CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Nora
The house was really quiet that afternoon. It was the kind of quiet where every little sound seemed louder. Liam had gone downstairs to talk to Paddy and the others, so I was left alone in the bedroom with my thoughts and the phone on the bed. For a long time, I’d been avoiding my phone.
I picked up the phone and turned it on. The screen lit up.
I saw all the calls I’d missed and all the messages I hadn’t read.
There were reminders about changes to my work schedule.
There were messages from Sofia asking if I was okay.
I also had an alert about a dentist appointment that I’d forgotten about scheduling months ago.
All these normal things made my heart hurt. I looked at Sofia’s message first. She’d sent a picture of a burnt croissant. She wrote that it was proof that she shouldn’t be trusted with pastries. I laughed a little before I could stop myself.
For a moment, the sound of my laugh seemed strange. It was like I hadn’t laughed in weeks. I wrote back to Sofia that I would trust her with coffee, but not anything that needed to be baked.
It felt important to answer my friend. It felt like proof that I still belonged to a world outside of fear and stalkers and quiet conversations about security.
Maybe this was what it meant to move forward. It didn’t mean waking up one day and being completely healed. It didn’t mean forgetting everything bad that had happened. It just meant answering a message and smiling at a joke. It meant remembering that I can still have normal moments.
I looked at the rest of the messages on my phone, mostly from people I didn’t talk to much. I skipped past those quickly. I didn’t want to talk to them.
Then I saw a name that made me freeze. Mom.
I hadn’t talked to her in a long time.Every call felt like we were arguing.
After I left home for good, we’d just stopped talking.
It was easier that way. I turned off the phone and put it back on the bed.
The room was quiet again. I leaned back and closed my eyes.
I could hear Liam and Paddy talking downstairs.
It should have made me feel safe. It should have reminded me that there were people who wanted to protect me. It just reminded me that I was never really alone. Someone was always watching me. Someone was always waiting for something bad to happen.
That thought made my stomach hurt.
Then my phone rang. It was a call from an unknown number. I stopped breathing. The ringing was loud. It wouldn’t stop. For a second, I just stared at the phone as it kept ringing in my hand.
Each time it vibrated, I felt a wave of fear in my chest. I looked at the number on the screen for a while, hoping it would stop ringing before I had to do something about it, but it just kept on ringing. It was like the person on the other end knew I was looking at the phone.
I took a breath and answered the phone. For a moment, nobody said anything. I could hear someone breathing on the other end of the line. The silence felt long, and my stomach started to feel tight. Then I heard my mother’s voice.
“Nora, is that you? Please tell me I finally got the number right. I’ve been trying to call you for weeks! I was starting to think something bad had happened to you.”
My mother’s voice sounded different. It was softer, and it sounded like she’d been crying.
It still brought back a lot of memories.
For a moment, I wasn’t in Liam’s bedroom anymore.
I was back in our house, standing in the kitchen with my mother.
I was sixteen again, and she was pretending not to see the bruises on my arm. I held the phone tighter.
“What do you want, Mom?”
My mother didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she spoke again.
“I know you don’t want to talk to me, Nora. I know I don’t deserve to call you after everything that happened but I didn’t know who else to call. I was worried something bad had happened to you.”
I laughed, but it was not a happy sound. “That’s funny, Mom. You’re worried about me now? Where were you when I was begging you to help me? Where were you when I told you I couldn’t stay in that house anymore?”
There was a long moment of silence. I thought she’d hung up. When she spoke again, her voice sounded really sad.
“Nora, please don’t talk to me like that. I know I made mistakes. I know I failed you, but I always loved you. I’ve thought about you every day since you left.”
I closed my eyes, feeling venom rise in my throat. “The problem is, Mom, that love wasn’t what I needed from you. I needed you to protect me. I needed you to believe me when I said I was scared. You just kept telling me to be patient and forgive him.”
My mother’s breathing sounded really uneven. “I was scared too, Nora. I was trying to survive, and I made a lot of bad choices. I see that now.”
