I pressed a hand over my mouth.
She was too afraid to tell them no.
That doesn’t excuse her.
But fear can make a person help build the very cage they’re standing in.
Nora knows.
Let Chloe tell her own part.
You don’t have to pull the truth out of her.
Near the bottom of the third page, Grandpa had underlined one sentence.
You were not the child they loved less, Birdie.
You were the child they could no longer control.
Below it, he had written:
Your sister stayed with them.
That doesn’t mean she was kept safe.
I found Chloe in the guest room folding the same three shirts.
“Why didn’t you tell me you came here?”
She froze.
I held up the letter.
Her face crumpled.
“I didn’t know if he told you.”
“He didn’t.
Why didn’t you?”
“Because I still signed it.”
