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Nicola’s stomach churned. “What’s wrong? Did she have another seizure?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.”

Nicola eased instantly. “What’s wrong then?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Freya chuckled nervously. “I just wanted to call and let you know that you don’t need to worry about that payment.”

“What?” Nicola frowned and she flicked her gaze to Simone. She hadn’t heard that, had she? Standing sharply, Nicola left the family room and went straight to the kitchen. She wanted privacy for this. “What are you talking about?”

“The amount you owed has been paid in full. We just need you to pay for the next month, but don’t worry about the back payments.”

“I’m not understanding.” Nicola shook her head again, her stomach twisting into knots. “What are you talking about?”

“Someone paid the debt. You only have future payments to make from now on.”

“What do you mean someone? Who?”

“A … donor.”

“A donor?” Nicola nearly screeched out the word. “Like you have a program for this?”

“Uh… not exactly.”

“Then who paid it?” Nicola’s voice rose, the sound reverberating through the kitchen.

“I can’t?—”

“Yes, you can.” Nicola clenched her jaw tightly. “This isn’t anything I applied for. No one knows about it except you people. So who paid for it.”

“Abagail Kerrbox.”

Nicola’s heart stuttered. The wind rushed from her lungs. Blood drained from her face. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

“Do you know her?” Freya asked.

“Uh. Yes. I’ll take care of this. I’ll uh… thank you.” Nicola ended the call without saying anything else. She leaned against the kitchen counter and closed her eyes, trying to calm her racing heart. But it wasn’t working. Her chest hurt so damnmuch. She pressed her fist against her ribs and worked hard to breathe as slowly and deeply as possible.

“Nicola?” Simone said, stepping into the room. “Is Alanna okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. That was…” What the hell was she supposed to say? Was she supposed to tell Simone everything now? “That was the facility about my next payment.”

“Payment?” Simone frowned. “I thought you said her SSI covered it all.”

“Not all of it.” Nicola winced. “And I fell behind a bit in the payments, but Abagail—” She stopped short. She couldn’t sayWarren’s Auntbecause Abagail was so much more than that now, wasn’t she? And this was way more than what they’d agreed on. Where did Abagail get off thinking she could just buy her way back into Nicola’s good graces? Fuck, was she even all that different from Warren?

“Abagail what?”

“She paid it off.” Nicola bit the inside of her cheek. “You know how rich that family is. Insanely rich. And Abagail, she holds the purse strings for everything. So I guess she found out and maybe she did feel bad about Warren.”

“So you think she paid off the bill to alleviate her guilt?” Simone’s face scrunched in confusion.

“M-maybe.” That wasn’t what Nicola thought. But she really didn’t want to explain to Simone what the actual arrangement had been, or that she’d stormed out of there when Abagail had thrown her weight around and tried to be too controlling, or whatever the hell that had been in her kitchen.

“Does that sound like her?” Simone asked.

“It could. I don’t honestly know her that well.” Nicola’s panic began to subside. But it was replaced with the burning anger that she’d shown up with. Fuck, she’d really wanted to get away fromthat, not just run face first into it again. “I think I need to go talk to her.”

“Might not be a bad idea.” Simone brushed her fingers down Nicola’s arm. “Now?”