The Non-Disclosure Agreement

My mother, Eleanor Sterling, pushed a leather folder across the mahogany table. She had been dabbing at her eyes since I arrived, but her makeup was still perfect. "We only need your signature, sweetheart." She touched the folder with two fingers. "Chloe has a fragile heart. Finding out about you has been hard enough." For a second, I heard wind instead of her voice. The last time I saw this family, I was falling eighteen stories to my death. In my first life, I signed the same Non-Disclosure Agreement. The Sterlings introduced me as an adopted charity case, and I accepted it because I wanted them to keep me. For three years, Chloe blamed me whenever she was caught lying or spent too much money. My parents believed her. Julian made sure the servants did too. It ended on the roof of Sterling Tower. While I stood on the ledge, my family gathered around Chloe. She cried into Eleanor's shoulder and said my "melodrama" was frightening her. My father's last words reached me through the wind. "Get down from there and stop making a scene! You're embarrassing us!" Then I stepped backward. Now the folder was under my hand again. The signature line waited at the bottom of the last page, exactly where I remembered it. "No." Eleanor's fingers stopped against her handkerchief. "What did you say, Aria?" I slid the folder back to her. "This is a business contract. I'm not signing it." Richard Sterling set down his drink. "Don't be a fool, child. We're offering you a life you can't imagine. Sign the paper." "A life where I have to pretend I don't exist? No, thank you." I stood. I had no money, and the clothes I wore had come from a donation bin. Staying would cost more. "Where do you think you're going?" Eleanor gasped. "Away from here." I headed for the double doors. Before I reached the brass handle, the doors opened. My brother, Julian, filled the doorway. "Leaving already? Giving up on the good life before it even begins?" The study door was thick. He had to have been listening from the hall. I stepped around him. Rain tapped against the tall foyer windows. Julian caught my arm hard enough to bruise it. "A little advice, sister. Out there, you're nobody. Before the week is over, you'll crawl back and beg for whatever we're willing to give you." I twisted free and looked at the red marks his fingers had left. Then I walked out into the rain. Julian followed as far as the front steps. "You'll be back, Aria!" I kept going. He could wait there all week.