Mission Complete Now Let Me Leave This Toxic Family Behind

Bianca Fairmont, the pampered princess of the East Coast elite, had the ultrasound pictures on her phone this morning. By afternoon, she’d terminated the pregnancy. I gripped the laminated surgery sheet, my hands trembling violently. All around me, her friends watched, their expressions a mix of superiority and mocking pity. “Declan Sullivan,” one drawled, her voice dripping with scorn, “you actually went through with it? Gave up your kid just because Frank Donovan said the word?” “Look at the big man’s face! He’s going to lash out, isn’t he?” another one giggled. But Bianca only melted into Frank’s arms, her voice a soft, sickening purr. “I told you I’d never have a child with him. Do you believe me now?” The icy mask Frank wore finally thawed. I wanted to rush forward, to demand an answer, to scream a condemnation, but my three sisters had me tightly secured. Stacey Harrington, the formidable eldest and the CEO of the Harrington empire, frowned. “Frank only smiles for Bianca. Declan, for God’s sake, show some restraint.” Theodora, our second sister, the celebrated concert pianist, shot a look of pure disgust my way. “He didn’t have your privilege, Declan. He’s worked for everything. You, on the other hand, the Harrington name could find you any woman you wanted.” Dr. Petra Harrington, the professor and youngest sister after me, shoved her finger right into my chest, forcing me back a step. “They are the real pair, Declan. They always were. Are you really going to force a child into a life where its parents aren’t in love? Don’t be cruel.” They locked me down in the guest house, determined to prevent me from interfering with the happiness of their golden boy. That’s when the system I hadn’t heard from in years finally broke its silence. “Host, primary mission detected as complete! Do you wish to return to your world immediately?” I sat on the rooftop balcony, my eyes unfocused on the sprawling city skyline, but my heart was doing a frantic, joyous drum solo. This whole bitter, grueling tragedy was finally over. … Theo was beside herself with rage. “What an absolute coward! Are you really going to resort to jumping off a building because a woman said no? What a failure you are!” But my focus was entirely on the system. “Harrington sisters and Female Lead affection rating detected at 90%. Task of having a child with Female Lead Bianca Fairmont complete!” “Activation of host body death will initiate immediate return to your world, securing your bonus and curing your cancer!” I crushed the rising hysteria of joy inside my chest. I was going home. I looked up, meeting Theo’s eyes. She was still furious, but then she glanced at her phone—and a small, genuine smile touched her lips. It was a smile I hadn’t seen directed at me in years. It was the smile she reserved only for Frank. Sensing my stare, she quickly snapped the phone shut, her expression hardening again. “What? Are you planning to use your death to frighten Bianca? How twisted is your heart, Declan?” “Frank has sacrificed so much. Why can’t you just let him be happy? Does his happiness cause you so much pain?” I dug my nails into my palms and laughed, a dry, self-mocking sound. If suffering looked like being the golden boy, circled by three powerful women, with the entire world laid at his feet, then I’d gladly sign up for a lifetime of that ‘misery.’ Seeing my ashen face, Theo suddenly sighed. “Just apologize to Bianca, okay? Don’t be so dramatic about this.” She moved to pull me back from the railing, but I gently sidestepped her. I offered a cold, thin smile. “Apologize for what? What exactly did I do wrong?” Theo’s hand froze mid-air, her patience dissolving into sharp irritation. “Declan! Don’t push your luck!” I closed my eyes. Even for a mission, I had genuinely loved them. Their sudden coldness had wounded me more deeply than I cared to admit. But now, it was irrelevant. “Just wait until Petra is named full professor, and then you’ll come with us and apologize to Bianca.” I didn’t hold onto a shred of hope for her or anyone else. I just quietly confirmed with the system. “If this body dies, I go back. Is that correct?” “Yes.” I let out a slow, steady breath, then looked down. No one was below. If I jumped, I wouldn’t terrify any innocent bystanders. Theo immediately understood my intention. She screamed my name. “Declan! What are you doing!” I ignored her. I simply fell. The wind roared in my ears, whipping my face painfully. A sickening lurch of gravity took hold, but deep down, a strange, overwhelming sense of liberation rushed in. The next