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I couldn’t believe this was happening.
You would think that I would remember signing a bunch of paperwork to say I would satisfy my mother’s loans if she defaulted. Oh wait – that’s because I didn’t.
After that night, I thought I had hit rock bottom. But everything kept getting worse. I never could imagine that after losing my father and mother so close together, I would end up with my mother’s secret gambling debts. When did she even have the time?
Clara Falls wasn’t the most composed woman but she was a good one. Everyone used to say to my dad, “Larry, you’ve got a good one here. Luckiest man to have two girls like Clara and Harlow.”
Mom dedicated her time to charity work – putting on fundraisers and luncheons to support animal shelters and raise awareness for cancer. And while she didn’t have her shit together, she tried to pretend she did for me.
It pained me to think that my dad’s death broke her that much that she gambled everything away. It broke me that she couldn’t tell me or confide in me. We used to tell each other everything.
But the problem was, all that aside... I somehow ended up with hundreds of thousands worth of debt. And there was nothing I could do about it.
The bankruptcy trustees had documents with my signature, accepting appointment as guarantor. And I couldn’t prove that I didn’t sign them. Under the eyes of the law, I was somehow legally responsible for this money.
I am a 26 year old accounting admin clerk who has to live with someone to make rent. Mom inherited dad’s wealth but apparently she had sold and gambled everything away, except the company shares. So they passed to me when she died. It’s the only asset I have to my name and now I’m going to lose it.
Dad worked so hard at the investment company. He and the Maxwells worked together, building it up until dad became the majority shareholder and developed a strong board to lead with him. And now they loathed me – a young, female with a reputation that not even Lucifer could rival.
The board had 7 older, Caucasian men with no sense of humour but a tendency to make sexual jokes like they were running a comedy festival. I didn’t want to work with them but I didn’t want to give up the last piece of my dad more.
After I left Lauren King’s office, I found myself at the one place I visited outside of home, work and Dr. Thomas’ office.
The cemetery.
Mom and dad were laid to rest together at the Maxwell Cemetery just outside of the city. The suburban part of town was nearby, with plenty of greenery and parks for the families.
It was a large cemetery but mom and dad were in a private section, reserved for more well known members of the community. They had a simple headstone and plot, but to be fair, I was lucky to have even managed that. I found out after dad’s death that they had already arranged the plots so all I had to cover was the headstone. It was before my family money was frozen and before Lauren King came into my life. But at least it was something. A simple black marble headstone with gold colored writing, their full names and dates scribed across. My name was also on it with the words ′loving parents to Harlow’.
My knees hit the soft grassy earth as I kneeled at the foot of their graves. I leaned back to sit on my feet, my eyes carefully hovering over their names.
“How could you guys do this to me?” I muttered, silent tears escaping my eyes and spilling down my cheeks. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
I sniffled loudly, my hand quickly wiping my runny nose. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn’t hear the footsteps come up behind me.
“You know,” started a soft voice, “if I were a ghost, the last place I would hang out is a cemetery. Seems rather boring.”
My body jumped in shock and I quickly sprang to my feet, turning around to face the newcomer. My eyes raked over the red and black haired girl. She looked about my age with long stripy hair, blue eyes and a petite figure.
“Who are you?” I asked, more accusingly than I intended. I whined, wiping my nose again. “Sorry. Bad day.”
The girl smiled, her eyes warm which immediately had me on guard. No one ever looked at me genuinely or with purpose.
“I’m Lily. I live not far from here.”
I turned away from Lily to face my parents’ graves again. “Well, Lily. You don’t want to know me. So I’ll save you the trouble of having to awkwardly ditch me later.”
Lily chuckled from behind me, her laugh almost like a sing-song tune. “I know who you are, Harlow Falls. Everyone does. The difference is, I don’t care.”
I slowly looked over my shoulder at her, my eyes searching for any insincerity in her voice but finding none.
“You don’t care what everyone thinks about me?” I asked in a rushed whisper.
“Following social trends was never my thing,” she murmured with a smile, her slender fingers twisting her hair in circles.
“Not even what they said I did?”
She laughed, waving her hand at me impatiently. “Personally I don’t believe it. I’ve heard you talk about it in the news before. I believe you.”
Her words echoed in my ears and I had the nerve to blurt out, “why?”
Lily took a few steps forward until she was next to me and she sank down to her knees onto her heels. I followed suit, looking back at my parents.
“Why not?” she questioned back, her eyes also on the headstone. “I can just tell that you were telling the truth. Everyone is just too blinded by their anger and own problems to see past that.”
“You believe me,” I whispered, still not believing my own words.
She let out a soft half-laugh. “I believe you, Harlow.”
