I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.

Taking a suitcase out of my closet, I start filling it with clothes…but pause.

I need to come up with a plan first.

But in order to do that, I need to figure out exactly how much money I’m working with. Then I can budget some out for a hotel and food while I look for an apartment.

I walk over to my desk and boot up my laptop. After typing in my password, I log into my bank.

My stomach drops.

I have fifty-seven dollars in my account…but there’s no way that’s possible. I should have thousands.

Heart in my throat, I study my activity.

I see the thousand-dollar vet bill for Whiskers and some miscellaneous things I remember purchasing, like pizza, an Uber ride, and the prom dress I bought a couple of days ago.

But there’s been other activity. Large ATM withdrawals that I don’t recognize.

The maximum amount has been withdrawn quite a few times over the past three weeks, sometimes multiple times a day. Or should I say…night?

Because it seems to always occur around four a.m. while I’m sleeping.

None of this makes any sense.

Picking up my phone, I call the bank. After waiting an ungodly amount of time to speak to a representative, I finally get ahold of one.

Only they aren’t very helpful because they end up transferring me to the fraud department.

I pinch the bridge of my nose, waiting for the call to connect when there’s a knock on my bedroom door.

When I don’t respond, they knock again. Harder this time.

“Come in.”

I’m surprised to find my mom on the other side of the door.

“Aspen—”

“Go away.”

I want nothing to do with her.

She looks around the room, her stare landing on the half-packed suitcase on my bed. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“None of your business.”

She hasn’t given a shit about me or what I do for as long as I can remember. Now she suddenly wants to start asking questions?

She sighs. “Trent will not like this.”

I snort. “I don’t give a shit what Trent likes.”

I never did.

“Aspen, please.”

“Please what, mom? Stop pretending like you actually care when we both know you don’t. Trent just has this weird fantasy about wanting the perfect family and for reasons I’ll never understand, you like feeding into it. I played along because you’re my mom, and once upon a time I thought that meant something. But it doesn’t. Not anymore.”

Not when you choose your new husband over your daughter and physically assault her over cupcakes.

She sits down on my bed. “Trent lost his composure down there, but he didn’t mean it.”

I’m not surprised she’s sticking up for him. “Then tell him to apologize.”

Still won’t make a difference, but it would sure be nice to see him tuck his tail between his legs.

She frowns, her lower lip trembling. “You can’t leave, Aspen. I need you.”

“Need me for what? To fetch you more merlot?”

She takes hold of my hand. “I married Trent so we could have a better life…which we have now. I did it for us. You walking out when he’s made a very nice life for us here, is disrespectful.”

“And him flipping out over cupcakes and you slapping me—”

“That was wrong. But sometimes people make mistakes.” She ruffles my hair. “I know I haven’t always been the best parent, but I’ll try harder, okay? Just stay. Stay because I’m your mother. Because I gave you life and brought you into this world. That has to still count for something, right?”

Dramatics aside, she’s never been so candid with me before.

Still doesn’t mean I want to stay.

However, I’m in no position to leave anymore because…

Son of a bitch.

I opened my bank account shortly after my dad died at the beginning of my junior year.

However, I was only sixteen, so I needed a parent to come with me and co-sign. My mother agreed, but only because I told her I was getting a job and she needed help with the bills.

I hang up my phone. “I’m going to ask you this once and once only. Did you steal my ATM card and take money out of my account multiple times?”

She tries to play it off, but she looks guilty as hell. “No. Of course not.”

“Mom,” I press, ready to snap her neck like a twig.

She stands. “Okay, fine. I might have borrowed a little money, but it was only because Trent put me on a strict budget for the party and I couldn’t work with that impossibly small number.” Annoyed, she waves her hands. “He also cut down my weekly allowance. I’m trying to fit in with the other wives at the country club and make some friends, but Trent makes doing that impossible with his penny-pinching ways.”

“Mom.” It takes everything in me not to wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze. “You stole money from me.”

“Borrowed,” she amends. “And I’ll give it back.” Her lips purse. “Besides, what exactly are you involved in that you had so much money in your account, anyway? There was over seven grand in there, Aspen.”

I know. Because I fucking earned it. Not her.

The only thing she did was fuck and marry an asshole.

“I’ve been saving.”

She quirks up a brow. “Saving how? By doing what?”

“Babysitting,” I blurt out. “And dog walking.”

She still looks skeptical. “Well, if I knew dog walking paid that much, I would have married one of those.”

I wouldn’t put it past her.

“It beats stealing from your own kid.”

She ambles over to my door. “I already told you I’d give you the money back.”

I want to ask her how she plans to do that when she doesn’t have a job and she spends her allowance on booze and parties, but then she says, “I know you don’t think so, but we’re a team.”

Yeah…and the price of my mother’s love was only seven grand.

She opens my door, but hesitates. “You should put your hair up in a bun and wear that long black dress in your closet tonight. It’s classy.”

With that, she walks out.

Chapter 25