All Chapters of Nothing Left to Owe My Family: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

The second that massive, terrifying needle slid out of my spine, I collapsed like a popped balloon.Two bodyguards quickly grabbed my limp arms and roughly dumped me onto the cold floor. I curled into a ball, shaking uncontrollably.My brother, Wallace Hayden, loomed over me, blocking out the fluorescent lights."Cut the act, Mary!" he snapped. "Seriously? We paid for you to sit around eating and drinking in a psych ward for three years, and now you're acting like a little marrow extraction is killing you?"You're spineless! Your foster parents were right. You're just a lazy, manipulative brat."The insults hit me with the familiar sting they had for the last three years, squeezing the air from my lungs. I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn't faking.Pancreatic cancer was the king of cancer. By the time it was discovered, it was already terminal, and it progressed incredibly fast.Lately, the pain was so bad I couldn't even sit or lie down normally. And I hadn't eaten in two day

Three years ago, as I was walking downstairs, Chantal suddenly appeared out of nowhere and screamed as she threw herself down the steps.She lay at the bottom in a pool of blood, crying, "Mary, it's okay if you pushed me. I shouldn't have taken Mom, Dad, and Wallace away from you. I deserve this."A blind spot in the security cameras, a maid who "happened" to walk in at that exact second, and my hairpin clutched in Chantal's hand formed ironclad evidence.No matter how much I begged or tried to explain, nobody believed me.Beryl went hysterical, screaming that I needed to pay with my life, while Isiah backhanded me across the face.And Wallace, the one who had personally brought me back to the family, looked at me like I was a monster. "You're rotten to the core! You don't deserve to be a Hayden, and you definitely don't deserve to be my sister."With a forged psychiatric evaluation, they had me locked away in a suburban asylum. I was trapped there for three whole years....A

Right then, a loud cheer erupted from the doctor's office, drowning out the voice on the line."She's cured! Chantal is going to be okay!"The door flew open, and Beryl rushed out, tears streaming down her face.She threw her arms around Wallace, sobbing with relief. "The doctor said it was a miracle! Chantal is blessed! The sickness just went away on its own!"The sudden wave of euphoria wiped the phone call from Wallace's mind. He hung up immediately and hurried into the room.Chantal was sitting on the examination chair, looking pale but flashing him a peace sign. "Told you I'd recover. Luck has always been by my side."Isiah stood off to the side, a rare smile breaking across his stern face.The attending doctor adjusted his glasses, a slight stiffness in his voice. "Congratulations. Miss Hayden's case is highly unusual, but it's not entirely without precedent. The lesions spontaneously vanished. For all intents and purposes, it's a medical miracle.""This is great!" Wallac

A woman's shrill screeched from behind the thin apartment door."Ever since that useless brat left, the dishes have been piling up! The floors are so disgusting you can't even step inside!"We never should have taken that money from the Haydens and sent her away. She could have been working two jobs right now to bring in extra cash.""What's the point of whining about it now?" a man's rough voice snapped back. "You're the one who panicked. You were so terrified that the Haydens would find out how we treated her and sue us, or take back the payoff money."You just had to go behind her back and talk trash to her parents. Now what? They despised her and kicked her out. If you hadn't opened your mouth, we could have squeezed them for way more cash by now!""Are you seriously blaming me now?" the woman yelled. "When we locked her in the basement and starved her for three days, you didn't seem to have a problem with it! You're just pissed because you lost all our money gambling again!"

"The truth is, Miss Hayden gave me a fortune and threatened the safety of my family," the doctor said, his legs shaking. "She forced me to forge the medical records and stage the entire emergency."In fact, she's completely healthy. She never needed a marrow transplant. She told me she wanted to give the family a surprise and to test who you all cared about more."The truth was laid bare in all its ugliness. Every ounce of color vanished from Chantal's face, and her knees gave out, sending her collapsing into a heap on the hardwood floor.Wallace began to laugh—low at first, then louder and more manic, until tears rolled down his face."A surprise?" he howled, his eyes wide and vacant. "A test? What a beautiful, perfect test!"He turned to the bodyguards, his voice dropping into a lethal, ice-cold snap. "Take her to the asylum. Tell the director to give her their most 'attentive' hospitality. She is to stay inside those walls for the rest of her life.""No!" Chantal let out a sub