The Real Heiress's New Family Adored By All novel Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Unexpected Affection

Zora slept until nearly evening.

During that time, the Knoxs had come looking for her, but Opal had angrily sent them away.

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She told them Zora wasn’t going back until they got their heads straight-she was staying with the Marlows.

To treat her like a criminal over a misunderstanding, then talk about sending her away-right in front of the girl? It was cruel.

Opal was furious.

She’d given Wendy a sharp, unsparing lecture. Her daughter was completely out of her mind, unable to tell right from wrong.

Wendy left with red eyes, saying she’d come back to see Zora later and asking Opal to take care of her.

Opal was too angry to even reply.

Wendy rushed back to tend to Jolie, not caring at all about her own biological daughter.

If she’d really cared, she would’ve insisted on seeing Zora, even if Opal chased them off.

Zora was her flesh and blood. She didn’t try to send Jolie away-she tried to send Zora.

“You’re awake?”

Kian stepped in to change her medicine and saw her trying to sit up. He hurried over to steady her.

Zora opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room. A soft, handsome face loomed gently above her.

Staring at his kind expression, she blinked-and for a second, she thought she was looking at her mentor.

Her mentor had been just as gentle. Whenever she was sick, he was always there by her bed when she woke

Zora leaned into Kian’s chest without thinking, voice small and hoarse with hurt.

“Mentor…”

Kian tensed at the unexpected affection, caught off guard.

He blinked in confusion, looking down at the girl pressed against him, and felt something strange stur

inside.

So this was what it felt like to have a younger sister depend on you?

The Marlow cousins had no girls their age. And they’d never liked Jolie.

Having Zora cling to him like this left him unsure where to put his hands.

Her voice was too quiet and rough for him to catch the word.

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Chapter 10 Unexpected Affection

“Hey, Zora. I’m here. I’ll fix you up. You’ll feel better soon.”

She sounded like she was on the edge of tears. Kian remembered coworkers saying you had to pat and hug a crying girl. He hesitantly reached out and awkwardly patted her back.

Feeling how thin she was, he frowned. She was way too skinny.

How had the Knoxs been feeding her?

He assumed she was just miserable from being sick. Little girls were delicate, after all.

His warm, gentle voice pulled Zora back to her senses. She lifted her head to look at him.

His profile was soft, his features kind, his lips pale pink.

The hand on her back had gone from clumsy to steady, patting gently in rhythm.

Zora froze for a moment, then pulled away.

This wasn’t her mentor. Her mentor had been beautiful and gentle too-but whenever she woke up sick, his kind face would twist into a scold.

“Zora, you never give me a moment’s peace! What’ll you do without me?”

Zora had always been weak. Her mentor said he’d found her in a trash can, badly beaten, covered in bruises -he’d almost lost her.

She caught colds easily, even after more than ten years of his treatments.

As a kid, she’d been fragile as glass. Whenever he went to gather herbs, he left her with neighbors in the village.

Then her mentor left. He’d found her real parents. She’d gone to the Knoxs.

The night before had been freezing, the pool ice-cold. She couldn’t swim-her mentor had never taught

her.

She had gulped down several mouthfuls of water through her nose; it had been agonizing.

When Holden dove in and carried Jolie away without a second glance, Zora felt colder than she had when her mentor left her.

Mae and the others pulled her out, but she still felt freezing.

She’d known she was getting sick. She’d planned to make her own medicine, but she’d used the last of it for Mae. She’d meant to buy more that day-until Holden dragged her to the hospital.

“Zora, does anything else hurt?”

Kian’s arms felt empty, and a strange hollow feeling settled in his chest.

He’d never met Zora before. He’d been in the lab doing research and missed her homecoming.

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Chapter 10 Unexpected Affection

He hadn’t seen her at the Knoxs when he went with his grandparents yesterday either.

This was their first real meeting.

She was exactly how he’d imagined a little sister-pretty as a doll.

He liked her.

“I’m okay. Thank you.”

Zora pulled back and realized this wasn’t the Knox Villa or the hospital.

This was the Marlow Manor.

Jensen had said he’d bring her here.

She was with the Marlows now.

Neither Kian nor Zora was talkative. The room went quiet.

“Zora, you’re up! Feeling better?” Opal pushed the door open with a warm smile. “Don’t you worry-your mom got an earful. She messed up bad. Don’t hold it against her. Stay here with me for a while. Let me spoil you.”

She looked at the dazed, sweet girl on the bed and felt a rush of affection.

This was a real Marlow. She looked just like them.

Not like Jolie-Opal had never felt connected to her, not in sixteen years. She didn’t look like Wendy or the

Knoxs at all.

Opal had privately wondered if there’d been a mix-up. Wendy insisted no, blaming it on genes. She’d defended the wrong kid.

And now look-they really had been switched.

Their girl had suffered for over a decade out there alone.

“Grandma,” Zora spoke softly.

She was just as kind as before, smiling warmly at her, like her neighbors back in the village.

“Aw, sweetie. Are you hungry? I had the cook make your favorite. Come downstairs and cat, okay?

Opal asked with a gentle smile, her voice full of concern.

“Okay,” Zora whispered.

She felt much better after sleeping, and her stomach was growling.

“I’ll go get Grandpa and Jensen.”

Kian watched his cousin open up to their grandma but stay distant with him. A little twinge of jealousy pricked him.

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Chapter 10 Unexpected Affection

He wished he’d taken time off work to meet her sooner. If he had, she wouldn’t be this formal with him.

But it was too late to regret it now.

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The Real Heiresss New Family Adored by All