A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"You know who I am now?" Calliope looked at Ulysses, a sudden thought crossing her mind.

If he knew she was that screenwriter, then maybe it all made sense. She knew he'd always been interested in those scripts. If he was just sucking up to her for the sake of getting his hands on them, well, that wouldn't be all that surprising.

"What?" Ulysses blinked, caught off guard. "Callie, I know I haven't always treated you right. I probably haven't acted much like a real brother, but I get it now. In this world, you're the only real sister I have."

"I regret the way I treated you before. I'm sorry. I don't expect you to forgive me. I just hope you'll still think of me as your brother. Callie..."

He looked at her, his eyes full of sincerity, like he truly meant it.

Oddly enough, that just made Calliope even more surprised.

She stared back at him, her expression cold. "You're not my brother."

Her voice was ice.

They didn't share a drop of blood, and she had nothing to do with Ulysses. He wasn't her brother, that was simply the truth.

"If I don't like something, there's no need to pretend otherwise. You've gone all out for the company, haven't you? You really are an actor, Ulysses. I'll give you that, your performance is top-notch."

face fell, his

just putting on a show. She'd decided he wasn't sincere, that his apology didn't mean

and a knot twisted in his

it now, Calliope really didn't see any of them as her brothers anymore. She used to follow them around, always so eager to help,

brothers. It was clear: she'd changed. She wanted

He'd have thought Calliope was just playing hard

now, he was

at them, there was nothing even close to affection in her eyes. It was like

He glanced around at the others standing with

didn't seem to

he the only one who

he the only one who realized they were about to

her annoying before. So why did it hurt so much now?

like something irreplaceable was

shake

she'd never come back. And even