Chapter 2

Mom held my hand the whole way home, telling me Dad was waiting for us and how much they'd both missed me over the years.

As we drove into the gated neighborhood, I caught sight of our old house through the window. The tree in the yard had grown so much taller since I'd last seen it four years ago.

I'd spent all that time believing the creditors would take the house if I couldn't pay off my parents' debts. I'd worked three jobs a day trying to save it, not even buying myself a single new outfit in four years.

Now the iron gates opened.

The iron gates swung open, revealing Dad standing in the yard amid a sea of balloons. The moment he saw me, he broke into a smile and opened his arms.

"Celine! Welcome home!"

I couldn't bring myself to run to him.

Dad came over and hugged me anyway, giving me a few hearty pats on the back.

"Look at you. You've gotten so thin!" He pulled back to study me. "You've grown up a lot, though. You're much more level-headed now. Remember how you used to make such a fuss whenever things didn't go your way?"

Applause erupted around us. I looked over at the guests gathered in the yard and recognized the faces immediately.

They were the same creditors who'd splashed red paint across our front door, smashed our windows, and forced me to my knees to beg for more time to pay them back.

Now they were all dressed in expensive suits, holding glasses of champagne and congratulating me as though we were old friends.

One of them raised his glass toward Dad. "Mr. Vossmere, you've raised one hell of a daughter! I remember she once showed up to pay me back while running a terrible fever. I almost felt too guilty to keep pretending!"

The yard erupted in laughter. Even Mom looked emotional, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Well, sometimes it takes a little hardship to appreciate what you have," she said. "Celine always thought we loved Cedric more than her. I'm sure she knows better now."

I couldn't take my eyes off the man who'd spoken. Last winter, he'd dragged me out of my rented apartment and taken every penny I'd saved for Cedric's tuition.

I'd spent two hours on my knees in the snow, begging him to give it back. He'd only told me that a debt was a debt and that I had to pay what I owed.

The next day, I'd sold the gold necklace Mom had left me so I could scrape together enough money for Cedric's tuition.

And now I knew that every penny he'd taken had gone straight back to my parents.

Once we were inside, Dad had someone turn on the projector in the living room. A video began playing, showing highlights from the past four years of my life. Apparently, they'd been keeping a record of my "test".

There I was, unloading shipments before dawn, wiping elderly patients down at the hospital, getting cornered by creditors in a dark alley, and dragging myself out to deliver Cedric's exam admission ticket despite running a high fever.

Every clip came with its own score.

"Responsibility: Perfect Score."

"Endurance: Perfect Score."

"Family Loyalty: Perfect Score."

One of the final clips showed me collapsing at work in the freezing warehouse. My coworkers rushed over, ready to call an ambulance, but a man in a cap stopped them. He told them there was nothing to worry about and that my blood sugar had just dropped too low.

I stared at the screen. That man was Dad's driver.

Mom seemed to take my silence as a good sign. She leaned closer, smiling proudly.

"You know, I almost rushed to the hospital when I heard about that. But then the supervisor told me that the first thing you asked when you came around was whether Cedric's tuition had been paid."

Her smile grew. "That's when I knew we'd done the right thing. All those years of testing you really paid off."

"What if I hadn't woken up?" I asked softly.

Mom frowned. "Celine, don't talk like that! This is supposed to be a happy day. Besides, didn't the doctor say you were just overworked?"

I turned to Cedric. He immediately dropped his gaze.

He knew perfectly well what the doctor had said that day. It wasn't a simple case of exhaustion. The doctor ordered a heart ultrasound and gave me paperwork for hospital admission.

My stomach suddenly lurched. I covered my mouth, but blood was already seeping between my fingers.

Mom started to get up, but Cedric was quicker. He grabbed a tissue and held it out to me. "Celine, your nose is bleeding again."

I wiped the blood from my palm and nodded. "Yeah. The air at the warehouse is really dry."

That was all it took. Mom didn't ask another question. She simply pressed play again.

On the screen, I was huddled on the floor of a hospital hallway, clutching Cedric's tuition receipt against my chest.

And on the couch beside me, Mom and Dad exchanged pleased smiles. "Congratulations, Celine. You passed."