Page 142 of Riot

But betraying Riot?

That might destroy everything I’d become.

I buried my face in my hands.

There was no winning here.

Only choosing who I was willing to lose.

And for the first time in a long time, I realized I didn’t want to be a victim of other people’s choices anymore.

I wanted to make my own.

I stayed there on the floor for what felt like forever, trying to breathe through the storm. I wasn’t crying, not yet. It was like my body was waiting for confirmation that the pain was real before it let me break.

Then I heard them.

Their voices were soft at first, barely audible through the cracked door. But something in the tone made my ears sharpen, my back go rigid.

“Anita,” my aunt said, her voice low but firm. “You need to tell her.”

“I can’t,” my mother whispered. “She’s already been through so much. I can’t put that on her too.”

“She deserves to know the truth.”

“I know but I can’t. I’m so ashamed.”

“You should be!”

“She thinks she was kidnapped…”

There was a long pause. My breath hitched.

“You and I both know that’s a lie,” my aunt snapped. “Lionel is the reason she went missing. Him and his damn gambling problem. He owed money. He sold her. Just like that. And he never looked back. And then her brother set the whole thing up. He knew when she was leaving the school and would be walking home. Your father promised him the thrown for throwing his little sister underneath the bus. She deserves the truth.”

The silence that followed was louder than a scream.

I sat there, frozen, my hands gripping the fabric of my pajama pants like they were the only thing keeping me tethered to the floor.

Sold me?

No.

No. That couldn’t be?—

“You think I don’t carry guilt every day for letting that man near her?” my mother said, her voice cracking. “I should’ve stopped it. But we owe so much money and the business was crumbling. I was too busy trying to keep the lights on and keep him from getting killed in the street. And when she disappeared…” She choked back a sob. “Lionel said she ran away. That Boaz took her to scare him. That she’d come back.”

“But he knew she wouldn’t,” my aunt said softly. “Because he made the deal himself. And you eventually realized that and still stayed with that man! I was a glad when they found his bloated body for what he did to my niece!”

That was it.

I shoved the door open so fast it slammed against the wall. My mother jumped, eyes wide. My aunt’s mouth dropped open, mid-sentence.

“You lied to me,” I said, voice shaking. “All this time, you fucking lied to me.”

“Allure—baby?—”

“Don’t,” I snapped, holding up a hand. “Don’t you dare. You sat next to me, rubbed my back, made me breakfast—like you weren’t sitting on a bomb. I’ve been gone all this time! And that’s why you didn’t look for me because you let my father sell me!”

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