Chapter 9
“I loved you so damn much!”
Mom’s head was pressed against the rocky ground at the cliff’s edge, blood spilling from her mouth.
“Ever since you were a kid, I loved you more than anyone! And you were actually trying to kill me!”
Blood trickled past her lips, her whole face twisted in something almost inhuman.
“Heh… guess I was wrong. Dead wrong!”
Aunt Karen stumbled over, yelling, “Jake!”
She leaned over the edge, but saw nothing.
This was the steepest slope on the whole trail-nobody ever came here.
One fall down there and Uncle Jake was as good as gone.
‘You’re outta your damn mind! That’s your own brother!”
Aunt Karen screamed, but still shoved the lottery ticket into her pocket.
All these years, I’ve been nothing but good to you!”
Mom couldn’t process that the brother she’d loved most just tried to kill her for money.
On the edge of breaking down, she shouted through tears, “I was a fool-couldn’t even see you were just
nother backstabbing snake!”
uddenly, something clicked in her head.
he crawled toward me, trembling.
Amy… my baby girl… only my own flesh and blood would ever really care about me…”
stared at her coldly and pulled up my shirt, showing the scars all over my body,
Mom… you killed a man.”
When I was trying to get into school, I begged her over and over through tears, and still got beaten more imes than I could count.
14:45
Wolarnone Noudad Ma
So Ungraded Him to ‘Plan Bankruptcy
75.7%
Chapter 9
Twenty minutes later, the cops arrived.
We left out the first part of the story.
“She and my husband were arguing,” Aunt Karen sobbed, pointing at the hiking pack.
“Then she shoved him right off.”
“They were just talking one minute, then she-she bit his face when he bent down, and pushed him over the
edge!”
She dropped to her knees, grabbing Liam’s head.
“Babe, you’re dead… how are me and our boy supposed to survive now?”
“Officer, you gotta give us justice!”
I sat in silence, quietly crying.
Mom still had Uncle Jake’s DNA in her mouth-there was no way she could talk her way out of it.
But self-defense and murder are two very different things, and everyone was waiting for my statement.
“Amy! Say something!” Mom screamed, her voice tearing apart.
In a flash, I remembered the night they abandoned me-how I’d begged her, sobbing, not to leave me behind
Under everyone’s gaze, my lips trembled.
“It was Mom… they were arguing, and she shoved Uncle Jake off…”
I broke down, running over to hug her.
“I’m sorry, Mom… I can’t lie…”
She froze completely, her eyes glassy and locked on the distance, not moving an inch.
It was the first time in my life I’d ever hugged her… and the last.
I’d imagined it so many times-what it would feel like to hug my mom-and now, I finally knew.
I leaned close to her ear.
“Mom… what’s it like to kill the person you loved most?”
She snapped, lunging to bite me, but the cops pinned her down.
14:45
Walgreens Notified Me About His ‘Plan B’ Purchase… So I Upgraded Him to ‘Plan Bankruptcy
76.0%
Chapter 9
The case was open-and-shut-too much evidence to ignore.
“Hey, check this out-pretty good, huh?”
On the hearse ride, Liam shoved his phone in my face with a grin.
Uncle Jake’s body was mangled inside the casket just a few feet away, but his own son wasn’t sad-just
happily gaming.
“You’re amazing, Liam.”
I glanced at the dollar amount on the screen.
“But… where’d you get all that money?”
He tugged my ear and whispered like it was a secret.
‘I know Mom’s debit card PIN!”
My stomach dropped.
That card had all the money she’d squeezed out of my mom over the years-plus half the ‘wedding gift’ from when my sister was sold off to that old cripple.
I looked at the huge balance.
Most of it was already blown by her precious son.
‘Amy, don’t be scared. From now on, you’ll have a good life with Aunt Karen.”
Uncle Jake’s body wasn’t even cold, but Aunt Karen was smiling.
‘Now, where’s that lottery ticket? I saw you pick it up.”
I glanced at the stack of real estate flyers on the table and shrugged.
“Desperate times. I only grabbed it to try and save my mom.”
“What?” Aunt Karen’s jaw tightened.
“What the hell do you mean by that? You tricked me with that ticket?”
76.29
14:45
Walgreens Notified Me About His ‘Plan B’ Purchase… So I Upgraded Him to Plan Bankruptcy