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to raise so I could have a good education, a good childhood, and I would bring
money back. Is that right?
Yes. Elora raised an eyebrow, daring me to question it.
I wanted to yell so badly I was shaking. But I was still afraid of her.
She looked like she could snap me in half with her mind, so I just twisted my
thumb ring and nodded confirmation with her. According to her, I was the last
of her legacy, and she had dumped me off on a crazy woman that tried to
murder me, just because Elora never wanted to work and needed cash.
Shall I continue? Elora asked, and she didn t even try to mask the
condescending tone in her voice. I nodded meekly. I don t even remember
what I was saying. She waved her hand in irritation. If you have any other
questions, I suppose you can ask them now.
Just& um... where s my father? I asked timidly.
Oh. Elora looked away from me and stared out the window. Dead.
I m sorry. It happened shortly after you were born.
Finn had promised me a different life where I belonged, but really, it
seemed to be the exact same life with different trappings. My mother here
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seemed almost as cold and crazy as my fake mom, and either life, my dad was
dead.
Also, I don t have any money. I shifted uneasily.
Of course you don t, Elora thought I was being ridiculous. You
probably won t have access to your trust fund until your twenty-one or so, but
with persuasion, you can change that. Finn tells me you re very advanced with
that, so I m sure you can easily lower it to eighteen and get at it then. Maybe
even add more to it.
What? I shook my head. No. I don t even know if I have a trust
fund.
I specifically chose the Everly s because of their wealth. Elora looked
incredulous. There is money set up for you. There has to be.
Yeah, I know you chose them for their money, because it certainly
wasn t for their mental health. I lowered my eyes, realizing I had been smart
with her, but quickly plowed through it. My dad killed himself when I was five,
so none of his insurance paid out. My mom never worked a day in her life, and
she s been in a mental institution for the past eleven years, which has eaten a lot
of her funds. Not only that, we ve moved around a lot and wasted tons of
money on moving and houses and tuition. We re not poor by any means, but I
don t think we re anywhere near the kind of rich you think we are.
Stop saying we. They re not part of you, Elora snapped and sat up.
What are you talking about? The Everly s were one of the wealthiest families in
the country! You couldn t have bled them completely dry!
I don t know how much money we they have, but we don t& er&
I didn t live like they were that rich. My brother drives a Prius! I was almost
shouting in frustration. And you said the money isn t the important thing, but
that sure seems to be what you re hung up on. If you weren t listening, I had a
terrible childhood! My father, well the man I thought was my father, killed
himself! And then, six months later, my fake mother tried to kill me!
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Elora had been more shaken about my confession that my family
wasn t loaded than she had about Kim trying to kill me. She sat very still for a
moment, then took a deep breath.
Oh. So she was one of those. That was all Elora had to say about
that.
What do you mean by that? I pressed, and by now, I was livid. The
casual, callous air that she had about my death. She hadn t cared at all if they
tried to kill me, except that it would ve upset her plans to get my inheritance.
One of those?
Oh, well. Elora shook her head as if she hadn t meant to say that.
Every now and again, a mother knows. Sometimes they hurt the child or kill
them.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. You knew there was a chance that she might kill
me? I snapped and stood up. You knew that I could die but you just left me?
Unmonitored? I know you didn t follow me because Finn kept telling me how
hard I was to find. You didn t care what happened to me at all!
Don t be so melodramatic, Elora rolled her eyes. This is the way we
live. It s a very small risk, and it rarely happens. And you lived. No harm done.
No harm done? I pulled up my shirt, showing her the scar that
stretched across my belly. I was six-years-old and I had sixty stitches. You call
that no harm done?
You re being disgusting. Elora stood up and waved me off. You ve
had a long travel, and I m sure this is all very confusing. You have much to take
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