The Game They Played, The Life I Lost Chapter 09

The Game They Played, The Life I Lost Chapter 09

Serena’s things were mostly gone.

The photos that used to cover the fridge had disappeared.

No fish. No seafood on the table. Only my favorite foods.

At dinner, my parents talked about Serena with bitter disappointment.

“That ungrateful brat. She’s been gone all this time and hasn’t called once or come home.”

“Tara, don’t mind her. She owes you this.”

They used to say I owed Serena.

Now they said Serena owed me.

All these debts, back and forth. They’d long since become a tangled mess.

I took a few bites, then stood up. I had no appetite.

“I’m full. I still have work to do.”

My parents followed me to the entryway.

“When are you leaving, Tara?”

I picked up my bag.

“Tomorrow.”

“I’ll send the support payments through my lawyer every month. Don’t worry about money.”

—

Mom slapped her thigh, eyes reddening.

“Tara, that’s not what we meant. Are you still angry with us…?”

“Mom’s right. Don’t rush off. Stay a few more days.”

I shook my head with a soft smile.

“I’m not angry anymore.”

“I have to go. Take care.”

Not angry anymore.

But never coming back.

The door closed behind me. The hallway light flickered on and off.

Just one door between us.

I could hear my parents’ muffled sobs through it.

So close, and yet so far.

Not enough to make me turn back.

The day I left for London, Ethan came to see me off.

Three years since I’d last seen him. He’d lost weight.

Still wearing that gray coat.

I’d heard the Cooper family business had been struggling—on the verge of bankruptcy.

They were buried in debt.

—

Ethan worked himself ragged every day, showing up at every business dinner, willing to grovel to anyone.

A man who once lived a life of luxury was now scrambling to survive.

“Brace yourself.”

He handed me his phone. A news article.

“A report from last week.”

“Serena fell off a cliff not long ago. She didn’t survive.”

“Her parents don’t know yet. I’ve been helping with the arrangements.”

“Half of her estate belongs to you.”

I stared at the black-and-white photo for a long time.

She’d spent my whole childhood wishing I would disappear.

As it turned out, she was the one who vanished first.

In the face of death, all grudges dissolved.

“I don’t need it. Leave it to the two old people.”

“Please handle it.”

Ethan put his phone away.

“Of course.”

After a long silence, it was time to go.

This time he didn’t try to stop me. Didn’t beg for forgiveness.

—

He smiled.

“Take care of yourself, Tara.”

I nodded.

Leaving this familiar city behind. Leaving the man who’d taken up twenty years of my life.

The sky was clear and bright. The blue stretched on forever.

Just like the rest of my life.