Chapter 3 Betrayal

It didn't take Him long to leave the bar and head straight to the registry to get his marriage permit.

It was relatively easier than he thought, but he had a feeling it was because of Ariel's influence.

He still couldn't believe she'd transferred fifty thousand dollars to him just like that.

He wasn't even married to her yet, for all she knew he could easily just disappear with the money. After all, fifty thousand dollars was more than enough to pay the rest of my mother's medical bills with a boat load of change.

"But you won't though, her deal was too good for you to pass up." He ignored the words of his inner voice, even though he knew it was right.

Her offer was way too good to refuse, maybe a little too good, which brought numerous questions to his mind, like why she was doing this.

She was beautiful, so it shouldn't have been hard for her to meet men. None of it made sense to him, but he wasn't going to question a miracle, at least not right now, his only priority now was his mother.

Jeremy stopped his barely functioning Honda car in the parking lot of the hospital his mother was currently at and rushed inside.

He immediately paid for the medical expenses.

"Hey mom." He hugged her as soon as he got close to her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, pulling away from her.

"She's doing better than yesterday." His sister, Naomi, said behind him.

"Here's your water, mom." She handed their mom a glass of water before coming to hug him.

"How are you?" She asked, her voice soft as she looked up at him.

"I'm fine. How are you and Mom holding up?"

"Good actually, I just met the doctor in the hallway. Said you paid all the medical bills."

"Yes." He nodded, stroking his mother's hair. She was still a bit weak, but there was nothing a good rest couldn't fix.

"How in the world did you manage that on such short notice?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes it does, where did you get thirty-five thousand dollars to pay mom's medical bills? "

He phone rang just then, saving him from answering any further questions from his sister. He picked up the phone without looking at the ID.

"Hey baby." My girlfriend's voice poured through the phone. There was a time that her voice was all he needed to function, but now they felt like needles and nails pricking his ears.

"What is it?" He said as civilly as he could in front of his mother and sister.

"Well that's a rude way to greet the love of your life." She said in a pouty tone.

"I'm sorry, how are you?"

"Not so great, baby. I'm in the mall right now, and I'm short on cash, could you maybe send me $500?" She said in a flirty tone that was annoying rather than arousing.

"Are you crazy?" He asked out of anger, completely forgetting about the presence of both his mother and sister, who were now staring at him curiously.

"Baby that's rude! Why are you speaking to me like that?" The more she spoke, the more annoyed he got.

He was so pissed, he didn't think to dignify her with a response. He immediately hung up.

He was so irritated and annoyed by her. She knew the tight corner he was in, especially with his mother's hospital bills, yet she was more concerned about her clothes.

He went back to talking to his sister, and she explained to him what had been going on with her health. The doctor had already briefed me before now.

"What about you, how are you taking all of this?" He asked, worried about her. She'd been looking after their mom almost twice as much as he was. He had been too busy trying to find the money to pay for all the bills, since their insurance barely covered anything.

"I'm... alright." He knew instantly from her hesitation that she was lying for his sake or at least not telling the complete truth and he wanted to comfort her, but the look in her eyes told him she needed everything but comfort. She needed to rest and go to college and be just a normal nineteen-year-old.

That was why he knew he had to take this deal. If he was going to get his family out of the slum life, he had to latch on to this opportunity, no matter how good it might be.

"Have you had anything to eat?"

"Yeah, I got snacks from the vending machine earlier."

"That's not food, bro!" He scolded her.

"Yeah, well, I'm not hungry."

"Bullshit." He glared, tired of having to beg her to eat something.

She shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

"You are being dramatic, I just forgot to eat."

He blinked at her ridiculous statement before letting out a sigh. "How did you even forget to eat? You know what? Don't answer that. I'm going to go get you something to eat." He said and stood to leave.

"Be right back mom," He kissed her forehead and left. He was about to get in his car when he saw Stephanie, his girlfriend, walking towards him.

'Boo bear!" She called out to him as she walked faster towards him. He waited patiently until she got to him with zero expression on his face.

She kissed him on the lips, but he didn't move. He couldn't at that point.

"What are you doing here?* He asked.

"Well, I thought I'd come collect the money here instead."

"What money?"

"The five hundred dollars I told you about on the phone, duh."

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any money to give to you."

"Then how the hell am I supposed to shop?"

"I don't know, maybe you could ask my boss, you know. The man you've been fucking behind my back for money."

Her face widened in shock.