Chapter 12
Dad had only symbolically brought up the idea of me dropping out to test my opinion-he hadn’t expected me to be bold enough to confront him head-on.
A father’s authority could not be violated!
The result of his fury was beating me up and locking me in my room.
“You must take a year off school. Stop having wild ideas and stay home to take care of Aunt Quinn.”
Dad threw out these words and left.
I buried my head in my knees, knowing I’d messed everything up.
Trying to soar before my wings were fully grown could only end in disaster.
I don’t know how much time passed before the door opened and Quinn stood in the doorway.
She handed me a sandwich: “Eat.”
I mentally calculated my chances of escaping past her. Quinn seemed to see through my thoughts and sneered: “If you still want to live in Lincoln’s house, I advise you to abandon any thoughts of running away.”
That made sense. I took the sandwich from her and wolfed them down.
Quinn was acting strange today.
Usually we maintained a policy of mutual non-interference-not tripping each other up was about the best we could manage.
Today she’d not only made me food but had also dragged over a stool with great interest to sit and watch me eat.
Let her watch-I wasn’t losing any flesh over it.
“Sienna Cohen, sometimes I think you’re terrifyingly mature. No normal 13-year-old facing your situation could eat so calmly.”
I pursed my lips, thinking: You’re looking at an eighteen-year-old soul. The suffering I’ve experienced is beyond your imagination.
Quinn didn’t mind my silence and continued talking to herself.
Maybe she didn’t need me to respond-she just wanted someone to confide in, and anyone would do.
“Do you especially hate me? Think I’m the bad woman who destroyed your family?”
“I don’t owe you Cohen people anything. If we’re talking about debts, it’s you Cohens who owe me.”
“When I was young, I never looked at your father. Your grandmother acted like she couldn’t understand plain language, coming to my house to make a huge scene, telling me to leave her son alone.”
“What a joke! Back then I had countless suitors-why would I look at your father when he was so crude, poor?”
“But people didn’t believe it. They all said I was a shameless tramp clinging to your father.”
“My family felt disgraced and moved away with me, but we encountered a landslide on the road. My whole family died, my hands were ruined, and my future was destroyed.”
“These hands could never dance gracefully across piano keys again.”
Chapter 12
Quinn dangled her two slender, pale hands in front of me, her expression gradually becoming manic.
I swallowed the last mouthful of sandwich and asked her: “What did my mom and I do wrong? The family’s broken up, and now because of you, Dad wants me to drop out of school.”
Quinn froze. After a few seconds, maybe minutes, she said bitterly: “I almost fell into your little trap. You’re a Cohen, with Cohen blood flowing through you-that’s your crime!”
As she left and locked the door, her voice came from behind it: “As for your mother, I can only say I’m sorry to her.”
I sneered coldly. These people were all such hypocrites-hurting innocent people for their own selfish desires while hypocritically making up reasons to justify themselves.
