Chapter 73
Chapter 5
The price?
Two cracked ribs-courtesy of his old man.
How do I know?
Because the whole thing made it onto the local evening news.
The footage was blurred, but you could still make out how bad it got.
Blood splattered on the floor.
You didn’t have to be a genius to picture Hunter’s dad dragging him up by the collar and beating the hell out of him.
The reason? Simple. Hunter had been dead set on buying Serena a gold bracelet.
Problem was, Hunter was dirt poor. No way he could afford real gold.
So when he was out of options, he stole his dad’s gambling stash.
And everyone in this town knows-you don’t steal from a gambling addict.
That man was at the edge of losing his mind already.
Finding out his son had taken his casino cash? Yeah, he went nuclear.
Watching the footage on TV, I couldn’t help but think of my past life.
Back then, I already knew about Hunter’s screwed-up family and that worthless, gambling-addict father.
And me? I felt sorry for him. I gave him everything I could.
And what did I get for it?
That deadbeat dad eventually figured out Hunter’s “mysteriously improved lifestyle” wasn’t magic-it was me bankrolling him.
So one afternoon, he cornered me right outside the school gates.
I was hopelessly in love with Hunter back then, blind as a bat, and his dad saw it.
He threatened me-either I gave him money every month, or Hunter would “suffer” for it.
So I paid. Every. Damn. Month.
With my money flowing in, Hunter’s dad suddenly started playing “world’s greatest father p>
Hunter and him got closer.
Then, years later, when Hunter was still trying to get his startup off the ground, his dad lost about $750,000 at the poker tables.
He came crawling to Hunter to bail him out.
He-2 Your ‘Happy Ending Just Crashed, Asshole!
55.8%
Chapter 5
We were still a tiny company at the time.
That much money would’ve sunk us instantly.
I told Hunter to let him take the hit-otherwise, his dad would just keep coming back for more. Even Amazon couldn’t survive a leech lie that
forever.
But my advice? Yeah, it didn’t land.
Hunter just glared at me and said,
“Chloe Jones, he’s my dad. No matter what he’s done, that’s not gonna change p>
Then he emptied out the company’s cash flow to pay off the debt.
Overnight, we were inches from bankruptcy.
I had to swallow my pride, go beg my parents for a loan, and work myself into the ground-signing deals, chasing clients, drinking myself
sick-to save the business.
And in the end? I got a resignation letter.
“Chloe, don’t make this harder than it has to be p>
“You’ve worked hard p>
“Now it’s time for you to stay home, raise our kids, and let’s have a happy family p>
Just like that, I was replaced.
And the new person sitting at my desk? His good-for-nothing, gambling-addict father.
Thinking about it now, I could tear both of them apart with my bare hands.
So when I saw Hunter’s face on the news-bruised, bloodied-I actually smiled.
We were still classmates, after all.
Wouldn’t be right not to “visit,” right?
Might as well see how deep this father-son love really goes.
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Mark Twain