Page 92 of Sweetest Revenge

I was always the punching bag when she got angry. Always wrong. Always not good enough.

I’m so tired of it all.

But I never had the luxury to pout and whine like her. Even though I wanted to rage. Wanted to throw things. Wanted to scream and cry and throw a fit that was twenty years overdue.

But people like me, the ones who had to take care of their parents’ emotional needs, we had to be the ones holding it together because she sure as hell wouldn’t.

“Warren, can you wait outside?” I asked. I didn’t look at him, but I could feel his nod and the slight brush of his hand against my back as he left. It lingered even after he wasn’t by my side anymore.

His message was clear.

I’m here if you need me.

He was in no rush to leave and closed the door slowly, his eyes on me as if waiting for me to change my mind and call him back. I wanted to. I didn’t want to do this alone.

It felt so nice to lean on someone, but this wasn’t something I could say in front of him.

“Why did you do it?”

“I told you; I deserved the money. I put in years of work, and for him to ruin my reputation like that?—”

“Hurt yourself. Why did you hurt yourself?”

She looked down at her nails, the polish just barely at the tips after the nurses helped file them. She balled her fists as if to hide them. Pain flashed across her face.

I knew my mother was immature. A child inside an adult’s body. But, for the first time, I could see it.

See how broken she was. How scared.

I couldn’t help but pity her.

“It ran out,” she whispered.

“Ran out?” I echoed, unable to believe what I was hearing. Please let this be another lie. Please. Please. Please.

I took a deep breath, begging myself to hold it together.

“It’s been seven years since I got the money,” she snapped. “You really expected any of it to still be around?”

At that, the words were falling from my mouth before I could stop them.

“It was four million dollars, Mother. Yes, I expected at least some of it to still be lying around after I busted my ass to pay for everything month after month.”

Fuck. I couldn’t stop it. My body was shaking. My breathing rapid.

I had held on to hope that maybe my life would turn around. That it wouldn’t have to be this shitty. That something could go my way for once after everything.

But no. I wasn’t meant to get a break.

“Addison Mercer!” Mother hissed, trying to chide me like a child who was speaking out of line.

“You didn’t have to pay for anything, Mother. I was working to take care of us. So why? Why hide it? Where did you spend it? And why try to kill yourself when it was gone?”

“Because I couldn’t handle the shame of it anymore!” Her admission silenced my racing heart. “Everyone I knew still whispered about what he did! About the lives he ruined! They said I was responsible for not seeing it! For protecting him with my family name.”

She started sobbing at the end, and guilt ate at my insides.

Did she feel like this the entire time?

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