The Contracted Ever After (Cordelia and Ronan) novel Chapter 611

One day, after clocking out, Cordelia received a message from Eason on Messenger: “After work, come to the Presidential Suite at the Azure View Hotel.”

Cordelia was taken aback. What was this about?

Sure, there was an Azure View Hotel near her school, but why would Eason be there?

It was so out of the blue; it didn't seem like Eason at all.

“Where are you now? At Millstone?” she texted back.

“Yep, right across from your school. Come on over, need to talk.”

Cordelia wondered if Eason had gotten himself into some kind of trouble.

She still hadn’t passed her driving test and was relying on the bus to get home every day.

When Cordelia arrived at Eason’s hotel, she made her way to his room.

As soon as she entered, she was hit with a wave of cigarette smoke so thick it made her cough.

“Since when did you start smoking? You know that’s a one-way ticket to an early grave, right?” she chided.

There he was, Eason, sunk into the couch amidst a fog of smoke, looking like he was wrestling with the weight of the world.

Cordelia took a seat opposite him.

He glanced up at her and let out a heartfelt, “Sis.”

Cordelia teased, “Lost your marbles? Who are you calling ‘sis’?”

His gaze fixed on Cordelia. “You.”

His room was a disaster zone, the likes of which she’d never seen before. There was uneaten room service on the table, tissues littered the floor, and the bedding and couch cushions were strewn about in total disarray.

Cordelia had never seen Eason like this before.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she sat down, sensing that whatever it was, it must be big.

Eason snuffed out his cigarette and slumped further into the couch, a picture of defeat.

“I don’t know. I haven’t told my dad that I know about this, and he doesn’t know who my real parents are. To find out my birth mother is such a twisted person... it’s chilling,” Eason said, closing his eyes, murmuring again, “Sis.”

Then he let out a wry laugh, followed by tears streaming down his face.

The person he had cherished was, in fact, his own half-sister.

They both sat in silence, lost in their thoughts until about eight o’clock when Cordelia snapped back to reality. “I should get back home. What about you? What will you do?”

“Me?” Eason gave a bitter laugh. “I came to Millstone just to tell you this. Maybe I’ll leave tomorrow.”

Cordelia responded with a couple of mechanical nods and walked out the door.

As she descended the hotel stairs, she nearly stumbled, her mind a whirlwind of chaos she couldn’t quite articulate.

She hailed a cab and went home.