Dear Brother You Picked the Wrong Sister to Betray novel Chapter 64

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Watching me head for the door looking defeated, Damon suddenly called out.

I didn’t turn around: “Need something else?”

“…I’ll Venmo you for the baking stuff.”

In the elevator, I scrolled through our text history.

Pretty pathetic–I’d sent him 5,363 messages over the years.

He’d replied to exactly 25.

Back upstairs, Damon got the notification that his $500 Venmo had been declined.

His jaw clenched.

That night around 8, he called me.

“Rey, where are you?”

I was grabbing dinner at this little ramen place. Instead of answering: “What’s up?”

His tone was actually soft: “Nothing major. Just wanted to say the cake turned out amazing, as usual.”

Then quietly: “Really appreciate all the effort you put in.”

Before I could respond, Sage’s voice came through: “Reyna! Damon told me you made my birthday cake yourself! OMG you’re like, so talented!

I’m such a disaster in the kitchen–he’s always teasing me about burning Easy Mac.”

Right after Sage invited me to swing by her party, Damon cut back in: “Don’t worry about coming by.”

Then he hung up.

But minutes later, he texted me a location pin: [if u do come, grab some hot cheetos from 7–eleven for sage]

Thirty minutes later, when I pushed open the private dining room door, Damon was feeding Sage cake.

Seeing me walk in, his eyes filled with annoyance.

I knew the location and text had come from Sage.

But I’d come anyway,

When Sage sweetly welcomed me, Damon shot me a death glare:

“Didn’t I tell you not to come?”

“Sorry Damon! I was craving those chips so bad, I kinda tricked Reyna into coming.”

Watching Sage pout all cute and guilty, Damon affectionately ruffled her hair and called her his “little snack monster,”

Seeing he was in a decent mood, I immediately pulled out my resignation letter.

“Mr. Reed, one of our colleagues has a family emergency and needs to leave ASAP. Could you approve this?”

Chapter 3

Normally, HR would handle resignation paperwork.

But after seeing my name on it, the HR director had bounced it straight back to me.

The room was dimly lit, and Damon was too busy flirting with Sage to actually read the name on the form. He just signed it like I’d hoped.

But when I reached for the paper, he suddenly pressed his hand over mine.

Looking thoughtful, he asked: “Reyna, you came all the way here just for this?”

When I nodded, Damon’s expression darkened.

Less than two seconds later, he jerked his hand away like he’d been shocked.

Probably felt the blisters I’d gotten from making that stupid cake.

Must’ve grossed him out.

Just then, Sage noticed something interesting and said to me:

“Reyna, that red bracelet on your wrist looks super familiar!”

“Oh wait, I remember now–I saw the exact same one in my trash can a few days ago.”

Pretending not to notice Damon covering his wrist, I replied calmly:

“These bracelets are pretty common. If you like it, I can give you mine.”

Sage didn’t want it.

The moment I left the private room, I found a trash can and threw away the red cord bracelet I’d worn for seven years.

While waiting for the elevator, Mom called.

She asked if I’d booked my train ticket home yet.

I said: “I’ll book it in a few days.”

Right after I said that, I heard Damon’s confused voice behind me:

“What are you booking?”

After hanging up, I lied smoothly: “There’s this really popular restaurant that requires advance reservations.”

Damon didn’t say anything else about it.

He just pulled me to a nearby hotel and got us a suite.

Then pulled out his laptop to handle some urgent business.

We both worked in comfortable silence until dawn. While waiting for feedback from overseas clients, I couldn’t stay awake anymore and dozed

off.

When I woke up the next day, I was lying in bed.

Damon was propped up against the headboard reading the Wall Street Journal.

Seeing me wake up, he had room service bring breakfast.

Quietly and smoothly.

38.6%

Chapter 3

Halfway through eating, he suddenly asked why I’d changed my phone passcode.

“Felt like changing it.”

The old passcode had been our birthdays combined.

Since I’d decided to leave, obviously I couldn’t keep using it forever.

Damon set down his knife and fork.

“Reyna, didn’t you always bug me about going to movies together? There’s a theater right nearby.”

When the boss plays hooky, employees don’t get to say no.

Sitting in a quiet, nearly empty theater, cuddling with my boyfriend over a bucket of popcorn while watching a comedy.

This sweet scene I’d fantasized about so many times was finally happening perfectly.

And I couldn’t have cared less. I kept yawning.

Noticing how spaced out I was, Damon frowned: “You picked this movie. What’s wrong? Don’t like it?”

“No, it’s great.”

Hearing how halfhearted I sounded, he pressed his lips together like he wanted to say something. Just then, his phone buzzed.

Without a word, he got up and walked out.

He never came back, even after the credits rolled.

I was about to call him when I heard a familiar sweet voice nearby.

“Damon you’re seriously the most amazing guy ever!”

I saw Sage clutching a huge stuffed animal, laughing excitedly as she jumped into Damon’s arms and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Damon held her thighs steady, the smile in his eyes instantly disappearing when he spotted me.

“Oh Reyna! I didn’t know you were here too.”

Sage looked genuinely surprised to see me. A few seconds later, she let out an embarrassed squeal, covering her face as she climbed down from

Damon:

“Please don’t get the wrong idea! I was just so excited that I…”

Damon gently booped Sage’s nose and told her in that indulgent tone that she had nothing to apologize for.

Then he looked at me like nothing had happened: “Movie over already?”

Before I could answer, the mall’s fire alarm started blaring.

People scattered in panic.

Before I could even react, Damon had already grabbed Sage’s hand and was protecting her as they ran toward the emergency exit.

Five minutes later, the false alarm was shut off.

Damon finally came back to where we’d been.

He looked around for a long time but couldn’t find me anywhere.

38.7%

Chapter 3

Two hours later, after finishing my exit paperwork, I showed up at Union Station with my suitcase.

While waiting to board, my phone kept buzzing nonstop.

The caller ID showed Damon.

I didn’t feel like answering, so I just put it on silent.

Right before boarding the train, I sent Damon a text:

[We’re done]

After sending it, I pulled out my SIM card and tossed it in the trash.

I got to my hometown station close to midnight.

The second I walked out of the gate, I saw Dad waiting for me.

Getting into his car, I noticed a whole bag of my favorite snacks and yogurt drinks in the passenger seat.

Before driving off, Dad cheerfully stuck a straw in one of the yogurts and handed it to me.

Seeing the gray at Dad’s temples, I finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into tears.

“Dad, now that I’m back, I’m never leaving again. I want to stay with you and Mom forever.”

“Silly girl, whether you stay with us or not, you’ll always be our precious Reyna.”

Dad could tell I was really upset, but since I didn’t volunteer to talk about it, he didn’t ask.

Got home, showered, ate Mom and Dad’s home cooking.

At 10 PM I was lying in bed, about to open Spotify for some chill music to help me sleep.

But I noticed several DMs instead.

They were from my closest female colleague at work.

She was shocked that I’d quit so suddenly and genuinely asked:

Did something happen?

Was there anything she could help with?

Just as I was figuring out how to respond, she sent me a video.

[Rey, this video of Mr. Reed and Sage is going viral in all our work group chats…]