NESSA ~
The door closed softly behind Mildred, and her words lingered in the air like smoke.
"I hope you find a way through this. You deserve better than what you've gotten."
I stared at the ceiling, those words circling in my head like vultures.
Did I deserve better?
The question felt impossible to answer.
On one hand, I'd done nothing to deserve what the Blackwood brothers had done to me. I wasn't responsible for my father's alleged crimes. I was just a girl who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time, born to the wrong person.
But on the other hand—
I'd kept silent.
For three years, I'd carried the truth about that night like a stone around my neck, and I'd said nothing. Let everyone believe my father was a murderer. Let them torture me for his supposed sins.
You were a child, I tried to tell myself. Fourteen years old and terrified. You did what you thought would keep you safe.
But that didn't erase the guilt.
