Tasting

240–Burning Questions.

Nora:

The whole mess at the hospital left me speechless. I realized I had been tricked into believing I was poisoned just so I would run around like crazy and tell my stepbrothers. The girls knew it would be proven with the help of tests that no poison was found in my body, and I would be seen as someone who wanted those witches to be punished and humiliated.

“It has gotten out of hand,” I heard Nash say from the driver’s seat. I kept my head down, feeling guilty.

“Just keep driving. We’ll talk at home,” Cain spoke softly to him, but he adjusted the mirror to check on me. I quickly looked down, too ashamed to meet his gaze.

My heart was beating so slowly, as if my body wanted to hide somewhere—away from everyone’s eyes.

“Can I say something?” I asked from the backseat, hoping to explain how the girls had fooled me.

“Not right now, Nora. Can’t you see we’re already upset?” Cain responded, not raising his voice, but the dismissal broke my heart, and I sank into my seat. They didn’t say another word after that, and we arrived at the mansion. I knew they would question me later, but for now, I was left alone with my thoughts and guilt.

They left me in my bedroom, and no one stayed behind to talk with me. I heard they were first going to deal with the complaints filed against Daphne and April, and then discuss what to do with Natalya.

11:23

240 tuming Questions

It was going to get crazy because I knew those girls would use this to guilt–trip them, and they would get angrier with me.

However, I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. When my door swung open and Lord Atwood barged inside, I could tell it was time for me to get a good scolding for what happened on the day of the funeral.

“Sit up. We need to have a conversation.” Lord Atwood gestured for me, and I quickly adjusted my attire and sat up in bed.

“I have treated you as my own blood, haven’t I?” Lord Atwood asked, disappointment visible in his eyes and disbelief evident in his voice.

I nodded, so he continued, “Even when everyone questioned me for it, I brought you here and put you above my sons. Have I not?” It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to meet his gaze. I felt ashamed, not because I did something wrong, but because it had been so easy for those three devils to trick me and make a fool out of me.

But how does one react when told they have been poisoned? What could I have done?

There was a solution back then that I hadn’t considered. Instead of running to my stepbrothers, I should have looked for Brody. I’m sure. he would have quietly taken me to the hospital and wouldn’t have judged me if nothing had shown up in the test results.

“Then why?” Lord Atwood slammed his hand on the table, making me jolt my head up.

“I didn’t do anything,” I repeated, lowering my head once more.

“The lack of responsibility for your actions is just bewildering,” Cain’s comment forced me to raise my head and glare at him.

31.662

11.20

240 Burning Questions

“As if you’re responsible,” I muttered, thinking my words would be taken lightly as they usually were. My step–siblings and I had always bickered, but Lord Atwood had always taken my side and didn’t hold my actions against me.

That changed today when he raised his head and hissed at me.

“Don’t talk to your elder brother in that tone,” he warned, his voice

stern.

The shifting dynamic was crushing me. Suddenly, I was so wrong that I had been stripped of all the privileges of being the youngest stepdaughter.

“You made her this way. Every time we tried to educate her or correct her behavior, you would scold us and take her side. Now look at the demon you’ve created,” Nash’s outburst showed he had lost his temper.

“Because of her actions, now I have to face Daphne’s stepfather and the members of the boxing club. They are disappointed that I put an innocent person behind bars,” Nash continued, his frustration evident.

Slowly, everyone I once thought cared for me seemed to be slipping away. I had even lost the will to argue. There was no proof I could present to prove my innocence, and without any evidence, they wouldn’t believe my words.

“All this freedom and living with her boyfriend must have gone to her head, making her think she can do whatever she wants,” Ryker shook his head, his arms folded over his chest.

I was shocked that they somehow made it about me living with Brody. What did he have to do with all this?