Chapter 3

I jolted awake the next morning.

The other side of the bed had already gone cold. Keita was long gone.

Good. At least we wouldn't have to stare at each other across the sheets.

When I was little, Keita used to hold me while I slept sometimes.

I was terrified of thunder.

One night during a bad storm, I hugged a pillow and hovered outside his bedroom door, working up the nerve to knock.

Before I could, a crack of thunder scared the tears right out of me.

Keita heard me crying and opened the door immediately.

He carried me inside, held me close, and told me I could always come to him when I was scared.

Keita was so good to me.

He took care of everything, paid attention to everything. He made me feel like the most important person in the world.

And because of that, I started to feel things I shouldn't have.

I became dependent on him. Possessive, even.

And in the end, he used his dying breath to tell me he regretted taking me in.

Let it go. That was a different life.

This time, I was going to live for myself.

Louise's birthday came and went. Nothing happened. Everything stayed quiet.

I felt a private wave of relief.

As long as Louise was okay, Keita wouldn't get into that accident. And if Keita didn't get into that accident, there was no reason for me to stay.

It was time to go.

I started researching schools abroad. I wanted to study overseas.

Keita was my legal guardian, and some of the paperwork for studying abroad required his signature.

Once I had everything quietly prepared, I went to find him in his study.

After all these years, I knew his habits by heart.

Around nine at night, he usually worked late in the study.

I made my way there alone and found the door slightly ajar. Louise's voice drifted through the gap.

"Keita, after what happened that night, are you really just going to pretend it didn't?"

My heart dropped. I thought back to how Keita had acted that night — the drinking, the things he'd said.

Had he and Louise actually...

"Louise, calm down. If something did happen, I'll take responsibility. I mean that."

Keita's voice was steady.

"Right now, Sophia is in her senior year. I don't want anything disrupting her before her SATs."

"But she's not even your real niece. Once she turns eighteen, you're not legally obligated to do anything for her."

Their voices were tense. Sharp.

This was the first time I'd ever heard Keita and Louise argue, and it was about me.

Should I have been grateful? Keita was willing to keep me around until I turned eighteen.

"She turns eighteen in two months. By then, I'll find a reasonable way to send her off."

My chest went cold.

Even in this life — even though I'd already let him go — he was still going to get rid of me for Louise's sake.

If that was how it was always going to end, then I'd rather be the one to leave first.

He wouldn't need to bother finding a polite excuse. I'd take care of it myself.