The Bond Between Us (Anastasia and Herman) novel Chapter 1087

“But you can’t just hurt Mom and Dad—they gave you life, they raised you,” Sean said, genuinely baffled.

“I wish they never had,” Sandy replied, not missing a beat. “If you bring a child into the world, you’re supposed to take responsibility. When they let me fend for myself, did they care I was their daughter? When I was hanging on by a thread, why don’t you ask them how they could just stand by and watch? Weren’t they worried I might not make it?”

This was the real root of Sandy’s resentment toward her parents.

She’d stared death in the face. She was terrified of dying. She’d thrown all her hope in her parents’ direction, praying they’d save her. But in the end, they just watched her suffer. Even though they knew Sean’s bone marrow was a match, they couldn’t bear to see their son in pain—so they let her go.

Sean looked at Sandy, finally seeing her for who she really was.

He’d never blamed her for tricking him into donating his bone marrow. But seeing his parents so broken now, he couldn’t help but wonder if the whole thing had been a mistake from the beginning.

“Sandy, just tell me the truth. What really happened to Mom? How did she fall down the stairs?” he asked quietly.

Sandy’s mind flashed to Ashley tumbling down the steps. She couldn’t meet Sean’s gaze, turning her head away. “That night…” she started.

“Look at me and say it,” Sean cut in.

Sandy clenched her jaw, forcing herself to meet his eyes. “It was an accident. Mom slipped. I tried to catch her, but I couldn’t. I was scared you’d all blame me—so I hid the truth.”

She would never admit what really happened.

If lying through your teeth needed an example, this was it.

Sean didn’t know if he could trust her anymore. He didn’t ask again. He just gave a bitter laugh and headed upstairs.

That night, Sean came down with a high fever. Alone in his room, he felt so awful it was like staring death in the face again.

His immune system was shot, and Willowbrook winters were merciless. With all the stress weighing on him, from that night on, Sean just couldn’t get better—only medicine kept him going.

Meanwhile, Tavon had left Willowbrook and gone to Nabb Mount.

Anastasia only heard about Tavon’s trip to Nabb Mount on the eve of the holidays. Her first reaction? Did Tavon seriously go off to be a monk?

Today was the Salstrom family’s big holiday dinner. Katelyn and Feiman Flynn were both over at South Gate for the feast.

Salma was there too, and as she chatted with Anastasia, she mentioned Tavon’s retreat to Nabb Mount.

Anastasia blinked. “He just decided to ditch everything and become a hermit?”

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