Chapter 1
My mom is a Forbes billionaire who’s basically a ghost in our lives.
My dad’s her “devoted househusband” who raised me single-handedly.
He always tells me Mom looks down on us country folks, only sending $800 a month, calling us ungrateful mutts who can’t be
satisfied.
I’ve hated her guts for years.
Until Mom shows up at my college out of nowhere, pointing at the veggie sandwich in my hands:
“I send you $200k every month, and this is what you’re eating?”
My phone screen lit up.
Bank notification.
Jaxon Holloway has transferred $800.00 to your account.]
$800.
That number hit me like a dagger straight to my already frayed nerves.
I set my phone down, my stomach twisting with that familiar empty ache.
Yesterday I’d only eaten once, trying to stretch every penny.
This eight hundred had to last me a full thirty days.
My roommate Cecilia peeked over and immediately went off on my behalf:
“River, is your mom made of stone or what? Eight hundred bucks in New York? That’s literally nothing!”
“I dropped forty on a latte yesterday! This is like… charity case money!”
She casually picked up her new La Mer skincare, that tiny bottle of serum worth over a grand.
I forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace.
A spoiled princess like her wouldn’t understand.
My high-and-mighty mother probably really did think we were just beggars.
All I could see was my dad’s face, painted with that familiar “helpless” expression.
My whole life, he’d been whispering the same poison in my ear.
“River, your mom’s city folk. She looks down on country people like us from the bottom of her heart.”
“She can’t stand me, you, your sick uncle, your aging grandparents, and your…”
“Every time I go crawling to her, begging for you to have a decent life, you know how she humiliates me? She calls us Holloways a pack of ungrateful parasites!”
Those words were like toxic seeds that had taken root in my heart.
By then, my phone buzzed.
Dad.
“River…”
His voice sounded drained.
“This month… it’s still eight hundred.”
“I begged her, really, said every nice thing I could think of. But your mom said there wasn’t even one more cent.”
“It’s all Dad’s fault for being useless, making you suffer like this with me.”
Rage and heartbreak churned in my chest.
This wasn’t his fault!
He’d already endured so much humiliation from that woman for my sake!
“Dad, don’t say that!” I cut him off desperately.
“I can get a campus job! I can take care of myself!”
“Sweet girl…” His voice cracked on the other end.
“Just… don’t let yourself go hungry.”
After hanging up, the dorm fell dead silent.
I pulled out that bag of white bread I’d been saving for two days, tore open the package, and took a huge bite.
Dry and stale.
Hard to swallow.
My phone lit up again-class group chat about dinner plans, everyone chatting excitedly.
[Jason’s birthday tonight, party at the usual place see you there!]
[Another party at Evelyn’s?! Boring! Let’s hit that new bar instead! Split the drinks, what do you say?]
[Bar! Bar! Bar! Bar!]
Evelyn @everyone:
[@everyone Fine, not my place tonight then. 8 PM, OneClub, see you there!]
Then she tagged me specifically.
[@River Holloway, River come too! You’re always so low-key, you absolutely have to come have some fun today!]
I flipped my phone face-down, just trying to shut out their world.
My fists clenched.
New bar.
Split the drinks.
That meant several hundred dollars…
For them, just another dinner out.
For me, that was ten days of food money.
I picked up my phone, fingers hovering over the screen, typing and deleting over and over.
Finally left just one line:
[Sony, got work tonight, can’t make it. Happy birthday, Jason.]
Total lie.
But I had no choice.
Then I shut off the screen and shrank back into the darkness.
Those normal college experiences? Not for me.
That night, I had a nightmare.
My mother-who only existed for me in business magazines-stood over my father who she’d knocked to the ground.
“Jaxon Holloway, you and that hillbilly daughter of yours are nothing but tail-wagging beggars!”
