Just like before, the three of them kept Nadia carefully shielded.
Quinn most of all, hovering as if terrified she might feel the slightest discomfort, handing her water one moment, dabbing sweat from her brow the next.
The instant Lola saw me, she strode straight over and slapped me across the face.
"You wretched girl, why didn't you go to the show!"
The blow left me stunned, my cheek burning hot.
She raised her hand to hit me again. I caught her wrist and shoved it away hard, and she lost her footing and went down onto the ground.
Her face was pure disbelief.
"You dare push me?"
Ten years ago, I swallowed everything just to earn their love.
But that was ten years ago. Whatever scraps of love they had, I stopped wanting them long since.
I have a family now that truly loves me.
"Don't forget, we've already cut ties. Lay a hand on me again and I'll call the police."
Louis was beside himself, chest heaving.
"You! She's the mother who gave birth to you and raised you!"
Nadia wiped at her tears, her voice thick with crying. "Sis, whatever you're angry about, take it out on me. Stop breaking Mom and Dad's hearts."
It was the evening rush now, and the crowd of onlookers kept growing.
"That disownment agreement you signed back then has no legal standing. You're a lawyer, you can't not know that. You still owe your parents a certain duty of support."
Quinn had an arm around Nadia, and the look he turned on me was cold as ice.
Looking at him standing there so respectably, disgust rose thick in me.
We grew up together in the orphanage, the two of us leaning on each other to survive. Quinn was the weaker one, so I always gave him more than half of whatever food I managed to grab, and went hungry myself more often than not.
We'd said we would always be together, so when the Winfields came to take me in, I begged them to bring Quinn home too.
But I never could have imagined that the one to drive the last knife in would be him.
"Sis, I'm sorry. As long as you can forgive me and come home, I'll do anything. Mom, Dad, and Quinn, I'll give them all to you."
Nadia stepped forward and knelt down in front of me.
I looked at my parents and Quinn, at their swell of righteous indignation, and it struck me as almost funny.
"I forgive you. As for these people, I wouldn't take them if you handed them to me for free."
For a moment my parents and Quinn went blank.
I lifted my foot to leave, but Quinn caught my arm. His expression was complicated, guilt in it, but more than that, the look of a man who thought he was owed.
"Nadia's sick. Go to the hospital and get tested for a match. If you can save her, call it building up some good karma for yourself."
I flung his hand off, impatience all over my face.
"Good karma? I'm not that much of a saint. And as for that disownment agreement having no legal standing, I'll draft a new one tomorrow."
The words were barely out before I pushed through the crowd and walked off without a backward glance.
But right before I went to bed, a coworker sent me a screenshot.
"Hannah, you're trending!"
I opened it. A glaring headline sat firmly at the top of the list.
【Ivy League Graduate Beats Mother in the Street, Coldly Refuses to Save Her Own Sister!】
The comments had already scrolled past several million, every last one condemning me as an ungrateful, heartless girl.
Someone had even dug up my home address and personal details.
The more I read, the colder I went. They'd actually gone this far for Nadia.
Just like ten years ago, blocking off every road I had for Nadia's sake. What a fine, far-sighted parental love.
My phone rang. The moment I answered, that gentle voice sent tears streaming down my face all at once.
"My darling, what's going on online? Is someone bullying you?"
"Mom."
I said it with a sob in my throat, and the other end erupted.
"Sweet baby, Mom's booking the fastest flight out right now to stand behind you!"
