Chapter 13: The Cue

I did not invite my mother in.

I took the coat out of her hands, and I took my phone out of my pocket, and I pressed record and held it against my leg.

Ronan stayed on the stair behind me and said nothing.

"Tell me," I said.

Mom looked at the phone, and then at my face, and she lowered her voice.

"He keeps a card in his jacket," she said. "Before every dinner, he writes Y or N next to each name on it. The vote is on that card."

"I know the vote is fake, Mom."

"Then you know why I came." Her eyes filled. "Eugene has been running this house on your back. I can't stand it anymore."

She had cried like that on camera for the sponsor read, the week the new contract came in.

I remembered the exact shape of her mouth.

"Why now?" I said.

"Because the Fair Table Live is in three weeks, and he's going to humiliate you again, and I can stop it."

"How?"

"You come. You sit in the front row. When he says your name, you cry, just a little, and he lifts the vote in front of everyone."

She took a breath and pressed on.

"The house is yours again, honey. Your room, your account. Hearth renews, and we're a family."

I looked at her for a long time.

"You want me to cry," I said.

"I want you home."

"On stage. At the part where he says my name."

"Nessa."

"Say it plainly, Mom. What do you need from me at the Live?"

Her hands twisted together in the cardigan.

"I need you to cry," she said. "Hearth wants to see you forgive him. It has to look real."

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