I tightened my grip. "I took you in at sixteen. Raised you. Where is the debt?"
She shoved me away, eyes veined red.
"Who asked you to save me? If you hadn't meddled—if your lawyer friends hadn't pushed for the death penalty—my father would still be alive! I wouldn't be an orphan!"
I froze. The realization struck like a blow. She had hated me from the beginning.
"You hate me because justice was served? You think your mother deserved to die?"
Her silence was answer enough.
The commotion drew Victor in. His gaze flicked from Georgia's bleeding foot to my face. Cold disappointment settled in his eyes.
"Gracie, I've indulged you too much."
I didn't understand those words until the psychiatric hospital's iron gates slammed shut behind me.
He visited a week later. "Apologize to Georgia. I'll take you home."
I looked him in the eye and cursed her name instead.
He left furious. I thought it was a bluff—a power play to break me.
Then reality shattered.
In the garden, a girl who spent her days counting leaves was strangled by another patient mid-episode. I watched the life leave her eyes. Primal fear finally took hold.