“Those men came because of you,” he says.
Julie does not answer.
Travis spits blood onto the floor. “We already got paid.”
Julie flinches.
Just once.
Then something in her face changes.
It empties.
That is worse.
“You sold me,” she says quietly.
Neither of them answers.
She takes one step into the kitchen.
Then another.
“My mother left me with you.” Her voice stays flat. Quiet enough to cut. “And you sold me.”
Earl starts crying.
Actual tears.
Coward.
Travis glares at her like she is the one who ruined his life.
“I had to pay for you running,” he says. “Do you know what they did to us?”
Julie stares at him.
Then she says the coldest thing I have ever heard out of that soft mouth.
“I don’t care.”
Good.
No pity. No apology. Nothing for them.
She turns to me.
“My room’s in over there.”
I nod once. “Go.”
She looks at the tied-up men one more second, then slips past me and heads down the short hall.
I stay in the kitchen with Earl and Travis.
Earl starts babbling the second she is gone. Men showing up. Money owed. Payment taken. Beatings handed out when the girl disappeared and the buyer ended up dead.
I listen to enough of it to know one thing.
