Chapter 18

Aubree hadn’t been home for a week. The house stayed just as quiet as ever. Only Bryan and Emery had gone to the school twice, trying to raise hell. At home, as long as Carmen was around, no one even mentioned Aubree’s name. Emery never thought the reason Bryan finally decided to go get Aubree back was to have her ghostwrite Carmen’s work.

When Bryan found out from his assistant that Aubree hadn’t reached out to him once, his first reaction wasn’t concern. He wasn’t worried something might’ve happened to her. No, he was pissed. How dare she?

Luckily, the police had shared some information. In the surveillance footage, Aubree could be seen heading to a park after being kicked out of the village housing. Late at night, a Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the park for a while. After that, Aubree was always seen coming and going from school in a "tunery" car. In the last bit of the footage, Aubree first went to Forth Bay.

Forth Bay was a private residential area, easy to recognize. Aubree had barely gone in when a man showed up and took her to one of the riverside villas.

“The police gave me the exact address of that villa,” Emery said, looking at the info on his phone. He couldn’t stop Bryan, so the only thing he could do now was protect Aubree as much as he could when she came back.

If Aubree knew what Emery was thinking right now, she’d probably laugh out loud. After leaving the Wilsons’ so-called protection, she realized—life outside was wide open and full of light.

Carmen was watching the surveillance footage on her phone, hesitating. She tugged gently at Bryan’s sleeve. “Bryan, do you think Aubree would do something stupid?”

Just one sentence and Bryan’s face changed instantly. He muttered, “How can I forget that?”

“I assume Aubree’s becoming rebellious, but the surveillance suggests she might be seeking favor with a wealthy man.”

Emery turned pale. It wasn’t that he thought Aubree was shameful or anything, it was the idea that this might’ve all been forced on her. That thought hurt so much Emery couldn’t breathe. It was his fault. He hadn’t been a good brother.

Up on the third floor training room of GOD’s Fury, Aubree had already wiped the floor with everyone except their support. Even the coach didn’t escape.

Hector watched in awe. He asked, “Captain, between you and Phoenix, who’s stronger?”

Alvin said, “Why don’t you guess why she’s even here?”

Hector scratched his head with a sheepish grin. He almost forgot about Alvin’s strict recruitment standards. From the looks of it, not only had he lost to Phoenix—he’d probably lost more than once.

Aubree was busy dominating the game and had no idea the Wilsons were three seconds away from showing up at the base.

"Looked into it. That villa’s under Alvin’s name. He bought it a year ago and turned it into the team’s training base,” Bryan said, his face dark.

Bryan thought, “A girl in an esports team base? Seriously? With a bunch of guys? Who knows what shady stuff she’s up to here?”

Hearing this, Carmen gasped and covered her mouth. “So… she’s been living here all this time? With a bunch of boys! That doesn’t seem great.”

As if Carmen had said what he was already thinking, Bryan’s face turned even darker.

“Aubree is not like that,” Emery cut in.

It was the first time anyone had snapped at Carmen like that. Her smile froze, and she put on a hurt look. “I’m sorry.”

But Emery couldn’t care less. His mind was completely on Aubree. He didn’t even look at Carmen and went straight to knock on the door.

Carmen had never been treated like that before. She was too stunned to even react. Inside, rage bubbled up. Carmen muttered, “Aubree! How are you still standing after everything!”

Bryan patted Carmen’s head. “I’ll take care of it.”

Carmen looked up at him, smiling innocently. “Thanks, Bryan.”

When the three of them were let in by the housekeeper in charge of the team’s daily needs, they saw a bunch of teens crowding around Aubree as they walked down from the third floor. The guys were all talking over each other, asking how Aubree pulled off those moves in the game.

“Aubree!” Bryan snapped, the whole scene setting him off. “Isn’t she supposed to be at home, begging me to let her come back?” he thought.

“What are you doing?” Bryan said coldly.

Aubree was surprised to see the three of them, then frowned. “Mr. Wilson, what I do has nothing to do with you.”

Her tone made Bryan instantly furious. He snapped, “Is this how you talk to your brother?”

