Chapter 37

My mom nodded, her voice barely above a whisper as she answered me. "It's true. I-I owed over three million dollars. They said the house would fetch about one million dollars, so I sold it to them. I know I messed up. I'm sorry! Please, you have to help me. I don't want to die!" She was crying so hard, tears and snot running down her face. Watching her, I felt a mix of frustration and pity. I was just about to agree when something clicked, and I froze. "So, the whole thing about investing was a lie too?" Mom was startled. She hadn't expected me to bring that up. "Joshua, I can explain. I-I really did plan to invest with a few friends, but things didn't go as planned. You have to believe me. I'm your mom. Everything I do is to make your life better. Why else would I—" I cut her off, my anger finally boiling over. "This is your idea of helping me? Seriously?" Back when my dad was drinking and gambling his life away, at least she still cared about me, even if it was just occasional