second, I felt a savage grip around my waist. I was yanked out of the air by a pair of massive hands and slammed hard onto the roof. Theo’s bodyguard, hired at astronomical expense, was clearly worth every penny. Seeing that I was safe, Theo rushed forward and began clawing furiously at my face. “You’re insane! You are completely insane! I said one sentence, and you try to kill yourself? You’ve been spoiled into oblivion!” I muffled a sound of pain, consumed only by the frustration of my failed escape. I didn’t acknowledge her. Her fury escalated. “Is this another trick just to get attention? Stop with your pathetic little games!” I ignored her and pried her hands off. We stared at each other until the bodyguard, momentarily distracted by his walkie-talkie, broke his focus. I seized the chance, twisted away, and threw myself over the edge. “I jumped! Don’t blame the guard!” I yelled the words as I plunged into the void. “Declan!” Theo’s despairing shriek was too late. She and the bodyguard were a second behind. I closed my eyes, expectant, yearning for death. My own world had cancer waiting for me, but it was better than spending one more second here. But no. Instead of the brutal impact, I landed in something soft. A dozen hands immediately grabbed and secured me. “Easy, son! Life is precious! Why would you do this?” I looked down at the massive, inflatable fire cushion beneath me and let my head drop in complete, bitter failure. The commotion must have drawn the attention of a neighbor, giving the fire department just enough time to save my life. “You’re mad! Declan, are you completely out of your mind?” Theo’s eyes were bloodshot. She pushed through the crowd and stumbled, collapsing to her knees in front of me. “Did you hit anything? Where does it hurt? Talk to me!” My gaze landed accidentally on her. The usually impeccable Theo had lost one shoe. She was limping, and the entire right knee of her designer jeans was soaked in fresh, bubbling blood. She must have hurt herself rushing from the roof to the street. Before, I would have instantly scooped her up and rushed her to the nearest ER. Now, I felt only a desolate emptiness. I looked away. “What? Do I need your permission to die now?” 2 Theo froze, disbelief etching every line on her face. I scoffed, walked past her, and gave a faint nod of thanks to the firefighters. “Sorry for the trouble. Please, keep this quiet. I don’t want to cause any more trouble for my family.” “Especially since I don’t want my older sister screaming at me for ruining the family’s reputation.” Theo’s fingernails dug into her palms, her eyes dangerously red. I tilted my head, slightly annoyed. “Don’t worry, there aren’t many witnesses. I can pay for their silence. With my own money, of course. Nothing to do with the Harringtons…” “Declan!” She cut me off, her voice thick with a strange, wounded emotion. I was stunned to see a flash of genuine hurt on her face. “You’re the only son! You’re the youngest! By our parents’ will, the entire estate belongs to you! It should all be yours!” I couldn’t help it. A small, hysterical laugh escaped my lips. “Do you actually believe that?” Her body stiffened. The reality hit her: Frank Donovan was the one living in the Harrington mansion. I was the one relegated to a cramped, rented studio apartment. I looked at Theo, my expression flat, but a deep, sorrowful chill seeped through me. We both had talent for the piano. She was a prodigy, and when she was young, she took me on tour with her to train me. She’d patiently guide my hands on the keys. Now, she only offered me a cold shoulder and strict orders to defer to Frank in everything. Theo seemed to resign herself, bowing her head. Her voice was barely a whisper. “Just… wait until Frank finishes his lab work and gets his professor status, then you can move back in. Your room was converted into his lab, and his experiment is at a critical stage. You’ve always been the understanding one, Declan. You get that, right?” “Everything before was just a misunderstanding…” I didn’t bother to respond. I just stood up, staggered slightly, and walked away. I was an orphan before I was transported here. My life was precarious, and then a coughing fit sent me to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with a deadly, aggressive cancer. I was unconscious from the pain. When I woke up, I was here, in the body of a ten-year-old child. “Achieve a bond rating of 80% with the Harrington siblings and Female Lead Bianca Fairmont, and have a child with Bianca, then you can return to your world and be cured of cancer!” The system vanished, and I assumed it was