He Faked Poverty, Tricked Me Into an Abortion, All for a Bet Chapter 05

He Faked Poverty, Tricked Me Into an Abortion, All for a Bet Chapter 05

I asked Lena if I could keep working at the club.

“I thought you didn’t want the job. What made you change your mind?”

“I don’t have any money.” I gave a bitter laugh. “Honestly, I have less than eighty dollars across all my bank accounts. I can’t even afford a ticket back to my hometown. The factory work is too physically demanding, and I haven’t recovered enough to go back yet. But the end of the month is coming, and I need to send money to my aunt. Otherwise, she and my uncle will throw my grandmother out.”

My mother had lived recklessly when she was young, and to this day, I still had no idea who my biological father was.

She later became ill and died, leaving my grandmother to raise me.

My uncle and aunt had always resented Grandma for taking me in.

Now that Grandma was too old to live independently, she still refused to move to the city with me.

So I made an arrangement with my uncle and aunt to pay them five hundred dollars every month in exchange for taking care of her.

The money had to arrive on the twenty-fifth of every month, and if it was even one day late, they would throw Grandma out.

Lena had probably heard about my family situation before.

She said nothing else and simply told me to be at the club by six that evening.

After I changed into my uniform, Lena asked, “Have you ended things with Ethan?”

“No.” I smiled faintly. “Honestly, I wish I could walk away as easily as people do on TV. But the truth is, I can’t even afford the rent on another apartment. Where am I supposed to go? Sleep outside a shelter?”

Lena sighed softly and looked as though she wanted to say something, but ultimately held it back.

I did not ask whether I could stay with her temporarily.

We were not close enough for that, and I could not keep relying on other people to help me.

She had already done more than enough by helping me get this well-paying job.

While I was working part-time at the club, I ran into Ethan twice more.

Once again, he did not recognize me.

Once again, he spent money without the slightest hesitation, standing at the center of the room while everyone crowded around him.

I saw more and more of the side of him I had never known, or rather, I was finally seeing who he

truly was.

By the twenty-fifth, I had managed to save enough money and transferred it to my aunt.

I still had a little over a thousand dollars left and thought I might spend the next couple of days finding a cheap apartment and moving out.

Ethan had already noticed that I had become increasingly quiet and had asked me several times whether something was bothering me.

I did not know how to answer.

I did not have the courage to confront him face-to-face, and I could not bear to listen to whatever explanation he might give.

It seemed better to leave quietly.

But on the night before I planned to go, I received a call from my uncle.

“The old woman fell down the stairs. She broke her hip.”