Page 127 of Broken Destiny

Recognition hit me like a blow.

The tenderness I had felt only moments earlier twisted into something dark.

Everything around me blurred as a harsh roaring filled my ears. My fists trembled so hard I could barely feel my fingers anymore.

It was the same bag that had held the money for Jeremy years ago.

I knew it without a doubt.

Numbness spread through my body.

The bag was right there in front of me.

The sight of it hit me like a punch to the gut, dragging every ugly suspicion I had spent weeks trying to bury back to the surface.

The letter I had carried in my wallet all this time suddenly felt heavier than ever. Everything my mother had warned me about came rushing back.

She had taken the money.

She had betrayed me.

The plan she had concocted with her “abuser” had been real all along.

There was no more room for doubt.

No more room for hope.

The evidence sat in front of me.

Sweat trickled down my forehead as I clenched my fists.

I needed answers.

I needed the truth.

My anger and pain overpowered every trace of love I still carried for her.

Footsteps descended the stairs.

I looked up.

It was Jiya.

She met my eyes for the first time that evening.

“The children have gone to bed. Can we talk?” she asked.

She noticed the anger on my face because her expression changed instantly, the nervous bite of her lip replaced by a deep frown.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

“No,” I replied, my voice rough, my ears ringing with the force of my own heartbeat. “Everything is not all right. I guess my mother was right about you after all.”

Her brows drew together. “Your mother? What are you talking about?”

“I am talking about the money, Jiya,” I said, my voice dropping into a low growl. “The money you took. The same money you used to start your new life here. This bag is proof of it.”

I pointed toward it.