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If his grandma is who paid for Lily’s treatment, then why the hell has Anton got Noah believing that he did? The only possibility is that Anton took advantage of an emotional eleven year old kid and used those emotions against him. He lied and he drew Noah into his world to use as a pawn for his sick business.
Noah pushes up out of his chair. “I, uh…I have to go,” he says.
I shoot up behind him as Violet gives him a strange look. “What’s wrong?” she questions, taking in the tension radiating off of him.
Noah looks to me, realizing I know exactly where his head is at right now. “I just didn’t realize grandma had done that. I figured you got the money another way,” he says, speaking his truth while also trying to mask the fact that his mind is going one hundred miles an hour.
“No,” Violet says, mistaking his tension for concern for his grandma and confusion over the past. “She didn’t even bat an eyelash when we approached her and I don’t doubt she’d do it all over again if it was either one of you,” she tells him. “That money freed us up to be able to spend the last twelve months with your sister. Without it, Lily would have wasted away in the hospital room all by herself and neither us or your grandma wanted that, not in the slightest.”
Noah nods and gives his mom a quick hug. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” she tells him, making Noah’s eyes flick to mine again.
He steps away from his mom and pulls his keys out of his pocket, looking sick. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Ok,” she says, giving him a sympathetic smile, thinking that all this talk about Lily is just a little too much for him and that he needs some space to himself. Violet walks back over to the internal garage door and turns back to her kids. “I’m going to start on dinner. Make sure you’re back before then.”
Noah gives her one final nod and the second she closes the door, he makes a break for his car. I run after him, clutching onto his arm and desperately trying to pull him back. “No, you can’t,” I tell him. “Please don’t go. You need to think this through first.”
Noah spins around to face me, shaking me off. “He played me for a fucking fool,” he seethes. “I was eleven years old and he let me believe he’d saved my sister. He used her against me.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Tully demands from behind us.
“Nothing,” Noah snaps, trying for his car again. “I have to go.”
“No. You’re not fucking going anywhere until you’ve thought this through, especially not there and without Rivers. Do you have any idea who the fuck you’re talking about, right now?”
“I don’t give a shit, Henley,” he roars. “He used my sister against me and I’ve been busting my ass for him for six fucking years when I don’t owe him a goddamn thing.”
Tully gets up in his face and slams both hands into his chest, sending him back a step. “You better tell me what the fuck you’re talking about right fucking now, Noah or so help me God. This is my fucking sister you’re talking about too.”
Noah growls and slams his fist down on the roof of his Camaro, making me cringe with the instant damage. He breathes heavy for a few moments, trying desperately to regain control of his emotions before hanging his head in shame.
There’s dead silence as Tully waits for him to come clean and it feels like the longest silence I’ve ever endured. His head remains hung, too ashamed of himself to face his sister. “When Lily got sick again, I could see mom and dad struggling. They couldn’t afford to pay for her treatment and we were drowning in debt, so I went to Anton.”
“What?” she gasps, sucking in a sharp breath. “What are you talking about?”
“I didn’t know what to do,” he defends. “I told him about Lily and he agreed to pay her medical bills if I came to work for him. I sold my fucking soul to him.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she seethes. “You told that…that scum about my baby sister?” Noah nods but Tully’s only just getting started. “I can’t fucking believe you, Noah. What the hell were you thinking? Mom and Dad had it handled. How could you taint what was left of her life like that?”
“Wait. I thought you knew about this?” I ask her. “When I first asked you where the boys disappeared to, you said that I have to trust that they wouldn’t do it unless there was a good reason.”
“I figured Anton had gotten them out of some sort of trouble, never in my wildest fucking dreams did I think Noah would allow that man to have anything to do with my dying sister,” she turns on him. “You fucking deserve to spend your days working for that liar for doing that to her.”
