The muscles in her face are tense. She looks exhausted. Maya is about to respond when Dani comes flying back into the kitchen, arms overflowing with markers and paintbrushes. “Aunt N’omi! Come to my room!”
I look at Maya, who looks away. I sigh and turn back to Dani. “Okay, Dani-girl. Show me what you got.”
Hours later, I’m alone with Maya in the entryway, shrugging my coat over my shoulders, when she says, “Don’t let him do any favors for you.” Maya is staring at me with a look I can’t read, her hand resting on the door. I’ve never seen my sister like this before.
“Who?”
“Matthew DuPont,” she says, her voice stern. “Trust me, you don’t ever want to owe that man anything.”
Chapter Forty-One
Maya
February 2012
It had been three weekssince we took Lila to the hospital. The snow finally thawed and I spent my afternoons in Chancellor Green Library, a textbook open on my lap, watching students and faculty outside the window.
But the fear did not fade. It pulsed in the back of my skull, like a tightly coiled spring. Knowing that the man who held so many of our futures in his hands had a temper like that, knowing that he knew that we’d seen him assault Lila that night…I was constantly on edge, waiting for what was inevitably coming for us.
I loved that library. It felt like a cocoon—its octagonal rotunda a giant birdcage of chestnut wood and iron railing. Bookshelves fanned out around the edges like spokes on a wheel, rays of light dancing through stained glass, washing the room in a pale golden glow.
On Tuesday after lunch, I was curled up on one side with my legs tucked under me, reading the poem “Annabel Lee,” when a familiar voice made me look up. Lila. I hadn’t seen her since that night. Assumed she’d gone home to her parents’ to recover.
But there she was, holding Austin’s hand as they made their way to a sheltered area of the library. And—oddly—she was smiling.
It was strange to see her like this when the last time I saw her she’d looked close to death as a nurse threaded an IV into her limp arm. It was good to see her happy.
Lila had dropped out of Greystone—we were notified via an email to the Society’s email discussion list. Everyone had known it wascoming. But it was brave. No one left Greystone.Ever.Not without knowing they’d be blocked from getting a job at every major company in Manhattan.
Rumors flew about why she was leaving. Some said she’d gotten too high, needed to go to rehab. Others whispered about an affair with Professor DuPont. Cecily said Lila was actually suing Matthew and had to drop out to make her case stick.
—
“We have tofind a way to help her,” I told Cecily that evening as we walked to Sterling for dinner. “She doesn’t deserve any of this.”
“But how do we do that without turning all of Sterling against us too?” Cecily asked.
Most everyone had already turned against Lila. The members were shutting her out one by one, and pretty soon, Lila would be completely cut off.
—
We joined Daisyand Kai at the dinner table. Daisy was aggressively shaking vinegar and salt on a salad as Kai gave her order to a waiter. Unable to eat, I sat staring at the flickering candle on the table instead.
I was disgusted. Ashamed. It felt like I was sinking into a pit of tar, feet stuck, viscous black seeping over my skin.
I jumped when Cecily’s phone buzzed on the table. Her eyes flicked down and she froze.
“What is it?” I asked.
Her eyes met mine, filled with indecision. “He’s offering Lila a settlement.” She turned the phone so we could read it.
Lila had sent her a screenshot of a text message from Professor DuPont:Have your attorney reach out to mine. Let’s put this behind us.
As if it were that easy for her to forget. “She’s not going to take it, though, right?” I asked, suddenly furious. DuPont was trying to quiet her with a check. No amount of money would make what he’d done to her okay, and it certainly wasn’t going to make her forget. I hoped Lila’s attorney was going to take him for all he was worth.
Cecily shook her head. “She hasn’t decided.”
“She could go to court,” I suggested. “We could be her witnesses.”
