Chapter Three

Nora’s POV

I didn’t look back. I slammed the door behind me and left their disgusting faces on the other side.

It was already late when I got back to the apartment.

My mother lay in bed, coughing on and off. She had end-stage kidney disease. For years, she had survived on dialysis and delayed joining the transplant waiting list so she could keep paying for my education.

I warmed some water and wiped her face. Silently, I promised myself I would earn an acceptance from a great college and take her away from this awful place.

Around noon the next day, I returned from the grocery store and saw the hallway packed with neighbors from our floor. A flashy red sports car was parked outside.

My stomach tightened. I pushed through the crowd and rushed inside.

Bitsy stood in the middle of our living room, her eyes swollen and red, looking as if she were the one who had been horribly wronged.

Chase and several other guys had knocked our table and chairs every which way. Tripp stood off to the side, watching everything with a cold expression.

They had my mother surrounded.

“Mom!” I rushed over and stood in front of her, glaring at them. “What are you doing? You’re trespassing. I’m calling the police!”

“The police? Go ahead. Call them.” Chase sneered and pulled an empty jewelry box from his pocket. “Bitsy was nice enough to invite you to the country club yesterday, and then a bracelet disappeared from her purse. Who else would steal it but a broke girl like you?”

“I didn’t steal anything!” I shook with anger.

“You didn’t? Then you won’t mind if we search the place, right?” Bitsy clutched Tripp’s sleeve and started crying. “That bracelet was the one thing my mother left me. I can’t lose it…”

Tripp looked at me without a trace of trust, only disgust. “Nora, hand it over. Because of what we used to have, I’m giving you a chance before I call the cops. Don’t drag your mother into this and humiliate her too.”

“How dare you accuse my daughter of stealing!” My mother’s face turned white with anger as she struggled to her feet. “She would never steal anything! Get out of my home!”

“Don’t touch me!” Chase snapped, giving her a hard shove.

My mother was already weak. The force sent her falling backward, and the back of her head slammed against the doorframe.

“Mom!”

She lay on the floor with her eyes closed. Her face went from pale to blue, and her chest heaved. The shock had clearly sent her body into crisis.

Even Tripp and the others froze before backing away.

“Get out! All of you, get out!” I shoved them aside and called 911 with trembling hands.

The emergency room hallway reeked of disinfectant.

The attending physician came out with a grave expression. “Her kidney function has deteriorated too far. She needs a transplant as soon as possible. I’ll have a financial counselor speak with you, but after insurance, your out-of-pocket cost will be about fifty thousand dollars.”

Fifty thousand dollars.

It was an impossible amount of money for me. I checked every account I had. Even with everything I had saved from working, I had less than ten thousand dollars.

With nowhere else to turn, I called Tripp. I hated him, but I was willing to put aside all my pride if it meant saving my mother.

The phone rang for a long time before he answered. Loud music played in the background.

“Hello?” Tripp sounded completely unconcerned.

“Tripp, I’m begging you. Please lend me fifty thousand dollars. My mom is in the hospital, and she needs surgery right away.” My voice broke as I pleaded with him.

He was silent for two seconds. Then he gave a scornful laugh.

“Nora, you’re really pretending your mom is sick just so you don’t have to apologize? When did you get this manipulative?”

“I’m not lying! My mom is really in the emergency room—”

“Enough. Stop acting. Call me when you’re ready to return the bracelet.”

He hung up.

Still clutching my phone, I slid down onto the cold floor.

I had no tears left. So this was what it felt like when something inside you finally died.

I got to my feet and pulled the silver necklace from my neck. Tripp had given it to me when we first started dating. He told me he had bought it for twenty dollars at a flea market. I had treasured it so much that I never even took it off to shower.

I ran out of the hospital with the necklace and rushed into an estate jewelry store.

“Could you tell me how much you’d pay for this? I need the money right away.”

The owner studied it through a jeweler’s loupe, then looked at me in surprise. “This is a custom piece from a high-end jeweler, and the diamond is real. I can give you sixty thousand dollars for it. Are you sure you want to sell?”

I nodded firmly. My eyes were dry, but my voice was steady.

“Sell it. I never want to see it again.”

I used the money to pay for the surgery. The operation was a success. After my mother woke up, I contacted my aunt in Denver and completed the paperwork to transfer schools.

I sold everything in the apartment that was worth anything, then boarded a plane with my still-weak mother.

As the city shrank beneath the airplane window, I deleted all of Tripp’s contact information.

Goodbye to my sickening past.