Too Late to Beg: I’m No Longer Yours Chapter 05

Too Late to Beg: I’m No Longer Yours Chapter 05

The day after the cease and desist letters went out, my phone blew up.

Brie was the first to break.

She spammed me with dozens of texts.

[Nova, how could you send a lawyer after me?]

[Didn’t you say there was no rush on that forty grand?]

[My store just signed a new partnership. Are you trying to ruin me?]

I replied with three words.

[Pay me back.]

Her call came through immediately.

The second I answered, she broke into violent sobs.

“Nova. We’ve been friends for years. Are you seriously trying to destroy me?”

I sat on a bench outside the lab.

“You have money to vacation in Hawaii, but no money to pay me back. Did you think about our friendship when you were lounging on the beach?”

“When you wore my hair clip to Maui and called me a buzzkill, did you think about our friendship then?”

Brie choked on her tears.

A moment later, her voice turned icy.

“I only wore it because Laney said it looked good on me.”

“Besides, it’s not like you’re hurting for cash.”

I let out a dry laugh.

“I am hurting.”

“I’m hurting for respect. For an apology. For you to treat me like a human being.”

She fell silent for a few seconds. Then her voice spiked.

“How did you become such a monster, Nova?”

“No wonder everyone hates you.”

I hung up on her.

She had always hated my meticulous record–keeping.

Even though I never rushed her for the money, that forty grand was a thorn in her side. A constant reminder that she

wasn’t as successful as me.

Cole’s messages popped up right after.

[Nova, you cut off my allowance?]

[The school is asking for tuition. What the hell are you doing?]

[Mom and Dad are gone. Isn’t it your job to provide for me?]

I stared at the words ‘your job‘. My fingers went numb.

All these years, I had treated Cole as the responsibility Mom left behind.

For his eighteenth birthday, he wanted a Harley. When I said no, he slammed the door and called me a buzzkill.

When he skipped class to game and I disciplined him, he called me a nagging old hag.

And when he handed Mom’s necklace over to Delaney, I finally understood.

Give some people an inch, and they will bleed you dry.

I typed my response.

[You’re an adult. Starting today, you’re responsible for your own life.)

Cole texted back instantly.

[Are you insane?]

[You’re throwing your own brother away over a stupid necklace?]

I stared at the screen for a long time.

[The second you dismissed Mom as just some ‘dead person‘, you stopped being my brother.]

He didn’t reply again