Five Thousand Dollar Betrayal

three magazine covers last year, just gave her high sch

from a pre

hile I sat in the dim, antiseptic-smell

r on the wall showed a smilin

disrupting the market," but all I saw was the name Robert Hayes. Her ex-boyfriend fr

o was not

s an indie game developer, a quiet genius who poured his soul into code instead of sto

dollars Sarah

her voice crisp and distant, like she was discussing a budget line item. "The docto

. He was in

se again. Millions. Enough to fund a hund

my footsteps echoing in the empty hallway, and wen

n was picked up. But it

usy. What do

ooth, confident, and dripping with an

o my mother," I sa

preoccupied. We' re celebrating. My son Kevin just go

st stood there, the wind whi

She just transferred the funds for his startup. And a little bonus for him to get tha

n dollar investment was for K

my voice barely a whisper.

school. He deserves the best. Look, I' ve go

hun

, listening to the dead air. Millions for a star

hered away over fiv

back inside, my legs feeling like

, but his eyes, the same blue as mine, we

he rasped.

yself to tell him.

ched out a trembling hand and g

aid, his voice soft but f

painful sound that

ine. "Take care of yourself when I' m gone. Don'

couldn't stop them. I squeezed h

two da

the sterile forms and medical jargon was the death certific

ata

cate with my phone. Then I drove to my mother' s gleaming high-rise o

desk like I owned the place. Her assistant tried to stop

ful and radiant in her expensive suit. Rob Hayes wa

shed. "Ethan. What are you d

ice flat. I walked up to her desk and he

t the death certificate with

didn' t even look sad.

. Really? This is your new tactic? Trying to manip

The kid' s got some imagina

this to get my attention, he can do it himself. I' m busy planning a trip for Kevin. A graduation tour

hand. "Now get out. Yo

and I felt nothing. The love, the hurt, the desperati

red my

, my voice quiet but stea

t Rob and the smug

gue now," I said, the words coming out col

of the office, leaving

lection in the polished steel. My eyes

d me to take

first, I was goin

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