Page 33 of Bought For Us

“Because. In the divorce, my mom gave him a rather large settlement.”

“What?” her face drops. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not.” I shake my head. “She wanted to make sure you were taken care of and everything. She loved you like her own and I know it killed her to see you leave too.”

I watch as Cora’s eyes widen, her breathing picking up. “That fucking piece of shit.” she croaks, standing up before she starts to pace back and forth. “You're telling me he had money. A lot of money?” I nod, my heart breaking because clearly none of that money was used for how it was meant to be. “I don’t know what he did with that money but I didn’t see any of it. He didn’t use any of it on the house, bills, or means of survival. Nothing! That bastard made me work day in and day out. He took every single one of my paychecks, leaving me with nothing.” She starts to cry. Kimmy moves to stand, her face concerned, eyes welling with tears.

“I tried to get out, you know?” Cora sobs. “I tried to save money, to hide it away from him. But when he found out, he took it all and then reminded me who owned me in a way I’d never forget.”

With each passing second, I grow more and more enraged. “What did he do, Cora?”

“He beat me,” she cries and Kimmy rushes over to her, pulling her into her grasp.

“I’m so sorry, Cora.” Kimmy cries with her. “I’m so sorry we weren't there to protect you.”

“Fuck!” I roar, grabbing handfuls of my hair. He fucking touched her, he put his fucking hands on her. He hurt my Daredevil. “I’m going to fucking kill him.” I vow with everything in me.

“Too late,” Cora tells me. “He died a few months ago.” She pulls back from Kimmy’s hold, wiping at her eyes. I hate seeing her so broken. I hate knowing what she’s been through and we could have done something to help her. “That's why I’m here. Not only did that asshole fuck with my life while he was alive, he thought it would be fun to ruin it from beyond the grave in the form of a seven hundred grand debt.”

“What!” I gape at her.

“Yup.” she laughs but there's no humor behind it. It’s utterly sad. “Even with selling the house and everything in it, it didn’t touch much. I knew that I could work my ass off my whole life and never pay it off. I wouldn’t think too much of it if it wasn’t for the fact he also opened a bunch of credit cards in my name, maxed them out, never made a single payment, fucked me over and ruined my credit.”

Cora takes a deep breath and fans her face as she starts to pace again. “But that's not your problem. It’s mine. And part of getting a good chunk of it paid off is using the money from tonight.”

“Let me pay it.” I tell her, stepping forward. “Let me pay it off and keep the money from tonight.”

“No.” Cora shakes her head. “Not happening.”

“Cora,” I growl at her stubborn ass. I have more than enough money to help her out.

“No!” she shouts. “This is my life and I choose how to deal with my own problems. I don’t need you taking pity on me and bailing me out.”

“Cora,” I try again but Kimmy steps in front of me.

“Zack,” she says in a warning tone. “Don’t.”

I grind my teeth together and bite my tongue. I let it lie, for now. “I wanted to come for you.” I tell Cora, changing the subject before I force the prideful woman to take my help and probably drive her away.

“What?” Cora frowns.

“I wanted to find you and bring you home. But, my mother asked me to stay away and wait until everything was settled. Then we could look into seeing you again. Only when that time came, my mom contacted your father and asked if you could come and live with us. He said no. Told her that you were his daughter and he would die before losing you.” I feel sick knowing the reason why he wouldn’t give her up. “I didn’t listen at first. I tried to get her to tell me where you lived. But she told me your dad said you were happy. You made new friends and even had a boyfriend. That you built a new life and we would just be ruining it.” I let out a heavily frustrated and pissed off sigh. “Clearly, that was a lie.”

“Yes,” Cora says. “I didn’t have any friends, I didn’t have enough time for friends. I was always working or going to school. As for a boyfriend.” Cora snorted. “I tried dating a few guys and girls, but he fucked that up too. He didn’t want me to be happy, he wanted me focused on working so he could drink and gamble my money away.”

Cora wraps her arms around herself and I hate how small she looks.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Cora.” Regret and pain fills me. “For everything. I shouldn’t have listened to what he told my mom. I was so wrapped up in college and working for my dad, I stupidly didn’t want to risk rocking the boat.”

“It’s not your fault.” she says. “You had no obligation to save me, Zack.”

“I did.” I growl. “You were my best fucking friend and I failed you.”

She shakes her head and turns towards the window. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It hurts too much and I’m so tired.”

“Come on. I’ll bring you to the guest room.”

As I watch Kimmy take a broken Cora out of the room, it takes everything in me not to trash this room in a fit of anger.

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