𝔇𝔞𝔴𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔇𝔲𝔰𝔨 (The Legacy Duet - 2)

Violare

𝟐 𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖍𝖘 𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖗.

𝕴 stood in the kitchen and lay my hands flat on the countertop to prevent myself from hurling the thoughts in my head at my mother. I was livid. So angry, it solidified my muscles and made my backache from the weight of it.

Last week I'd started going through the documents as soon as I was home from my appointment with the financial advisor or had the opportunity to arrive before midnight. It had been two months since my world had been shattered. And in that time, miraculously, no bills had arrived.

Suspicious about this turn of events, I'd decided to stay home this weekend. Just to see how my family was coping. I walked to the counter, forcing myself to sound light and casual. "Hey. Did we get any bills?"

"Oh, I didn't know you were home," she bobbed her head in a nod. "Yeah, they're on the counter."

She soaped the dishes and used one wet hand to point to the stack, and a sickening, sour taste filled my mouth. "I've seen them. There are no bank statements, no loan payments nothing."

"What?" she asked over the running water.

My voice was loud and pointed. "Where are the bills?"

She stilled. Slowly, she turned off the water and turned to face me, her panic barely disguised. "I don't know what you mean."

Shit, she was a terrible liar. It only fueled me to move forward, opening cabinet after cabinet. When I reached for the one at the end, she sucked in a deep breath. It was because when I jerked the door open, I was met with several shelves of mail. The cabinet was full. Weeks' worth of bills had been hidden here. I scooped out a stack of letters in disbelief, some of them spilling onto the counter below. There were red 'past due' and 'urgent' stamps on a few. Not a single one had been opened. I set my hands on the counter, infuriated and crushed with disappointment.

She whispered, "I know you're upset, but—"

"Yes," the voice that spoke didn't sound like it belonged to me, but it couldn't have come from anyone else.

Her bottom lip trembled. "It's just . . . you have so much on your plate right now, and your father and I didn't want you to worry."

"Oh, my God," I snapped. "That's such a lie."

She scowled. "Don't talk to me like that. I'm your mother."

I snatched up one of the bills before me, tearing open the envelope as I spoke. "Except I'm the only one with any responsibility around here. What were you thinking? You can't just ignore this and believe it's going to go away," tears of anger burned my eyes, making my vision bleary and the credit card statement I'd opened hard to read.

"We're not ignoring it, we just need a little more time."

"Time for what? For Taimoor to write me a fifty-million-rupees check?" it looked like I'd kicked her in the stomach, but it was hard to feel much sympathy for her. My anger burned so hotly inside me, it consumed all other emotions. I stared at the charges printed on the paper and my focus zeroed in on the date. "This is a letter from Nazia's university! We're overdue," I jammed the statement at her, my finger on the line pointing it out.