Wash Her Feet novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Ledger

"Say that again," I said.

"I came to see your house come down," Rafe said. "Before I ever knew your name."

Nobody in the kitchen moved.

Shelby looked at me with her hands folded on the ledger, and it was the look of someone who had finally gotten what she paid for.

"Lance, we're leaving," she said. "She has reading to do."

"The key," I said.

Shelby slid it across the table.

The faded ribbon trailed behind it, and it stopped against my knuckles.

She stood, tucked her hair behind one ear, and walked out of my kitchen without hurry.

Lance went after her, with his phone down for the first time all week.

"Page forty," she said from the hall, not turning. "He wrote it in his own hand."

The front door shut.

I stood at the end of the table and looked at Rafe.

"Tell me the rest," I said.

He took one slow breath.

"I was fourteen," he said. "A neighbor told me in the school hallway. By the time I got to the building, they had already carried her out."

"I didn't know."

"I know you didn't." His voice was rough. "I know you were nine."

"Then why did you let me think..."

"Because I wanted your house on the ground." He said it flat and fast. "I drove by it a dozen times, and every time I thought, this is what she was worth to them. A swing on the porch. A tree. A fence."

His eyes went around the kitchen.

"You live on what my mother's life was worth, Hallie. Every meal in here, every light, every year of school your father paid for. It was her money and he kept it."

I felt each word land.

"I was twelve when she picked me," I said. "I was twenty-six when he died. I don't know where the money came from."

← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend