Page 3 of Saved By My Buyers

Jack turns over the engine, pulling on his seatbelt, and it reminds me to follow suit. I say nothing as I turn to gaze out the window, getting lost in my thoughts as I think about what my life is going to be like now that we have no money.

I don’t know if Dad had a life insurance policy or not, but I heard that helps when people die suddenly. My breaths start to stutter as I wrap my arms around my body, shivering despite the fact that I don’t feel cold.

“Dolly?” Jack asks as tear after tear starts to fall, my hair hiding me from the world. He apparently started calling me that when he first saw me, stating that my large eyes made me look like a doll.

I’ve never corrected him in my ten years of life, because I secretly like it.

Maybe if I ignore him, he’ll go away. I doubt that’ll happen, though. Jack always knows how to find me if I’m upset when he’s around.

“Hey.”

The truck swerves to the side, making me blink as the car shudders to a stop. We’re on a back road, I realize as I look around, on the way home. I just haven’t been paying attention.

“Do we have a flat?” I ask absently, pushing my hair out of my face without thinking.

“No, Dahlia,” he says, making me flinch because he never uses my full name.

“Did I do something wrong?” I squeak out, turning to face him.

Pulling tissues out of a packet, he presses them into my hand.

“No, not at all. I need to talk to you, and you’re making me worried. I have a feeling there’s more happening than I can see. Want to tell me what all that was when you told people about your favorite memory with your dad?” he asks.

“Mom put me on the spot,” I whisper, lifting the tissue to find that I’m crying. There are little wet spots on the tissue as I press it against my face. Weird.

“I had no idea she was going to drag me up to speak in front of everyone. I... I froze. I know that memory wasn’t about Dad, it was from when you took me to the fair, while he talked to people. I couldn’t think of anything else when I saw you.”

“You’re breaking my heart,” he sighs. “I can’t fucking believe Lucia did that.”

It’s not as if I’ve never heard him curse before, so I ignore it. Dad used to say that they’re just words, you just need to know who you can use them around. If you don’t know, don’t use them.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” I whisper, turning crimson as my voice wobbles. I don’t want to cry anymore. It’s not going to help anything.

“What do you mean? You’ll stay here and go to school, and figure things out,” Jack says gently, frowning harder as I shake my head. Large, crocodile-shaped tears fall from my eyes, making me drop my face into my hands.

“No, no I won’t,” I rasp. “It takes money to make all that happen. I don’t know if there’s any.”

“That’s not right, kiddo,” Jack says, pulling my hands away. “Your dad had investments. Besides, you’re too young to have to worry about money. I helped him set them up, because I wanted to make sure you and Cyrus were taken care of. Your dad worked a lot, and I kept telling him to slow down, take care of himself.”

“Aunt Amelia and Mom have been fighting, and I can’t sleep,” I admit. “I don’t think there are investments.”

“Okay, kiddo. You win,” he says. “I’m going to take you home and look into your Dad’s paperwork. I need to spend some time in his office anyway.”

“Are you allowed to do that?” I ask, blinking furiously. My eyes feel like they have a film over them from crying, and I hope that the serious look on Jack’s face is going to go away and he’ll tell me he’s just joking.

“I don’t really fucking care if I’m allowed or not,” Jack growls, checking for traffic over his shoulders. This can be a busy road sometimes, even though most of it is surrounded by cows and horses.

Accelerating, he pulls back out onto the road, the force of it pushing me harder into my seat. “I want to make sure you’re financially secure, Dolly. You’re ten-years-old and have your entire life ahead of you. If that’s not the case, then I fucking want to know why.”

Nodding, I look out the window, his anger tampening down my sadness. I’m more curious as to what he’ll find than anything else. Dad always seemed as if he had it together.

Did he mess up along the way?

Chapter One

Four years later

Dahlia

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