He pulled out two bills from his wallet and threw them in my face.
“Two hundred bucks. That’s enough to get you by until you find a job. Don’t say I didn’t help you.”
The floodgates of memory burst open.
In my past life, I’d stood there listening to those harsh words, watching my brother’s smug smile and my stepmother’s fake tears, my chest burning with anger and humiliation.
I tried to argue. I said I’d just graduated and needed time to find work, that things weren’t as easy as they thought in today’s world.
I even mentioned my student loans—the very ones my father had forced me to take, saying they’d teach me responsibility and discipline.
But all that earned me was a thunderous slap.
The blow was hard and heavy—it stunned me completely.
My cheek swelled instantly, my ears rang and the taste of blood filled my mouth. I stared at my father in disbelief. The same man who once carried me on his shoulders now looked at me with nothing but cold contempt.
Linda pretended to cry out in shock and stepped forward to stop him, while Leroy nearly burst out laughing.
That was the moment my dignity shattered completely—and the start of the miserable life I lived before.