfectly with his memories. Coco’s willingness to accept stolen gratitude now seemed less like confusion and more like fraud. If she had knowingly taken credit for saving him, any marriage discussion between them had been founded on deliberate deception.
“Back to the office,” he ordered. His assistant heard the urgency and opened a tablet at once. Theo wanted hospital records, school histories, photographs, and every available detail from Raina’s childhood. He also demanded the original dates from the accident be checked against both girls’ addresses, refusing to let another careless assumption distort the search.
“Who are we investigating?” the assistant asked, though Theo’s attention at the food stand had made the answer obvious. Theo looked back through the rear window until the site disappeared from view.
“Raina, Noah Lincoln’s sister,” he said. “I want the complete report within two hours.” Somewhere in the records lay the final proof of who had saved him—and Theo intended to uncover it before Coco realized how close he was.