Chapter 4

“Nora, don't push this too far!”

My brother had spoken.

“Give Dale back to Augusta. Give them the house.”

“Call it settling what you owe her.”

My hands clenched. I looked at Dale.

Dale kept his head down, letting the words stand.

I drew a slow breath. Something in me went cold all the way through.

And right then, Augusta's legs gave out.

She collapsed into Dale's arms.

“Augusta, are you okay?”

Dale panicked, his voice shaking to pieces.

“What is this... what's wrong?”

My brother panicked too.

“Augusta drank the healing porridge.”

“She said Nora made it. I told her not to, and she went and finished it behind my back.”

My brother rushed to make her throw it up.

Augusta pushed his hand away and said weakly,

“Nora, don't blame Dale...”

Dale looked like he was falling apart.

“Nora, how much longer are you going to keep hounding Augusta?”

“She didn't want to waste the porridge you made. She knew a pregnant woman shouldn't drink it, and she drank it anyway.”

“I can't believe you can't even make room for one child!”

He carried Augusta out without looking back.

There was a time when he'd been just that frantic over me.

The year I had acute appendicitis, I woke at three in the morning in agony.

Dale lifted me off the bed and ran me to the hospital.

When I woke from surgery, he was slumped at the bedside, holding my fingers, awake all night.

His stomach couldn't take late nights, but he smiled and said it was fine.

When my boss bullied me my first days on the job, he didn't hesitate, he wanted to go fight the man.

Nothing could budge him, and in the end he got transferred to another department.

He said he'd never let me suffer a single wrong in this life.

And now he'd gotten his mistress pregnant and expected me to swallow every wrong there was...

“Are you satisfied now?”

My brother rounded on me.

“You think dragging it all out into the open feels good, don't you?”

“Let me tell you, what you owe Augusta, you'll never pay off, not ever!”

My chest went tight, like I couldn't breathe.

A long while later, the shrill ring of a phone pulled me back.

It was Dale's voice.

“Nora, how cruel can you be!”

“You brought Augusta's parents over just to force her into an abortion.”

“You know her birth parents are old-fashioned, that they'd never stand for her being pregnant before marriage.”

“I... I didn't!”

“The only people who know Augusta's background and have her birth parents' contact info are the three of us!”

“And to think Augusta still called you her best friend.”

“You make me sick!”

Before I could finish, the line clicked dead in my ear.

My brother had guessed at something.

“Yesterday you said your car broke down and you couldn't buy the sweet almond cakes.”

“I bet you did it on purpose, so you could sneak Augusta's parents over!”

“It wasn't me...”

Because they knew it wasn't them, they'd decided it had to be me.

I went after them to explain, and my brother shoved me to the floor.

“You stay away from Augusta!”

“Didn't you say this house was yours?”

“Then you can sit here and think long and hard about what you've done!”

With that, my brother locked me inside and pulled the main breaker.

This was how he'd always punished me.

When we fought as kids, he'd shut me away like this.

He knew I was afraid of the dark.

I pounded on the door, but all I heard was the car pulling away downstairs.

In the dark, I shook all over.

I bit down on my lip and dragged my nails hard across my thigh, leaving red welts.

The pain kept me clear.

The worse it got, the less I could afford to lose.

I don't know how long passed before footsteps came from outside the door.

The moment it opened, I heard a familiar voice.

“God, Nora, are you all right?”

It was the Director.

“I was going to get back to you about Northgate, but your phone was off.”

“I couldn't stop worrying, so I came to check on you.”

The Director helped me up, and I turned my phone back on.

It was full of unread messages from Augusta,

and one intimate photo of her and Dale.

“Nora, you lost.”

“You didn't actually think I drank that healing porridge, did you.”

“Dale was right about you. You're so easy to fool.”

I froze where I stood, and the Director leaned in to see what had happened.

I set the phone down and thought for a few seconds.

“Director, I want to leave for Northgate tomorrow.”