I asked, “Was it about the lawsuit? How could you possibly be expected to come up with the kind of money they were…”

Trey shook his head. “I think it’s connected, but I’m not sure how. He was there to draw up some sort of agreement with me. I don’t know how much of this I should believe. But he told me that Violet Simmons has some genetic disorder and will probably die before she turns twenty-one without a kidney transplant.”

“What?” I asked in a flat, dubious voice.

Trey exhaled loudly to express his doubt, and continued. “He was there with this huge envelope of paperwork for me to read. It wasn’t just one contract, but a bunch of them. Basically, he wanted me to agree to get tested to see if I could be an organ donor, and if I said yes, they’d drop the lawsuit against my mom. And if it turned out that I was a match and was willing to give Violet one of my kidneys, then they’d create this, like, financial trust for me that would mean I’d get money when I turn twenty-four and then more money when I turn thirty-five.”

None of this was making any sense at all. But I remembered Violet mentioning how her life hadn’t been easy since the curse was lifted from her, and wondered if this was what she’d meant. “Why you?” I asked. “I mean, obviously, you’re related. But you can’t be the only possible donor!”

“Well,” Trey said with a smirk as he leaned back on the couch and folded his hands on his abdomen, “turns out I am. Violet’s blood type is B, same as mine. Her mother’s blood type is A, so she’s incompatible. Her dad is also type B, but Violet’s doctors think his kidney might be too large for her system, besides which, according to the lawyer, he has high blood pressure, which disqualifies him. Violet’s uncle refuses to have his kids tested because of the whole debacle with the will,” he explained.

“The will,” I repeated. Violet had told me about how her grandmother had left everything to her out of guilt because she’d also passed along the curse. I vaguely remembered her telling me something about her uncle, who’d wanted to sell the Simmons mansion and split the profits with her father.

“So I’m it. Violet’s only hope,” Trey said.

Although everything Trey was telling me tracked with things Violet had shared with me in the past—as well as her sickly appearance the day before—something about the proposal seemed suspicious. “You didn’t say yes, did you?” I asked.

“No! Of course not. I didn’t even take the contracts from him to read over. I wished him luck and went back to my room. But…” He hesitated and his expression changed. “The very next night, as soon as the guard on our floor stepped into the stairwell to smoke like he always does at ten o’clock, two guys came into my room wearing pillowcases on their heads and beat the crap out of me. One held me down while the other came at me. My roommate just sat on his bed, watching, like he’d known it was going to happen and was just staying out of the way.”