“Tell Your Mom to Apologize”, My Billionaire Dad Ordered, Unaware She Died 3 Years Ago Chapter 04
I swallowed down the sting in my eyes.
Looked straight at Dad.
“Mr. Harrington. What do you want from us?”
Silence. Heavy as death.
Dad’s eyes went dark. Then he said, low and hard.
“I want Lauren to go apologize to Sierra in person.”
That one sentence made my face go cold.
“Mom is dead.”
Smack.
He slapped me across the face. His expression was purple with rage.
“Anna Harrington. You liar. You’d make up a death just to get your mom out of apologizing.”
“You think I can’t find her?”
“If I find her, neither of you is staying in Fairview another day.”
I just stared at him coldly. Then I laughed.
“Fine. Go find her.”
“If you’re actually capable of finding her, take her away.”
Dad glared at me. Then he said, slow and cold.
“You said it. Don’t come crying later.”
After Dad left, the mall manager looked at me with pity.
“Look, Annie… it’s not that we don’t want you around. It’s just… you went and crossed Mr. Harrington.”
I didn’t let him finish. I knew what he meant.
I packed up my shoe shine kit, grabbed my cane, and walked back to my rental room.
Pushed the door open. Saw Mom’s framed photo on the table.
I touched her smiling face in the picture. Tears fell like rain.
“Mom. If it wasn’t for protecting me, you wouldn’t have died…”
The tears blurred my eyes. I was back in that moment, right before the SAT.
Sierra Vance stormed into school and slapped me across the face.
Right in front of teachers and students, she shouted.
“Do you know her mother is a homewrecker? And she’s a bastard child?”
Everyone stared at me. Disgust. Hatred.
I was shaking with fury. I screamed back.
“What are you talking about? You’re the homewrecker!”
Sierra let out a mocking laugh. Held up two marriage certificates.
“Your mom’s is fake. Mine and Connor’s is real.”
“I’m his only legal wife.”
I couldn’t believe it. I tried to get closer.
Before I could touch her, she screamed and fell to the floor, clutching her stomach.
The next thing I knew, someone shoved me so hard I slammed my head against the wall.
I heard Dad’s furious roar.
“Anna. If anything happens to Sierra, I will never forgive you or your mother.”
He scooped Sierra up and ran to the hospital. Didn’t even notice the blood running down my forehead. Or my empty pant leg.
Mom came to get me from school.
She gently cleaned my wound. Held me and cried.
“Annie. We pack up tonight. We’ll go somewhere they can never find us.”
I nodded through my tears. Said okay.
But we didn’t even make it inside the trailer.
Debt collectors stopped us.
They grabbed me and said they’d sell me to pay off the debt.
Mom threw herself in front of me like a wild animal. They beat her until her bones cracked. She collapsed in a pool of blood.
I carried her to the hospital crying. They turned us away because we couldn’t pay.
I had no choice. I took my cane and limped all the way to the Harrington estate to beg Dad for money.
He just frowned and yelled at me.
“Stop pretending. I never owed any money. Who would be coming after you?”
“Sierra lost the baby because of you. And you have the nerve to show up here playing the victim?”
“Twenty thousand? I wouldn’t give you twenty bucks. Get the hell out of here.”
The security guard grabbed me. But Sierra stopped him.
She looked down at me from the doorway. Smug.
“You want money? Fine. Get on your knees and apologize to me. Then maybe Connor will lend it to you.”
I froze.
I thought about Mom covered in blood. Ground my teeth and lowered myself onto my one leg. Got down on the ground.
Sierra just laughed. Grabbed Dad’s arm to close the door.
“Took you long enough. You don’t mean it.”
I broke.
I slammed my forehead against the ground.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Mr. Harrington. Mrs. Harrington. It’s all my fault.”
“Please. I’m begging you. Save my mom.”
“I’ll never bother you again. I swear.”
Blood dripped down my forehead and stained the concrete.
The courtyard echoed with my screaming sobs.
Sierra’s lips curled. Finally, she looked satisfied.
“Connor. Look at her. Begging on her knees for twenty grand like that’s actual money.”
“That won’t even get you one of his ties.”
Dad just looked at me with disgust the whole time.
He threw a card on the ground like it was trash.
“Take it and get the hell out. Stop harassing me with your mom.”
I grabbed the card and rushed back to the hospital.
But right before the surgery, the nurse told me—
There was nothing on the card. Zero.
I have never been so desperate in my whole life.
I looked at Mom on the hospital bed, covered in blood. I wiped the tear from the corner of her eye.
“Mom. Don’t worry. I’ll find the money for your surgery.”
I found an underground clinic. Signed an organ sale agreement.
They were about to put me under when the hospital called.
Mom was gone.
She’d pulled out her own breathing tube. So she wouldn’t be a burden.
On her bed was a letter stained with blood.
[Annie. Mommy’s so sorry. You have to live. Please.]
My SATs were on Mom’s funeral day.
That was three years ago.
I still haven’t walked away from that day.
I clutched Mom’s framed photo and cried until I couldn’t breathe.
“Mom. I’m taking you away now. Somewhere he’ll never find us.”
I grabbed my cane. Pushed open the door.
Dad was standing right outside.
He saw the photo in my arms. My empty pant leg.
His face went white as a ghost.
