Page 16 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 1

“No,” she argued.“Armen wanted me to be happy, Zoya.So, what better way to spend the last of the money than to make myself feel better about the situation that we’re in.”

That stopped me.

“What?What did you say?”

“I’ve closed out the estate account,” she said, surprising me but really not.“There was only three-hundred dollars left, so why keep it open?”

There was only three-hundred dollars left.

Out of the one-hundred and twenty-six-thousand dollars that Uncle Armen had left us after the taxes and whatnot had been cleared, my mother had only three-hundred of it left, and she wanted to spend it all on a spa day for herself.Even after putting all of my money to this house, even after refinancing to make the monthly mortgage payments lower, even after me eating bologna fucking sandwiches for the better part of a year, we had nothing left.

We had fucking nothing.

Tears hit the back of my eyes in an enraged defeat that was enough to make me want to just run away from life.That money was supposed to have been used for emergencies only, but because I’d wanted to think the best of my mother, I hadn’t monitored her withdrawals, thinking that she’d eventually put our best interests above her spoiled wants.

I also wanted to throw a million angry questions at her, but what for?Yelling at her, demanding answers...none of it would bring the money back.Nothing I did or said would make the money magically reappear in the account.As of right now, all we had to our names was the money that my mother was going to waste on herself and my paycheck from Ruby’s.

Nevertheless, despite the weight that she just put on my shoulders, I asked, “So, what’s the plan once you spend all that money on yourself, Mom?”

“What are you talking about?”

“To pay the bills,” I clarified.“What’s the plan to pay the bills?”

“I thought we discussed that already,” she replied breezily.“Aren’t you looking into getting a second job?”

“No,” I answered firmly, doing my best not to lose my shit.“I am not looking for a second job, nor am I going to.”

“What are you talking about?”she gasped.“How are we expected to survive then?”

“You need to get a job,” I said, finally putting away the kid gloves once and for all.“If you have so little consideration for me that you’d take our last three-hundred dollars to spend on a spa day for yourself, then I no longer feel compelled to support you.”

“How dare you,” she seethed.“After I begged Aurora Korolev to keep you safe, you’re going to treat me this way?”

“What way?”I almost yelled.“Getting a job?Making you financially responsible for yourself?Asking you to help out?What is so wrong with that?”

“Because I deserve better,” she replied haughtily.

What?

“Better than what?”I bit out.“Are you seriously standing there, telling me that you’re too good to work?”

“I was meant for a better life than this, Zoya,” she said, and I honestly didn’t know what to say to that.

I stared at my mother, wondering how I could have been so wrong about her.My entire life, she’d been happy, supportive, considerate, lively, and I’d never known anything else.I’d always thought that I’d had the perfect mother, and up until this past year, my memories of her had all been good ones.They’d been ones filled with laughter and companionship.We’d been so close, and our lives had been ideal.Yeah, we hadn’t been lottery-rich, but we’d always had more than enough.

So, to hear and see her turn into a person that I didn’t recognize because she was no longer being kept in the lifestyle that she’d become accustomed to was insane.I could hardly credit that the person standing in front of me was the same woman that’d been so happy for me when I’d first moved out on my own, being my biggest cheerleader.It was so disappointing to learn that she’d only been happy because Uncle Armen had been paying all her bills, giving her a carefree lifestyle that she hadn’t earned.Other than her husband leaving her with a small child to raise, my mother hadn’t ever done anything to deserve everything that my uncle had done for her.

“Well, your belief that you’re cut out for something more than working for a living, that’s not the reality right now, Mom,” I told her.“Uncle Armen is gone.Uncle Armen is gone, and I’m sorry that you’re still struggling with the loss, but he’s gone.He’s gone, and he is no longer here to restock the money that you’ve spent.So, this is where we are, and you need to accept it.”

“So, what?”she hissed.“You’re going to let me become homeless?You’re going to let me starve?”

I wanted to cry.

I was so fucking tired, and she was openly manipulating my love for her without any shame.She didn’t care about the emotional and mental damage that she was creating for me right now.She only cared about herself, and it was breaking my heart every second that I stood here.I didn’t know this woman, and if she wasn’t my mother, I wouldn’twantto know her.

“No,” I answered, but only because I didn’t have a better answer right now.“I’m going to continue to go to work, earn my paycheck, and pay the bills to the best of my ability.”

“And what about me?”