Chapter Six: Cursed

"Miss Nadya, your parents are not here. They went to the hospital,” the security man said when I stepped back into the house.

"The hospital?" My voice came out thin. "All of them?"

"Yes, Miss. They left a while ago."

I did not ask him anything else aside from some cash. After handing me some, I turned around and walked back out the front door, and flagged down a taxi to the hospital.

My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my ears. The tears had started on their own, and they would not stop. I pressed my sleeve against my face the whole ride and could not explain to myself why I was so sure they would be furious with me. I had not done anything. But my hands would not stop shaking, and my stomach kept tightening as if it already knew.

When I reached the hospital hallway and saw them, Katya was the first to move.

Her palm struck my cheek before I could say a word. The crack of it rang down the corridor, and my head snapped to the side. Her eyes were red and swollen, sign that she had been crying. I stood frozen with my hand against my face.

"Why did you come back?" she shouted. "Have you not messed up my life enough? I remember clearly how you were begging for ice cream and throwing a tantrum and that was how I got lost! If you had not been demanding things all the time, none of it would have happened! And the day you come back, my fiancé gets shot!"

My heart broke. "Katya..."

"You are the curse in our lives, Nadya!” She continued shouting and crying, “I hate you as a sister, and I wish for another life without you in it. I hate you. I hate you so much!"

She broke into loud, ugly sobs, and Fillip stepped in and pulled her against his chest, holding her as she cried. I stood there while tears ran down my face and dripped off my chin.

Maybe she was right. The thought came slowly and landed hard. Maybe I really was cursed.

A broken sob slipped out of me, and I stepped forward.

"Go away!" Katya barked, her face turned toward me over Fillip's arm. "We do not want you here!"

"I am sorry," I begged, crying as hard as she was. "I know you hate me, but I did not have anything to do with what happened. If I could take ten times the pain, I would. Please do not blame me for it."

"We should not blame you?"

My mother stood up from the bench. Her eyes were red as well, and her mouth was pressed into a hard line.

“Look around, Naddy. In all the years you were gone, this family has been flourishing, and Katya has been able to succeed in life. It is not a coincidence that on the day you came back home, something terrible happened to us."

My heart clenched so tightly it hurt. "Mom, no. Ask Dad. Ask him if he has the ledger that man wants. Please, let us give it back to him and..."

"Nadya, go away."

I turned my head slowly. It was Fillip, and he had cut me off.

"B-Brother..." The word came out of my mouth in pieces.

He did not look at me. He kept his arms around Katya, and his jaw was tight, as if he were holding himself together by force.

"I do not think I can ever look at you the same way again," he said.

That was the sentence that broke me completely. My heart clenched so hard that I could not breathe, and my knees went weak.

"No, Fillip. Please. I need my brother. You cannot say this to me. You cannot..."

"Nadya, stop!" he shouted and finally he looked up. "Katya is right. You cursed this family with your presence today..."

"What about me?" I screamed, my voice cracking at the middle. "I did not ask for any of this! I was released today, and..."

"The maid's family was threatened into releasing you!" my father said, stepping forward with a face full of disappointment. "I do not know if you are even my daughter. You got yourself released, you got taken, and now you are back in one piece, and you expect us to welcome you with open arms. How do we know you are not working for him?"

I stared at him with my lips trembling and my tears streaming. "That is because I have been poisoned."

Saying it out loud broke something inside me.

Every head in the room turned toward me at once. I kept going, my voice shaking so badly I could barely shape the words.

“He gave me five hours for Dad to deliver the ledger. If he does not, I die."

"Then die!" Katya spat, tearing herself out of Fillip's arms. "That is the most merciful thing you can do. Die knowing you saved this family from bringing more misfortune into our lives. You were never worthy of being in this family, and I am the rightful heiress this family needs. I made them proud, and I always will be the best child. Now leave!"

My heart crumpled inside my chest. I did not move. I looked at Fillip and tried to take one step toward him, but Katya stepped into my path and blocked me.

"Deaf now, little sister? Leave!" she barked, and the sound went through my chest like a nail.

I looked at Fillip, then at my parents, then at Katya. I tried to remember when everything had started to go wrong after Katya came back. My hand went to the necklace around my neck and closed around the pendant.

"Brother," I called.

He did not look at me. His jaw clenched harder. I turned to my parents, and they were not looking at me either.

So everyone wanted me to die. Then why was I standing here crying for a family that had completely given up on me?

I swallowed and wiped my tears away with a sharp swipe of my hand. "I will go. But I need to ask one question, and I am begging you to be honest with me."

They all turned to look at me. My eyes went to my father.

"Did you have the ledger or not?"

He looked as if he had not expected that question at all.

"Trying to make..." Katya started.

"I was asking Dad, Katya," I snapped, and she shut her mouth. I turned back to him. He looked uncertain now, with every eye in the hallway fixed on him.

"My father protected it until his last breath," he finally said. "I intend to do the same."

"At the expense of my life?"

"Get out, Nadya." Katya cut in, cold as ice. "You are not worthy enough for Dad to sacrifice such an important book to spare you, and then you come back to ruin our lives."

I could not believe my ears. My chest ached so badly that it started to feel tight, and for a moment I wondered if the poison had already begun to work.

I did not look at them again. I turned around and walked out of that hallway, bent forward slightly with my fist pounding against my chest to loosen the tightness. At the nearest chair, my legs gave out, and I sat down and wailed.

Today was officially the worst day of my life, and I knew I would never forget it. I wished I were still locked up at the Penitentiary. At least there, no one had pretended to love me. I cried until there were no tears left in me.

Then the monitor on my ankle began to beep, an alarm, and I knew I was running out of time.

I stood up slowly because my head was already getting groggy. Probably caused by crying too much.

I must have looked like a mess because a few people glanced at me as I passed, but I did not care. Katya might have been harsh, but there was something in what she said. If I died, I would at least stop being a disappointment to everyone.

Fillip had turned his back on me. That meant this was my fault.

I hailed a taxi to the Rostova estate. Two guards were already waiting for me when I arrived, and they led me inside without a word. The longer I waited, the more my head began to spin with my stomach tying a knot.

When he walked out, I tried with all the strength I had left to show him I was ready for him to kill me, so I would not have to wait for the poison.

He said nothing. I looked up, and the movement made my vision blur at the edges.

"You die, and I lose the means to getting my hands on that ledger," he said, walking closer.

Dark spots appeared in front of my eyes. I blinked hard to clear them. "M-My dad has it. But he will not give it to me."

"Because you are a bad child?"

"A cursed one." The words came out in a whisper.

He stopped right in front of me. I tried to hold his gaze, but my head was spinning.

"This is how this is going to work," he said. "I have acquired some information that requires me to marry..."

My foot lost its balance, and I felt myself falling. A hand caught me before I hit the ground then I was pulled into darkness.