“Why is it you? Where is he? I wanted Ethan Brooks to come pay me back. What’s wrong—was he too scared to face me, so he sent you instead?”
She sneered. “He never imagined that I, Emily Carter, would become the wealthiest woman alive. Do you regret it now?”
My mother’s reddened eyes brimmed with grief and helplessness. She shook her head with sobs.
“Ethan… he can’t come. He’ll never come again.”
Breaking free, she pulled a red plastic bag from her pocket and took out two stacks of bills.
“I’m here to repay you on Ethan’s behalf. This is twenty thousand—count it.”
Emily snatched the money and smacked it against my mother’s head.
“Pathetic. Only twenty thousand? Do you think I’m a fool?”
“Five years ago it was twenty thousand. Now it’s five hundred thousand.”
“What? How could it increase so much?”
“That’s interest!”
“But I don’t have that kind of money. Even this twenty thousand I earned by working as a janitor and collecting bottles.”
“Emily, please don’t do this.”
“Sorry. I’m a businesswoman—I only care about profit.”
She straightened her back, scanning the room as if searching for someone.
I knew she was looking for me. I let out a bitter laugh.
“Ethan Brooks, come out here and repay every cent you owe me. You abandoned me when I was crippled, then threw yourself into the arms of wealthy older women. Don’t tell me you don’t have money to pay me back.”
The crowd fell silent. No one dared provoke the fury of the billionaire queen.
Minutes passed, but I didn’t appear. Her anger blazed higher.
“Fine. If you won’t come out, I’ll take your mother instead.”
Emily kicked my mother to the ground, then pressed her sharp heel into her hand, grinding hard.
My mother cried out in agony, tears streaming down her face. I frantically tried to push Emily away.
Stop it! Her heart is weak—you’ll kill her!
But no one could hear me. My voice was swallowed in despair.
“Well? Will he come out and pay me back?”
My mother stared at Emily in disbelief, her face filled with sorrow.
“My son Ethan is dead. He can’t come.”
Emily, furious, stomped harder, drawing blood from my mother’s hand.
“Hah! He’s perfectly fine—he just doesn’t want to pay me back. You’re lying, aren’t you?”
“You two disgust me.”
The guests began to mutter curses.
“That man was a coward, abandoning Ms. Carter when she lost her leg. He’s worse than an animal.”
“Look at his mother, shielding him even now. Disgusting.”