d water hit my face

ng against my ribs like a trapped bird. The air was s

t up! Are

rother, Liam. Entitled, lazy,

with gasoline, and the terrifying realization of what Liam had done. He had sold me. For money to pay off his gambling debts, he had sold his own sister to a h

pposed t

n my face. "I need you to go to the bank and co-sign this

would eventually commit. I looked around the room. It was my old apartment, the one I had before I finally scraped enou

. It was three years ago. Three years before he would se

ad been given a

l thing, rose up inside me. It drowned out the years

r your brother, C

ad let him pull on it until it strangled me. I lost m

ag

waving the loan application imp

him, for the first time without the filter of sisterly obligation. I saw a parasite, a

ng I had never don

appe

p and final. Liam stumbled back, his hand flyi

ll, Chloe?"

in my own ears, free of the usual strain and weariness.

his shock turning to anger. "You promised

fferent things," I shot back, swinging my legs out of bed. "I'm done, Li

abbed my arm, his fingers digging into my skin. "You

sister to traffickers for a

oze, his grip loosening. "What... what

ing in the dark corners of his mind. I could see it in his eyes, the flicker of fea

," I said, my voice leav

oset, grabbed my purse and my keys, and didn't look ba

the front do

turning to face him one las

g the final, satisfying crack of the chain that had bound m