I Thought Love Had to Be Earned Through Chores, They Hugged Me Chapter 06

I Thought Love Had to Be Earned Through Chores, They Hugged Me Chapter 06

I woke with tubes down my nose. Catherine was slumped over the bed, her eyes swollen like walnuts. Edward sat on the couch-he’d gone noticeably grayer overnight. Cole stood at the window. The second he saw my eyes open, he turned and headed for the door.

“Cole.” He stopped. “How much is the hospital bill?”

He turned back and looked at me like he was seriously considering knocking me out again. “Marnie Grant. Is it physically impossible for you to ask a normal question?”

I thought it over. “Does the hospital need any orderlies?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay.” I obediently closed my eyes.

But Catherine grabbed my hand. “Marnie, you don’t have to pay anything back. A mother spending money on her daughter-that’s the most natural thing in the world.”

My chest felt tight. Not from the smoke. The words were too heavy. I couldn’t catch them.

The door opened. Police. Frances had been arrested and confessed everything: Annabel had sent her to alter the invoices, disable the security cameras, and cut the gas alarm wires. But locking the basement door-that had been Frances’s own idea. I’d gotten her fired, ruined her standing with the family. She’d figured, why not finish the job.

Cole laughed coldly. “Ruined her standing? She planted industrial poison and cut a gas line. Nearly killed dozens of people. And we’re the villains?”

Noise outside. Annabel had been brought in for additional questioning. She looked at me through the glass, tears streaming. “Marnie, I swear-I never told her to lock that door.”

I nodded. “I believe you.”

Everyone in the room froze. So did she.

“But you cut the gas line. You cut the alarm. If I hadn’t smelled it, no one in that house would have made it out.”

Her lips trembled. “I timed it. I just wanted everyone to evacuate before they found the invoice.

I wasn’t trying to kill anyone.”

I looked at her. “Then what would have happened if I hadn’t gone down to shut that valve?”

She had no answer.

Cole stepped in front of me. “Don’t waste your breath on her.”

She broke down completely. “What was I supposed to do?! The second she came back, everything changed! Mom cries every day, Dad gave her shares, even you stopped having time to yell at me!”

Catherine’s face was bloodless. “We never wanted to send you away.”

“But you would have. Eventually.” She stared at me, her eyes wild. “She can cook. She can fix things. She saves lives. What can I do? Nothing.”

The words felt familiar. I was quiet for a long moment. Then I asked softly, “So you believe it too? That if you’re not useful, you don’t deserve to stay?”

She froze.

I understood, then. I proved my worth through labor. She proved hers by being good, by being pitiable, by always playing the one everyone needed to protect. Both of us, terrified of being thrown out. But I couldn’t forgive her on behalf of the people she’d nearly killed.

I pressed the call button. “Officer. Whatever the law says-that’s what should happen.”

Annabel was led away, sobbing. Catherine didn’t run after her. She wrapped her arms around me instead. “Marnie, your mother was wrong. From now on, whoever does wrong bears the consequences. No more hiding your pain behind the word ‘misunderstanding.””

I didn’t say anything. I just tried to rest my chin on her shoulder-for the first time. I didn’t work. And I didn’t get pushed away.