Chapter 64 Clarity
Hours after Ben left, Nora heard footsteps approaching her cell. The lock turned, the door opened, and Sussie stepped inside. She was dressed in her black ceremonial robes, though her mask was off, revealing her face. There was something triumphant in her expression, something that looked almost like genuine happiness.
“Nora,” Sussie said, closing the door behind her. “I heard the news. I wanted to come see you myself.”
Nora remained sitting against the wall, her eyes fixed on some point beyond Sussie, her expression still that same blank emptiness.
Sussie moved closer, crouching down so they were at eye level. “I want to thank you,” she said, and her voice actually sounded sincere. “For finally accepting what the family wants for you. For finally embracing your destiny.”
Nora’s eyes slowly shifted to focus on Sussie’s face, but she said nothing.
“I know it’s been hard,” Sussie continued. “I know you’ve suffered. But this is what you were born for, Nora. This is your purpose, your legacy. And now that you’ve accepted it, everything can finally move forward the way it was always meant to.”
She reached out as if to touch Nora’s shoulder, a gesture that might have been meant as comforting or sisterly. “We can be a real family again. All of us together, united in the organization. Isn’t that what you always wanted? To belong somewhere?”
For a long moment, Nora just stared at Sussie, her face still expressionless. Then, finally, she spoke. Her voice was still flat, still emotionless, but there was something sharp beneath it now, something cutting.
“You’re not my sister.”
Sussie’s smile faltered. “What?”
“I said you’re not my sister,” Nora repeated, her eyes never leaving Sussie’s face. “Not anymore. From this moment on, you are nothing to me. We share blood, we share parents, but that’s where it ends.”
Sussie’s expression hardened. “Nora, don’t be childish. We’re family. We’ll always be family.”
“Family can't do what you did,” Nora said, her voice still that same dead monotone but with an edge of steel. “Family do not betray each other, do not steal from each other, do not stand by and watch while their sister is tortured and broken.”
“I did what I had to do for the organization,” Sussie said defensively. “For the legacy. You would understand that if you weren’t so—”
“So what?” Nora interrupted. “So human? So capable of actually caring about people? So unwilling to sacrifice everything good and decent for power?”
Sussie stood up, her face flushing with anger. “You think you’re better than me? You think your resistance made you noble? All it did was make you weak. I embraced what we are. I accepted my role. I became powerful.”
“You became pathetic,” Nora said, and even through the flat delivery, the words cut deep. “You spent your whole life jealous of me, desperate for our parents’ approval, willing to do anything for scraps of affection from men who didn’t care about you. And you call that power?”
“How dare you,” Sussie hissed.
“You married my husband,” Nora continued, her voice never rising, never showing emotion, but each word precisely aimed. “Not because you loved him, but because you wanted what I had. You wanted to prove you were better than me, that you could take everything from me. But all you proved is that you have no identity of your own. You’re just a shadow, desperately trying to be me.”
Sussie’s hands clenched into fists. “I am nothing like you.”
“You’re right,” Nora agreed. “Because I would never be so desperate, so empty, so pathetically needy that I would destroy my own sister just to feel important for five minutes.”
“I am the Mafia Queen!” Sussie shouted, her composure finally breaking. “I have power, respect, authority! What do you have?”
“Nothing,” Nora said simply. “Absolutely nothing. But at least I know who I am. Can you say the same?”
The question hung in the air between them. Sussie stood there, breathing hard, her face red with anger and something else. Something that might have been shame or recognition or both.
“From this moment on,” Nora repeated, her eyes boring into Sussie’s, “you are not my sister. I don’t care what blood we share. I don’t care what family we came from. You are a stranger to me. Less than a stranger. You are nothing.”
Sussie’s jaw worked, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled to find words. Finally, she settled on anger, because anger was easier than facing what Nora had said.
“You ungrateful, self-righteous—” Sussie started, but Nora cut her off.
“Get out of my cell.”
“This isn’t your cell,” Sussie snapped. “This is our compound, our organization. You’re here because we allow it.”
“Then allow me some peace,” Nora said, turning her face away to stare at the wall again. “Go back to your husband, your power, your pathetic little kingdom. Go pretend you’re important. Go be whatever it is you think you are. Just do it somewhere I don’t have to look at you.”
Sussie stood there for another moment, visibly struggling with whether to continue the argument or maintain her dignity by leaving. Finally, she turned toward the door, her movements sharp and angry.
She paused with her hand on the door handle, looking back at Nora one more time. “The ceremony is tomorrow,” she said, her voice cold and formal now. “They’ll come for you in the morning. You’ll be bathed, dressed, prepared. And then you’ll be initiated into the cult, just like you agreed.”
“I know,” Nora said, still not looking at her.
“And after that,” Sussie continued, “you’ll have to work with me. With all of us. You’ll have to see me every day, cooperate with me, follow the same rules and traditions. So this little temper tantrum you’re having? It won’t matter. Tomorrow changes everything.”
“Nothing will change Sussie,” Nora said quietly. “You still won’t be my sister.”
Sussie’s face twisted with anger and hurt. “You’re making a mistake.”
“No,” Nora said, finally turning to look at her one last time. “The mistake was ever believing you were capable of being a sister in the first place.”
Sussie yanked the door open, her composure completely shattered now. “Enjoy your last night alone,” she spat. “Tomorrow, you become one of us. And you’ll realize how wrong you were about everything.”
She stormed out, slamming the door behind her with such force that it echoed down the corridor. The lock clicked into place, sealing Nora back into her isolation.
Nora sat in the silence that followed, her face returning to that blank, emotionless expression. Tomorrow was the ceremony. Tomorrow, everything would change, one way or another.