The Diary That Held The Votes Against Me Chapter 04

Late that night, Julian stood outside Nora’s house for a long time with medication he’d picked up at a pharmacy to bring down the swelling in her face.

The whole house was unnaturally still, with no sign of life.

He raised his hand and knocked several times on the heavy front gate.

“Nora, are you home?”

“I got you something for the swelling. Can you come down and get it?”

“Don’t be mad anymore. I got back the $2,500 Sloane spent on the necklace. I’ll match it myself and give you $5,000.”

“Just let it go, okay? She didn’t mean anything by it. She’s just spoiled.”

“You’re her sister. Don’t be so petty with her, okay?”

Julian stood outside for a long time, trying one thing after another, but there was no response from inside.

That wasn’t like Nora.

She was easygoing and never held a grudge.

In the past, all Julian had to do was soften his tone and say a few nice things, and Nora would stop being upset with him.

Tonight, nothing he said got a response.

He checked his watch impatiently.

Was she not home?

It was already one thirty in the morning. No matter how upset she was, she should have come back by now.

He reached for the keypad, but the other night suddenly came back to him.

Just to keep Sloane from feeling embarrassed, he’d practically dragged Nora into that backyard cookout and forced her to sit through an entire night of humiliation.

He suddenly regretted how impulsively he’d acted that night.

His hand dropped away from the keypad.

Maybe she was asleep.

The thought occurred to him, and he immediately decided that had to be it.

He hung the pharmacy bag from the gate handle, certain Nora would see it when she went out for breakfast the next morning.

The next morning, Julian woke to his phone ringing.

Mr. Bennett sounded irritated.

“Julian, do you know where Nora is?”

The moment Julian heard her name, he was wide awake.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Bennett? Why are you looking for her?”

Mr. Bennett gave an annoyed grunt.

“The merit-exam results are out. That girl got damn lucky and placed in the top ten in the region. Now reporters keep calling because they want to interview her.”

Julian glanced at the clock on the wall.

“At this hour, she should be at the restaurant where she was working yesterday…”

By the time he rushed there, the lobby was packed with reporters, cameras, and microphones.

Several of them were talking quietly among themselves.

“Nora Hart really is impressive. Great grades, and she’s still working a summer job to save for college.”

“Really? I heard her dad’s loaded. He runs Bennett Group.”

“Seriously? Then why was she getting need-based assistance from school?”

“She only got it during freshman year. After that, someone filed a malicious complaint against her, claiming she lived in an expensive neighborhood and her family wasn’t poor at all. Guess who filed it.”

“Who?”

“Her half sister, Sloane Bennett.”

A wave of disbelief swept over Julian.

He suddenly remembered the end of freshman year.

Sloane had asked him if he knew how to write a complaint to the school.

After she finished it, he’d even gone with her to the principal’s office and helped her hand it in personally.

After that, Nora’s application for need-based assistance had been denied.

So the shock on her face back then had been real.

So had the tears.

Julian’s legs nearly gave out beneath him.

Suddenly, he couldn’t bear to think about everything he’d done to her.

The reporters waited in the lobby for two hours before they began losing patience.

Julian pulled out his phone and called Nora.

The call went straight to voicemail.

He hung up and tried again.

The call went straight to voicemail again.

Only then did he realize Nora had blocked him.

A sense of dread crept over him.

He pushed through the crowd and ran home.