Chapter 4

Early the next morning, Jesse went out with Violet, the two of them leaving before I was even up.

His promise to take me shopping had only ever been words.

It had been more than a month since I moved out.

Fiona had looked after me the whole time, even arranging a place for me to stay ahead of it.

I'd been invited to the Mirror Lake Short-Form Comic Invitational, and the days ran into each other with how busy I was.

Jesse was certain I'd cave first, come crawling back to apologize, sure this was all just a fit of temper. He didn't send a single message the entire time.

Violet, on the other hand, sent me several.

【Sis, I never knew big brother's cooking was this good.】

【Sis, when are you coming back? There's nobody here to clean the house.】

【Yvonne Butler, are you done yet? Don't come back at all, then. Works out perfectly—big brother's all mine now.】

I pretended I hadn't seen any of it.

......

The day I discovered my manuscripts were gone, I rushed Fiona into driving me home.

Those pages were the creative spark for my contest entry. They mattered to me more than I could say.

But I turned the whole study upside down, and the box where I kept my drawings had been emptied out.

A noise came from the front door.

Jesse and Violet were back.

When he saw me, something like relief flickered across Jesse's face.

Then, just as quickly, he composed himself.

"Yvonne, you're home—that's what matters. I'm willing to let this go."

"But if you ever dare run off again, I really will be angry."

I let his little speech to himself run its course and turned to Violet.

"Where are the manuscripts from my box?"

Violet's eyes went wide, all innocence.

"Sis, what are you talking about? I don't understand a word of it."

"You'd better really not understand."

I kicked open the door to Violet's bedroom.

The box was there. So were the manuscripts.

Except every page had been torn to shreds.

Violet clapped a hand over her mouth and let out a gasp.

"Sis, how could you just barge into my room like this?!"

"No wonder big brother doesn't want you anymore. You're so rude, so badly raised!"

Jesse's jaw went tight, and he stepped into my path.

"Yvonne, apologize to your sister."

"Why should I?"

"Because you forced your way in here without her permission."

He stood there like a solid wall, planting himself between me and Violet.

I bit down on my lip and swallowed the catch in my throat.

"You're taking her side?"

Jesse sighed.

"Yvonne, this isn't about taking sides. What you did was wrong."

I kicked the box of shredded pages over in front of him and demanded:

"Jesse, don't tell me you don't know what this is about."

"These drawings matter to me more than my own life. Not only did you fail to keep them safe, you let Violet tear them apart."

Violet cut me off.

"These are my drawings! What proof do you have that they're yours?"

"Isn't that right, big brother?"

The seconds crawled past, and my breath felt like a hand had closed around my pulse.

"Jesse, you tell me—whose are these, really?"

He was quiet for a moment, then said,

"Yvonne, these are your sister's manuscripts."

"Are you jealous that she's more talented than you? Is that why you came back to pick a fight with us?"

"Yvonne, you've disappointed me deeply."

Word by word, he drove each one slowly into my heart.

That last surviving scrap of hope shattered clean away, all at once.

Fiona's applause snapped me back. She was smiling as she said:

"Wonderful. Truly wonderful."

"Little one, you say those manuscripts are yours—then surely you have the originals?"

"And if the originals are lost, that's fine. You'd still have the digital versions, wouldn't you?"

Everything had happened so fast that I'd panicked a little myself.

Then it hit me—all the digital originals were on my hands.

I met Fiona's eyes, and in an instant I was perfectly at ease.

I didn't waste another second on them. I turned and left with Fiona.

Let her keep that pile of scrap paper. I didn't want it.