Page 60 of Destined To Fall

“I’m not following.”

“I have expensive tastes—always have—but I cut myself off from my parents and their endless supply of money. We didn’t agree on my life choices.” I chuckle at the irony.“Even before I began this life.”

“Do they know about this one?”

“God, no. I stopped talking to them when I left for college and didn’t pick the right major.”

“You haven’t talked to either one of your parents in over ten years?”

I frown. Has it really been that long?“Yeah, I guess. So there you have it. The opportunity presented itself, and I took it.”

“And ran with it.”

“Yup. I told you it wasn’t complicated.”

“That easy, huh?”

“No, not easy. Not even close. The pros outweighed the cons, but I did the hard yards, and now I’m reaping the rewards. I’m my own boss, my own man.” Most of the time.

“Ever thought of doing anything else?”

“I didn’t have a plan before.”

“Nothing you wanted to do?”

“Not really.”

“Then why were you studying business?”

“Mostly because it pissed off my parents, but I guess it interested me. I’ve always been good at getting what I want—reading people and knowing what makes them tick. It can be a lucrative way to make lots of money. Plus, men in suits. What’s not to love?”

Jeremy chuckles.“So marketing was a logical choice.”

“Pretty much. It was interesting enough to hold my attention.”

“For a few years.”

“Who’s to say if I would have been able to stick it out much longer anyway? Day-to-day was a struggle. I didn’t know what I was doing with my life—didn’t know what I wanted. Only that being dirt-poor sucked.”

Jeremy snorts, and I sigh, slouching down the bed, weary of all this talk. The past is exhausting.

“I had everything given to me from infancy. I never had to work for anything. My parents bought my love from a young age—lot of good it did them. Friends were aplenty, all fake as a PETA clothing convention. So were the men.”

“Fake or plentiful?”

“Both.”

“So why did you give it all up, as you say, when you had everything at your fingertips?”

“But not on my terms. None of it was real. None of it meant anything.”

“You wanted meaning?”

“Ha ha. I just wanted real, you know?”

He nods.

“And I didn’t want to be a monkey in a suit or a lab coat.” Jeremy raises his eyebrows in response, his eyes wide. I laugh.“Shocking, huh? I was actually good at schoolwith littleeffort. I had the proper motivation.” The look of confusion on Jeremy’s face has me going on.“My father began bribing me at the age of five when he realized I was clever. I once got an A+ on a midterm. I received a Mercedes the next day. But once I realized the grand plan, the bigger picture—”

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