They Gave My Cousin a Car, I Built an Empire novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Linda

My mother knocked on my apartment door on a Thursday night at ten, carrying a sewing box.

It was a wooden box with a brass latch, the one that had lived in the hall closet my whole life.

She stood on the mat in her school cafeteria shoes and did not come in until I said her name.

"I took two buses," she said. "I haven't driven since I moved back."

"Mom, why didn't you call?"

"If I had called, I would've talked myself out of it."

I put the kettle on.

She sat at my kitchen table and set the box in front of her, and put both hands on the lid.

I had never seen her hands so still.

"I'm going to tell you all of it," she said. "Don't help me. If you help me, I'll stop."

"Okay."

"Your father said it. 'Half's yours.' He meant it, Vicky. He cried when he said it."

"I know. I saw the video."

"I told him to take it back."

The kettle started to tick.

"I stood in that kitchen and told him you'd quit your job and lose the money. I told him we'd carry you for life. That was me. It wasn't your father's idea."

"Why?"

"Because I grew up with nothing, and I was afraid."

She looked straight at me while she said it.

"That's the reason. It isn't an excuse."

"Okay."

"The lie was mine, and he's been telling it ever since."

"I know."

"And every time he told it, I was in the room, smiling."

I didn't move.

"Then you came to us for forty thousand," she said. "And I said 'after the holidays.' Three times. I knew exactly what I was doing."

"You gave me two thousand dollars in an envelope."

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

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