Her words should have meant something to me, but they didn’t. “If you called to say sorry, Mom, it’s too late. If you called to tell me you miss me, I don’t know what you want me to do about it. So tell me the truth, Mom. Why are you calling me now?”
The silence that followed was really uncomfortable. When my mother finally spoke again, her voice was shaking.
“Because I’m scared. I’m really scared. I don’t know who else to ask for help.”
I sat upright immediately, every muscle in my body tightening as her words settled over me. “Scared of what? Tell me exactly what’s happening, because I’m too tired to play guessing games with you.”
My mother’s breathing shook through the speaker. “It’s your stepfather, Nora. He’s not the same. I know that sounds impossible because you already remember him as a bad person, but things have become unbearable here. He’s angry all the time now, and I don’t know what he’s capable of anymore.”
I laughed bitterly. “You don’t get to call me and suddenly describe him as dangerous, like I haven’t spent years telling you exactly that. I warned you. I begged you to listen to me, and every time you chose to defend him instead of protecting me.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I know, and I deserve every word you’re saying.
But please listen to me now, because I wouldn’t be calling you if I had any other choice.
He has become unpredictable, Nora. He disappears for hours without telling me where he’s going, and when he comes back, he’s furious about things that make no sense.
He talks to people I don’t know, whispers on the phone when he thinks I can’t hear him, and then accuses me of spying on him when I ask simple questions. ”
My grip tightened around the phone as a cold feeling began to spread through my chest. “Who has he been talking to?”
“I don’t know. That’s what frightens me.
There are men coming to the house sometimes, men I’ve never seen before, and they don’t stay long enough for me to understand what they want.
They speak quietly with him outside, and when I ask who they are, he tells me to mind my own business.
Yesterday he grabbed my arm so hard I thought he was going to break it, and he said things are going to change soon whether I like it or not. ”
I stood up and began pacing the room. “Why are you telling me this now? Why call me after months of silence? Why not call the police if you’re really afraid?”
She let out a shaky breath. “Because I don’t trust the police to protect me from him.
You know how he is, Nora. He can be charming when he wants to be, and people believe him because he knows exactly what to say.
I’ve tried to leave before, but he always finds a way to pull me back.
This time feels different. This time I’m afraid he won’t let me leave at all. ”
Her voice cracked on the last sentence, and despite everything, despite all the anger I carried toward her, I felt my heart twist painfully.
“Mom...”
“I should have protected you,” she said, the words spilling out of her now.
“I should have taken you and run the first time you told me you were afraid. I was weak and selfish, and I kept telling myself that if I stayed quiet long enough, things would get better. They never got better, Nora. They only got worse, and now I’m terrified that I’ve waited too long to ask for your forgiveness. ”
I stopped pacing. The room suddenly felt too small, too warm.
Part of me wanted to hang up and tell her that none of this was my responsibility anymore, that she’d made her choices and I’d made mine. But another part of me, the part that still remembered being her daughter, couldn’t ignore the fear in her voice.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked quietly.
There was another pause, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what came next. Mom was breathing heavily on the other end of the phone. We didn’t say for a second. A door closed somewhere in the distance. Then she spoke. Her voice was very quiet. I had to hold the phone to my ear to hear her.
“Nora, you need to listen to me. I don’t have a lot of time to talk. I wouldn’t be calling you if I could handle this myself. I wouldn’t be asking for your help if I thought I could keep myself safe.”
I sat down on the bed. My legs felt weak. “What’s going on? Please tell me what’s happening.”
“I can’t stay here anymore. I just can’t do this anymore.”
My chest ached. “Then leave. Pack your things. Go to a neighbor or a hotel. Just go somewhere that is not near him. I’ll help you from here.”
“It’s not that simple. You don’t know how much he watches me now. If I leave on my own, he’ll look for me, and I don’t know what he’ll do when he finds me.”
I closed my eyes. “I want to help you if you’re really in danger, but I need you to tell me the truth. What do you need me to do?”
My mother didn’t say anything for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was shaking. “Nora, I need you to come back. I need you to come home and see me. I don’t think I can get out of this situation without you.”
