Chapter 4 - The Contract
The first thing I saw was the letterhead.
My father's law firm. Hargrove & Bell.
The second thing I saw was a payment schedule.
A six-figure number.
Money to be paid to Nate, on the condition that he married Sadie.
My parents' signatures.
Nate's signature.
The scream came out of me before I even knew it was coming.
I thought I understood exactly what I was holding. I had no idea how much more there was.
"You SOLD yourself to marry my sister?"
"I know how it looks. Let me explain—"
"Explain WHAT, Nate?" My voice cracked and bounced off the walls. "That you took a check from my parents to put a ring on her? She is dying in there! And you walked her down the aisle with their money in your pocket?"
Nate slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor.
Then he said something that knocked the air out of me.
He was crying.
"I never cashed a single one," he whispered. "Every check they mailed went straight into an account with her name on it. Every dollar. It's there for her when she needs it. All of it is hers."
I wanted so badly to believe him.
But the math still wasn't working.
"Then why sign it? Why put your name on something that disgusting?"
He stared at the floor.
"Because I saw where they were going to send her. A place called Ashland House."
The name meant nothing to me.
May you like
But the way his voice dropped saying it made my legs go weak.
I sank down onto the cold tile across from him because I couldn't stand anymore.
