Betrayed After Getting Rich Overnight Chapter 02

Betrayed After Getting Rich Overnight Chapter 02

Chapter 2 Burden

The smell of dinner still hung in the air. They’d obviously just finished eating.

Michael stood at the counter making coffee without bothering to look up.

Autumn was sprawled on the couch, painting her nails.

Timothy sat glued to the TV watching cartoons.

I crouched down and dug through the shoe cabinet, but my slippers were nowhere to be found.

I had to slip on a pair of disposable shoe covers like some kind of guest in my own home.

Felicia waved at the messy table.

“You eat yet? Help yourself if you’re hungry. Just heat something up.”

I glanced at the plates scattered across the table, nothing left but a few wilted lettuce leaves floating in sauce. Then I spotted the trash can shoved in the corner, stuffed full of delicious food.

My throat tightened.

So that was what they’d been doing for those five minutes while I knocked, tossing the leftovers into the garbage rather than saving me even a bite.

Was this another test? Another way to remind me of my place?

I pressed my hand against my empty, churning stomach.

“I already ate.”

Felicia’s expression twisted into something ugly. She jabbed her finger hard against my forehead, her voice going shrill.

“What? You ate out? You wasteful little brat! We’ve got food here and a place to sleep, but no, you’ve gotta go blow money at restaurants and hotels! You think money grows on trees?!”

I stood there with my mouth hanging open, unable to get a word out.

They were the ones who’d locked me out. They were the ones who wouldn’t let me eat.

When Felicia saw my red-rimmed eyes, her tone softened just a little.

“So what’re you gonna do now?”

I blinked at her.

“What do you mean? Find another job, obviously.”

“You think coming back here to freeload is free? Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know. Or are you planning to just bleed us dry?”

I kept my eyes glued to the disposable shoe covers on my feet.

“I just wanna take a break for a bit first.”

“A break?” Felicia’s voice shot up.

“I’ve never seen someone pushing thirty lose their job and come crawling home to mooch off their parents instead of finding a new one! It’s mortifying! How did I end up with such a burden for a daughter?”

Michael set down his coffee mug, and his tone wasn’t any friendlier.

“Summer, look, I’m not trying to give you a hard time here, but you gotta think about this family. Your sister’s struggling enough raising her kid on her own, and your mom and I aren’t getting any younger. If you don’t have a job, you’re just making things harder on everyone.”

I said, “But I’ve been the one supporting this family!”

The words burst out before I could stop them. “I bought this house. I’m paying the mortgage. I’ve been sending money for bills and groceries…”

Felicia cut me off mid-sentence.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do! Let me tell you something, Summer. Parents are only obligated to take care of you until you’re eighteen. You’re almost thirty now. How do you have the nerve to come back here and mooch off us? I’ve never seen such an ungrateful child in my life!”

I stood there stunned. Mooch off? Ungrateful?

Felicia’s words hit me like a slap across the face.

I made twenty-three thousand a month at my old job. I lived in the crappiest shared apartment I could find, ate ramen most nights, and hadn’t bought myself new clothes in years. Every single month, I sent twenty grand home to them.

I’d bought this house for them. I paid for everything.

I even covered Timothy’s private school tuition.

And now, just because I got laid off and came home for Christmas, suddenly I was a freeloader? A bad daughter?

Meanwhile, Autumn had been living rent-free in my house for five years since her divorce. She’d never worked a day in all that time, never earned a single dollar. But somehow she was the good daughter?

My voice shook when I finally spoke.

“Mom, I just wanted to spend Christmas with you guys. I’ll start job hunting right after the holidays. And this is my house. I’ve been sending you money every month. I’m not mooching off anyone.”

Felicia cut me off. “So what? You gave it to us as a gift! Legally, this house belongs to us now. It’s got nothing to do with you anymore!”

She glared at me. “If I want you gone, you’re gone. End of story.”

The air turned ice cold.

That was when Timothy suddenly ran over and grabbed my suitcase.

“Aunt Summer, where are my presents? Grandma said if you didn’t bring any, you can’t come in!”

Felicia lunged forward and clapped her hand over his mouth.

Before I could even react, they’d already ripped open my suitcase.

The second they saw what was inside, they swarmed around it like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

Autumn snatched up the diamond bracelet and slipped it onto her wrist. “Mom, look! It matches my skin tone perfectly!”

Felicia’s eyes crinkled as she grinned. “Gorgeous! Keep it, honey!”

“Thanks, Mom!” Autumn waved her wrist around smugly and put on her sweetest voice. “You’re the best mom ever!”

Except I was the one who bought it.

Autumn grabbed the designer handbag next and made a big show of inspecting it. She said it wasn’t quite as lovely as Chanel, but it would do for now. Her eyes told a different story, though. Pure greed shone through every word.

Timothy pouted and whined about why the tablet wasn’t an iPad.