Reunion of Mint Candies

The neighbors erupted into a chorus of whispers.

“What an ungrateful viper! Truly untamable!”

“Poor Quinn. She worked herself to the bone to raise a top student, only to have her snatched away by money.”

“All that education, wasted. A heartless creature!”

I ignored their cruel whispers, my gaze cold and fixed on my mother.

“Mom, it’s been sixteen years. Aren’t you tired of living like this? I don’t want to squeeze into this rental anymore, where we can’t even afford to run the AC. I want designer clothes. A luxury car. I want to be someone. He can give me that. You can’t.”

Every word was a knife—plunging into her heart, and just as deeply into my own.

A familiar, sharp cramp twisted in my abdomen. I dug my nails into my palm, using the pain to push back the coppery taste of blood rising in my throat.

I couldn’t vomit. Not now.

In my mother’s eyes, shock flickered, then heartbreak—finally settling into the cold ash of defeat.

She looked at me as if I were a stranger. After a long moment, a bleak, broken smile touched her lips. She picked up the pen and signed the agreement Caleb’s assistant had prepared.

The characters of “Quinn” were scrawled, shaky, soaked in despair.

“Good. Very good.” Caleb smiled with satisfaction, gesturing for another check—eight million.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close as he led me out, like a man parading a prized trophy.

We left the dilapidated apartment building. I slid into the black Bentley. Through the rearview mirror, I took one last look at the place that raised me.

My mother stood alone at the mouth of the stairwell—a statue abandoned by the world.

In that moment, my heart tore in two.

One half bled. The other froze solid.

Mom, I’m sorry.

Forgive me for leaving you in the cruelest way.

Because my life is on a countdown. With this decaying body and the little time I have left, I must pave a clean, bright future for you.

Caleb owes us, Mother. I’ll make him pay back every debt—with blood and interest.