When I returned home, there was no sign Maggie had ever lived there. Everything had been meticulously cleaned and restored,
leaving the house exactly as I remembered it.
As I walked toward the attic, Mitchell grabbed my arm.
“This is your room, Nora,” he said softly. “I won’t let you suffer anymore.”
Clutching my small bundle of belongings, I shook my head. “Anywhere is fine. It doesn’t matter. Once I’m better, I’ll get a job and
move out.”
His expression darkened. “Why would you want to move out? This is your home.”
“No, it’s not,” I replied, my voice steady. “This is your home. I want a place where I don’t have to worry about being thrown out. I
don’t want to be sent away to that scary place again.”
Mitchell’s eyes reddened as he groveled before me. “Nora, I swear–nothing like that will ever happen again. I promise.”
To reassure me, Mitchell took me to a notary and transferred the house into my name. Every asset he owned, he gave to me.
He stared at the scars on my body, each one mirroring the guilt in his soul. Then, he did something I never expected–he inflicted
them on himself, one by one.
Even as blood streamed from his wounds, his face remained pale but determined, a twisted smile tugging at his lips. “I’m atoning
for my sins, Nora,” he said, his voice trembling. “If I suffer the pain you endured, will you hate me a little less?”
Once, he even subjected himself to electric shocks, which left him vomiting for hours. Afterward, he slapped himself hard across
the face.
“It hurts so much,” he whispered, tears streaming. “I can’t believe I put you through that. I’m such a monster.”
Maggie returned one day, throwing the house into chaos.
“I’m pregnant with your child!” she declared, her voice dripping with venom. “You can listen to your sister’s lies all you want, but this child is yours, and you owe me child support. You had no right to take away the house I’m living in or cancel my cards!”
Mitchell’s gaze hardened as he shoved her toward the door. “You want money? After everything you did to Nora? We don’t want to see you. And you’ll get nothing from me. Get out!”
“Hah, what a nice show you’re putting on,” Maggie sneered. “Pretending to be a devoted brother? Don’t fool yourself. You ruined
her, and she’ll never forgive you. There’s no going back for either of you.”
She turned to me with a cold laugh. “Nora, do you know what he said when you were sent to that boarding school? I told him to
visit you, but he said you deserved to rot there. That you dying there would serve you right-”