“Brother? You think you deserve that title?” Aubree spat. “I haven’t even bothered you guys. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Seriously, how do they even find me here?” Aubree was beyond annoyed. “If I’ve a choice, I’ll never lay eyes on anyone from the Wilson family again!”

Bryan nearly raised his hand again. “So all that time we raised you, taught you, that was all for nothing!”

“Raised me? I grew up without a dad or a mom. Then when I finally had them, they might as well have been dead. What kind of raising do you think that was?” Aubree shot back.

Aubree added, “If you came here to give me a lecture, you can get lost. I don’t have time to listen to a dog barking.”

“She called us dogs?” Bryan was stunned.

Meanwhile, Emery’s heart twisted. “Aubree used to be so well-behaved.”

Bryan clenched his teeth, trying to keep calm. “Forget all the stuff you did before. I’m willing to let it go. Come home.”

Aubree thought, "Let it go?" She laughed. “Oh wow, I’m supposed to be grateful now?”

Aubree’s gaze landed on Carmen, and her smile grew colder. At this point, she pretty much knew why these three had shown up.

That was her family. GOD’s Fury might’ve stayed quiet this whole time, but every single pair of eyes was locked onto the Wilsons.

Esports worked like this. After just a few rounds, they already respected Aubree. They weren’t gonna just stand by and let something happen to her. Especially not when Phoenix hadn’t even graduated high school yet. She was the youngest one on the team. It was only natural they’d protect her.

Hector, who had been walking in front, shifted slightly to the side—just enough to shield Aubree a bit.

Carmen suddenly felt uncomfortable under Aubree’s stare. She had the creepy sense that Aubree could see right through her.

“You’re getting kicked out, huh? So now you’re in a rush to find someone to cover for you?” Aubree said with a mean little smile.

How does she know? Carmen was frozen in shock. “How the hell does she know I’m about to get kicked out of Phot?”

Panic crept through Carmen, followed by humiliation. She muttered, “She’s mocking me? She thinks she’s better than me? Why…?”

“Get lost,” Aubree said coldly. “I’d rather die here than go back with any of you.”

Whatever else, Aubree was Alvin’s teammate now, and technically also helping him with training. No way he was letting the Wilsons walk all over her in his house.

Alvin said, “Since Apex Squad is our opponent next Saturday in the finals, probably not great for your boss to be showing up here, don’t you think?”

If it were just Aubree here, Bryan might’ve dragged her out by force. But with Alvin standing there too, he had to think twice.

Emery’s mouth tasted bitter. “Aubree doesn’t want to forgive me?”

Emery stopped Bryan, who was about to argue again. “Bryan, let’s go. We really shouldn’t be here.”

Carmen didn’t want to leave so easily. But now even Emery was acting cold toward her, which was definitely not a good sign. She’d have to tread more carefully.

As she walked out, Carmen stared hard at Aubree at the top of the stairs. "Why is she always so lucky? Even after getting kicked out of the Wilsons, she still managed to snag Alvin? The Wilsons should’ve been mine. Alvin should’ve been mine too!”

Bryan took Carmen out first. Emery looked back at Aubree and smiled faintly. “Aubree, can I talk to you alone?”

Aubree agreed and stepped toward him, a curious look in her eyes.

“Aubree, this is yours.” Emery held out the sapphire crown she had returned before.

Aubree took it and twirled it in her fingers.

Emery’s eyes lit up. “Aubree, I just wanted to say… I’m sorry. You went through a lot these past three years.”

Aubree looked down, her hair falling over half her face, hiding her expression. From Emery’s angle, all he could see was her shoulders trembling, and he heard a sound like she was choking back tears.

“Emery…”

Aubree looked up and burst out laughing. “Did you really think I’d say something like ‘I’m so touched, thank you for finally realizing I wasn’t the one who did those things’?”

The next moment, the crown slipped from Aubree’s hand and shattered on the ground.

Aubree said, “I said sorry so many times. Not once did any of you forgive me."

“So your apology? I’m not taking it. And I’m never forgiving you.”