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He squeezed the words out through clenched teeth.
I met his glare dead–on and said, slow and clear: “I’m just being a mother to my daughter.”
“Being a mother?” He let out this ugly laugh. “Your idea of ‘being a mother‘ is sabotaging me? Blowing this family to hell?”
Suddenly his hand shot up.
I didn’t move.
Last lifetime went exactly like this too. The second things didn’t go his way, out came the fists.
I closed my eyes, bracing for it.
But the hit never landed.
His raised hand just… hung there in the air for a second, then dropped back down to his side, limp and defeated.
It wasn’t that his conscience kicked in.
He was scared.
One slap and he’d lose his meal ticket permanently.
“Fine. Real nice.” He jabbed his finger in my face, his whole body shaking. “Evelyn, you better watch your back.”
Crane stormed out and slammed the door so hard the walls shook.
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Naomi texted me her bank info.
I didn’t transfer anything yet. Instead, I changed, grabbed the house deed and my ID, and
drove to the bank.
I wasn’t there to send her three thousand.
I opened a joint account–my name and hers.
Then I moved our biggest CD–two hundred thousand dollars–straight into it.
That money? Last time around, after I died, Crane cashed it out and bought his bastard kid
a condo.
Oahu m
This time? Over my dead body.
After I locked that down, I sent Naomi her three thousand.
Then I texted:
“Hey sweetie, did you get it? Also–I opened a joint account for you. There’s $200k in there for tuition and whatever else you need. Password’s your birthday. Use it whenever. You
don’t have to tell anyone.”
Sent.
Nothing.
She didn’t respond.
The house was dead silent when I got home. Crane still wasn’t back.
Thank God. I needed the quiet.
I went to the bedroom, opened the closet, and pulled out the suitcase that’d been collecting dust for years.
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Last lifetime, he threw me out with nothing but the clothes on my back.
This lifetime? He’s the one who’s gonna pack his shit and leave.
Ce
I started gathering my stuff–clothes, jewelry, the cash I’d been squirreling away.
I was shoving a stack of bills into the suitcase when the bedroom door slammed open.
Crane stumbled in reeking like a distillery.
He saw the suitcase and froze. Then the liquor hit him and he exploded.
“EVELYN! You’re seriously doing this? Wow, look at you–got some balls now, huh?”
He charged at me, ripped the cash out of my hands, and threw it across the room.
Bills scattered everywhere like confetti at the world’s saddest party.
“You wanna leave? FINE! But everything you got from me STAYS! You came into this marriage with jack shit, and you’re leaving with jack shit!”
I watched him have his meltdown. Ice cold.
“I’m not leaving. I’m flying to New York to see Naomi.”
“See her? For what?” He laughed like I’d just said the dumbest thing he’d ever heard.
“She just started school! Boot camp, classes–she’s drowning! You showing up is the LAST thing she needs!”
“I’m her mother. I have every right to see her.”
“Mother?” He sneered and got right up in my face.
“Oh, so NOW you remember? Besides throwing money at her every month, what the hell have you actually DONE? How many parent–teacher conferences did you go to? When she
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had a fever, who sat up with her all night?”
Every word was a knife.
And the worst part? He was right.
I’d failed Naomi. For years.
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