They Promised Every Birthday, They Kept None Chapter 04

They Promised Every Birthday, They Kept None Chapter 04

I opened my mouth to argue, but the shrill screech of the counterfeit detector machine shut me down before I could even try.

I didn’t remember walking out of the hospital.

I only remembered the ache in my stomach and the metallic taste I kept swallowing back.

I went straight to the coffee shop and slammed the cash onto the counter.

“Why did you do this? This is fraud. I’m calling the police.”

My boss didn’t even look up from his calculator.

“Don’t yell at me. I didn’t prepare that money. Your brother came by yesterday, picked up your pay, and left me those bills.”

“He said he wanted to ‘teach you a lesson’ about how hard money is to earn.”

My brain went blank.

I took the bus home, trembling, and burst through the door.

“Did you take my paycheck?”

Liam didn’t even look guilty.

He almost looked proud.

“Now you know money doesn’t grow on trees, huh?”

“Remember, Ethan and I are the ones who actually care about you. When you’re in trouble, you come to family. Or Derek. We’re here for you.”

I was shaking so hard I couldn’t stop the tears.

Had I not tried?

When I was writhing in pain after chemo, I’d called Ethan, sobbing, begging him to sit with me for just an hour.

He said, “Ashley’s having a rough night. I can’t leave her. You’ve been sick for years. Just tough it out.”

When the hospital sent me a collection notice, I stood in the corridor and texted Liam with the bill in my hand.

He replied hours later:

[More money? Mia, can you stop using your illness as an excuse? We send you living expenses every month.]

When I spiked a 104-degree fever at 3 a.m. and couldn’t even find a glass of water, I called Derek, barely conscious.

His reply:

[Ashley had a nightmare. I have to stay with her. Take some Tylenol and sleep it off.]

Where were they then?

“Give me my money! That was mine—I earned it!”

Liam’s face twisted.

He grabbed my arm and started dragging me toward the door.

“Money, money, money! That’s all you ever talk about! You’ve cost this family a fortune—three thousand is nothing. You’ve bled us dry for years!”

In the struggle, my chest seized.

That metallic taste surged up again.

This time, I couldn’t hold it back.

I coughed, and a mouthful of blood splattered across Ashley’s white sneakers just as she walked through the door.

Ethan and Liam froze.

Derek stepped forward, alarmed.

“Mia, are you—”

Ashley cut him off, her eyes filling with tears.

“Mia, if you wanted money, you didn’t have to fake coughing up blood to guilt-trip everyone. That’s so dramatic. And these shoes—Liam just bought them for me yesterday. Five hundred dollars. I’ve only worn them once…”

The flicker of concern in their eyes disappeared.

It was replaced by disgust.

Derek frowned at me.

“Mia, when did you become like this? Faking something this serious just for money?”

Liam immediately crouched down and wiped Ashley’s shoes with a tissue.

“Don’t cry. It’s just a pair of shoes. I’ll buy you a new pair.”

Ashley sniffled and nodded.

I leaned against the wall, barely able to stand.

The pain in my body and the pain in my chest were tearing me apart.

I’d worked from dawn to dusk.

Eight hours a day in that suffocating costume.

A full month—for three thousand dollars.

And it couldn’t even buy one pair of Ashley’s sneakers.

Ethan walked up to me.

Not to ask if I was okay.

He pulled two hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and pressed them into my palm.

“Stop the act. It’s bad luck to have blood in the house. You want money? Here. Take it and leave.”

Two hundred bucks.

Thin as paper.

Sharper than broken glass.

I stared at the bills for a long time.

Then I closed my fist around them, turned around, and staggered out of the penthouse.

I didn’t go back to the apartment.

Instead, I went to a small pawn shop on the south side of town.

Around my neck, I still wore a gold charm bracelet—the one Ethan, Liam, and Derek had given me when I turned ten.

They’d said it would bring me luck and keep me alive.

Later, Ashley begged for it more than once.

They always refused.

Back then, I thought that meant they still cared.

So when they kicked me out, I took nothing but that bracelet.

Even when I couldn’t afford food or medicine, I never sold it.

Until now.

I slipped it off and laid it on the counter.

The pawnbroker weighed it and named a low price.

I didn’t haggle.

With the cash, I bought enough painkillers to last the trip.

I ignored the doctor’s plea to admit me for observation and walked out without looking back.

At 3 p.m., I picked up the used car I’d already put a deposit on.

I drove out of the city limits, the sky low with gray clouds.

I pressed the gas and kept going west.

And I never looked back.