My eyes widened. “Come back? You want me to go back to that house after everything that happened?”
“I know it sounds crazy. I know I shouldn’t be asking you to do this. Things are really bad now. I’m not safe here. If you don’t come, something terrible might happen.”
Her words hung there between us.
I held the phone tighter. “If I come, I’m not coming alone. Someone will help me, and they’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“No!” she yelled. I wondered where her voice got that strength from. “You can’t bring anyone with you. Nobody can follow you. If he sees strangers around the house, he’ll know something is wrong. I’m scared of what he might do.”
I looked at the wall, my heart racing. “Why do you want me to come alone? If you’re really scared, why do you want me to go into that situation without anyone to protect me?”
“Because I’m your mother. Please, Nora. Come alone. Don’t bring anyone. Just help me before it’s too late.”
I didn’t trust my mother. I didn’t trust her years of silence. I didn’t trust the times she chose him over me. But I could hear the fear in her voice.
“You’re asking me to go to the one place I said I’d never go back to,” I said.
“I know what I’m asking. I know I don’t deserve to ask you, but I have no other choice. I’m scared. I don’t know how long I can pretend that everything is fine.”
I put my hand on my forehead. “Where is he now?”
“He’s gone. I don’t know where he is. That’s what scares me. He leaves without telling me anything. When he comes back, he’s angry about things I don’t understand. Please, Nora. Just see me. We can talk when you are here.” My mother’s words felt heavy in my chest. “Come alone. Don’t tell anyone.”
Every part of me wanted to say no. Every sensible thought told me that going back to that house would be a bad idea. Another part of me couldn’t stop hearing the fear in her voice. The fear sounded real, no matter how much I wanted to doubt her.
“I need to think,” I said quietly.
“Please don’t take too long,” she replied. “I’m afraid of what might happen if you wait.”
The line went silent for a moment, and I realized neither of us knew how to end the conversation.
I sat there with the phone pressed to my ear, my heart beating hard against my ribs, knowing that whatever decision I made next would pull me back toward the past I’d spent years trying to escape.
The desperation in her voice settled heavily inside me.
Before I could answer, the bedroom door opened.
I looked up sharply. Liam stepped into the room, his attention on me immediately.
He must have noticed the tension in my face, because his expression changed the moment our eyes met.
“I have to go,” I whispered into the receiver.
“Nora, wait—”
I ended the call before my mother could finish.
Panic rushed through me before I could stop it. I turned away from Liam and lowered the phone from my ear.
“Nora, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The silence that followed was sudden and heavy. I stared at the dark screen in my hand, trying to steady my breathing before looking back at Liam.
Concern was written plainly across his face.
“Who was that?” he asked gently. “And please don’t tell me it was nothing, because I can see that something upset you.”
For one brief, dangerous second, I almost told him the truth, but the words caught in my throat.
If I told Liam, he would investigate. He would send people to her. He would refuse to let me face this alone, and my mother had sounded terrified of exactly that. So I lied.
“It was an old acquaintance,” I said, forcing my voice to sound calm. “Someone I haven’t spoken to in years. They found my number somehow.”
Liam studied me for a long moment. I looked down at my phone, unable to hold his gaze.
“An old acquaintance made you look like this?”
“It was just an awkward conversation. They wanted to catch up, and I wasn’t prepared for it. That’s all.”
The lie felt heavy the moment it left my mouth. Liam stepped closer and rested a hand lightly on my shoulder.
“You don’t have to tell me anything you’re not ready to tell me,” he said. “But if something is troubling you, I want you to know you don’t have to carry it alone.”
His kindness made the guilt burn hotter. I nodded quickly.
“I know. I’m fine, Liam. I just need a few minutes to clear my head.”
He hesitated like he wanted to ask another question, but finally nodded.
“Alright. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” When he left the room, I waited until the door closed behind him before letting out the breath I’d been holding. My hands were shaking. I looked down at the phone again, and my mother’s words echoed through my mind with terrifying clarity.
I slipped the phone into my pocket and closed my eyes. I didn’t trust my mother. But what if she was telling the truth? And what if I was the only person who could help her?