a morphine-fueled hallucination. But I was small, undeveloped, and ten years old. I quickly adjusted. I had no ties in my old world. A healthy body here was a gift. Later, Theo and I rode home in silence. She tried to ease the tension by talking about trivial, funny things that happened before Frank arrived. It was the most warmth I’d felt in years. It was the kind of warmth that once made me consider failing the mission and staying forever. But then I brought Frank, a fellow orphan, home from my boarding school, and he stole every bit of Theo’s affection. My initial confusion turned to anger, then to desperate attention-seeking, and finally, to hysterical fits. All I got in return was: “Stop it, Declan. Look at yourself. You’re pathetic.” The car stopped outside the Harrington gates. I got out without a word. Theo’s voice, small and wounded, called out. “Declan, your sister is hurt. I can’t walk. Could you…” I cut her off, my face blank. “You’re hurt. Go see a doctor. What good does telling me do?” I pushed the front door open. Frank was sitting casually on the sofa, looking perfectly at home. Stacey and Bianca were seated at either end. Stacey was glaring at Bianca. “Frank has been so worried about you, he hasn’t eaten a proper meal in days. He’s thin. What kind of manipulative game are you playing?” Frank, ever the mediator, tried to calm them. “Stacey, Petra, I’m fine, really. It was all a misunderstanding. It’s resolved now.” I stood at the entrance, watching their tender family moment. I glanced down at my clothes, which felt cold and damp. 3 I touched my face. Wet. Hot. Real. God, I was actually crying. Theo limped in beside me, about to speak, but Frank rushed past her. “Theo, what happened to your leg? You—” I didn’t let him finish. I hit him. A single, hard fist to the jaw. Frank cried out, stumbling back and falling hard to the marble floor, looking up at me with utter incomprehension. Almost instantly, a powerful force clamped down on me. The bodyguard’s grip was like iron. The sudden, sharp pain in my arm forced me to my knees. Stacey gave a nod of approval to the bodyguard, then shot up from the sofa. She pointed a furious finger at me. “Declan Sullivan! We really did spoil you rotten! Apologize to Frank right now!” I was sprawled on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood and bile. “Apologize? What did I do wrong? I was betrayed by my fiancée, and I can’t even hit the man who slept with her?” Stacey’s voice grew sharper, more shrill. “What nonsense are you talking about? Frank and Bianca were always meant to be. You were never married! There was no official commitment! You don’t count!” “I’m ashamed to call you my brother! How can you be so utterly shameless?!” I laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. “Shameless? Don’t forget, Bianca was the one who promised me we’d get the papers after the baby was born! She toyed with my feelings. Who is the shameless one here?” Bianca stared at me, cold and venomous. “Thank God I never signed the papers. I had foresight. My family would never accept a weak, melodramatic man like you.” Petra lunged forward and slapped me hard across the face. “Declan! Apologize!” I didn’t speak. I just slowly scanned the faces in the room. Stacey’s eyes were cold. Petra’s face was twisted with disgust. Bianca looked like she wished I would spontaneously combust. Theo frowned, her lips moving silently, but in the end, she said nothing. It was the same look they’d given me three years ago, when Frank was exposed as my second sister’s obsessed fan, showing up at every concert. Theo, feeling sorry for him, convinced Petra to admit him to her university as a teaching assistant. To make Frank’s life easier, I was exiled from my home. My own room, the best room in the house, was converted into Frank’s private lab. “You have bodyguards wherever you go. Frank is alone. He needs to live here to communicate with Petra. Can’t you be an adult about this?” That was what they’d said when I screamed and begged. Their eyes then were the same as their eyes now. Today, I had no energy for an argument. I shrugged off the bodyguard’s hold and stumbled into the living room, grabbing the nearest thing—a massive, ridiculous crystal vase—and shattered it on the marble floor. I scooped up the largest, sharpest piece. Theo cried out, trying to rush forward, but Frank held her tight. “Declan, what are you doing?!” I looked at Frank, my expression mocking. “You wanted an apology, right?” I didn’t look at their terror-stricken faces. I was surgical, quick. A clean, practiced slash across my neck. Screams erupted from all