I looked down and noticed the cracked glass on his wristwatch. I didn’t recognize the brand, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that she had bought it for him.
All these years, she’d never bought me anything. Back in college, she promised that once she graduated and started earning, she’d buy me a watch. I thought she had just forgotten. Turned out she hadn’t. She just never intended to buy it for me.
“Don’t worry,” Penelope comforted him. “I’ll get you another one.”
“This one’s a Rolex Submariner,” Dwayne said with a smirk, deliberately glancing my way. “It costs over ten grand.”
Jackson's POV
“My salary has increased now. I can afford it,” Penelope said softly. Her gentle voice cut into me like a knife. She had spent her very first paycheck entirely on her family, and from then until now, not a single cent of her earnings had ever been spent on me.
Dwayne turned to me. “That won’t do. He has to pay for it.”
Penelope caught on immediately, glaring at me. “So an apology’s not enough anymore. You’ll need to compensate him, too. We still have the receipt for that watch. It's fifteen grand.”
In that moment, my heart completely died. “Fine. I’ll pay for the watch. But what about all the money I’ve spent on you all these years? How about you calculate that and pay me back?”
“You call yourself a man?” Dwayne sneered. “What about Penelope’s wasted youth. How do you plan to pay for that? Penelope, don’t waste your breath on him. Just call the cops and let him see who really owes what.”
And she did. She actually called the police.
The neighbors tried to talk her down, insisting it wasn’t worth involving the authorities over something like this. But soon enough, the officers showed up. Since I had thrown the first punch and damaged Dwayne’s watch, both were undeniable facts. According to the police, the only way to resolve it was through compensation. As for the money I had spent on Penelope through the years, that couldn’t be addressed legally.
They told me that if I compensated him quickly and secured their forgiveness, I could avoid facing further charges.
But Penelope pressed harder. “Pay up. Then kneel and apologize to Dwayne, and we won’t push this any further.”