Page 38 of Under Their Protection

“I used to,” I say simply.

“What made you stop? You made a whole career around writing, so it must have been impactful.”

“You are going straight in, aren’t you?” I ask.

“I am,” he smiles.

“Well…” I say but pause for a moment. I glance at Rowan and Theo notices.

“Is Rowan there?” he asks.

“He is. So is one of our… friends,” I say. I shouldn't have hesitated to say that. Now I have to explain the three-way relationship. Based on how his facial expression just changed, he’s definitely going to ask about it.

“Do you care if they join us?” he asks.

“So, you can make sure they are not coaching me?” I ask and he laughs.

“Something like that,” he chuckles.

“If they want to. They know most of what you are about to drag out of me anyway,” I say as I look at them. Without hesitation, they come to sit with me on camera.

“Most?” he asks.

“Yeah. There is a good bit that I haven’t said to anyone,” I say.

“Let’s get back to the writing before we circle back to your lie about your friend,” he says.

“Okay,” I say with a laugh.

“When did you stop writing?” he asks.

“When I was sixteen,” I say.

“Why?”

“Because my parents found my journal and read it. They burned it and I was… grounded for three days,” I say slowly.

“Grounded? You seemed unsure of that wording,” he states.

“Uh… Well, I got locked in the basement over an entire weekend with nothing but me and the dark, so I’m not sure if that counts as being grounded or not,” I say bluntly. Rowan and Max both look at me in shock.

“What was written that they reacted like that?” he asks, unphased.

“A few things. One thing that my mom mentioned was how I wrote that I wish my sister’s cancer would come back and kill her. Her doctor was concerned it came back and I was told I may have to donate bone marrow again. My dad was angry that I wrote about turning someone in for trying to assault me,” I explain.

“No one under eighteen is allowed to donate bone marrow,” he states.

“Oh, I know. It didn’t stop them from getting her doctor to do it. I was born so that they could use the stem cells from the umbilical cord to treat Harper. I am basically a perfect match for donation for her,” I say. “Emma has the limited records if you are curious.”

“I’ll look into that,” he says simply. Before I can stop myself, I put my foot in my mouth.

“I am assuming you don’t believe me?” I ask with acid in my voice. I immediately sigh and close my eyes for a second.

“Why would I not?” Theo asks softly.

“Because the one time I was questioned, and I said that, my parents told them that I was a liar. Look… I was taught from early on that I exist only because they needed something from me. They needed bone marrow when I was four but promptly started covering it up because they knew it was illegal that they got someone to do that. They likely had to pay off a lot of people for that. I don’t know how they got away with it. I am used to no one caring about what they did and still do to me.”

“I’ll have you elaborate on that more in a second. You mentioned an attempted assault?” he asks and I just nod.“Can you elaborate?” he asks.

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