sides. I laughed and I cried, the sound mixing together into a hysterical, broken noise. “I’ll give you my life. Is that enough? Are you happy now?” Warm, thick blood poured out. The dizzying, sharp loss of blood made it impossible to stand. In the cacophony of shrieks and commands, my vision tunneled to black. I saw the stunned faces of the women before I went under. Theo rushed forward and clutched me to her chest. “Call an ambulance!” I woke up to the sharp, stinging smell of disinfectant. The uniform white walls of the room made me dizzy. Was I back? I turned my head and saw Stacey’s exhausted, worried eyes staring back at me. I closed my eyes in bitter disappointment. I was still here. I was utterly drained. Stacey bristled at my reaction. “Declan! When did you learn to pull this pathetic woman-act?” Irritated, I caught the source of a sickeningly sweet, cloying aroma. It was a small, ornate vial on the bedside table. I instantly grabbed it and threw it against the wall. I had personally crafted that essential oil blend for Petra. She was consumed by her academic work, exhausted all the time. I spent six months apprenticing with a master herbalist to get the formula. But when Frank moved in, he stole my formula and claimed it as his own. Petra had proudly showed it off to everyone. “My sweet brother made this just for me. He’s so thoughtful.” Petra walked in just in time to see the vial arc gracefully through the air before shattering. She looked up, eyes narrowing in disbelief. “Declan, you just threw away the scent?” 4 I barely frowned, my voice flat and devoid of emotion. “I’m a patient. That cloying garbage makes me sick. I threw it out. What of it?” Petra’s chest heaved, and she pointed a trembling, accusing finger at me. “Declan, you are heartless! You are a spoiled, ungrateful snake!” “It’s no wonder Bianca chose Frank over you. You—” “Petra!” Stacey’s deep voice cut her off. Petra glared at me, her eyes red, waiting for even a flicker of remorse or sadness in my expression. She found only emptiness and despair. Shaking with anger, Petra’s voice turned desperate, hysterical. “Frank made that for you! Frank worked tirelessly! How can you be so ungrateful!” I was unmoved. “I was the one who brought the formula to the house. I can easily make him another one.” My calmness utterly enraged her. She grabbed the pillow from my hospital bed and slammed it against my head. “Stop your posturing! Do you have any idea how complicated that blend is to make? Fine! You think you’re so capable? You make it!” Stacey moved to intervene, but Petra stopped her with a sharp glance. Clearly, they all agreed this was a good opportunity to break my spirit. I smiled, a cold, empty upturn of my lips. I knew exactly how complicated it was. It required two days of continuous, minute monitoring—no breaks, no sleep, not even for meals or the bathroom. The precision was staggering. They were convinced I was bluffing. Petra locked me in her home office. I began the grueling, continuous work of blending the oils. I hadn’t eaten, and soon, sweat poured down my face. I could barely hold the delicate scale. When I finally finished, the effort was too much. My head was throbbing with fever, and I collapsed onto the table. Outside, I could hear their cheerful voices. They were celebrating Frank’s successful experiment and his promotion to professor. Frank played the humble role. “Maybe we should invite Declan out. I mean, my experiment wouldn’t have been successful if he hadn’t let me use his room…” Stacey scoffed immediately. “Don’t bother! Your success is yours alone. It has nothing to do with him!” “What if he shows up and ruins your celebration? He’s capable of anything!” Petra chimed in. “Exactly! Let him focus on the blend. It will calm his restless mind. We’re doing this for his own good!” I heard their words in a confused haze. I gave a cold laugh. I picked up the small, sharp pruning scissors from the blending kit. I didn’t hesitate. I plunged them into my heart. The blood surged out, but I felt a sudden, exhilarating lightness. Then, Theo’s gentle knock came from the door. “Declan, are you finished? The time is up.” I couldn’t even find the strength to speak. Petra’s impatient voice followed. “Ignore him! He’s just looking for attention! We have to break this habit of his!” Theo sighed, her footsteps clicking away. I finally closed my eyes in triumph. My soul floated free. A second later, the door was slammed open. Stacey, her face thunderous, burst in, followed by Theo and Petra. “Declan, you are so—” Her voice died in her throat. The floor was covered in a shocking pool of scarlet.