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Another thing that requires money.
A laugh escapes. I’m in an impossible situation. No memory, no support. I can’t lean on Jacob Rhodes forever, just as I couldn’t have done that to Thomas and Natalie.
I sit on the edge of the bed and make yet another list.
Hair, job, darling.I shudder. Not to mention flying across the country with Jacob. I don’t know how I’m going to begin to afford paying him back.
My phone chimes, a notification dropping down from the top of the screen. It’s an alert from the bank.
The social security card I requested must’ve come through to Thomas’s house, as well as my birth certificate. Maybe he forwarded copies of the documents, or went to the bank even though I’ve been ignoring his calls. A lot of them. I just can’t bring myself to answer.
Either way, I’ve been verified. I click the login button, set up a new password and email, and suddenly… my accounts are there.
I could cry. And then I see the numbers, and Idocry.
I’m flat broke.
My checking account has $2.51 in it. The other, the savings, has $4.13.
Before I know it, I’m sobbing for real. I toss my phone down and fold over, wrapping my arms around my head. What thefuck, past-me?
“Hey! What’s wrong?” Jacob’s voice drifts over me.
I ignore it. No way I’m lifting my head and letting him seethismess. Not until he pries my arm away, then the other. He squeezes my fingers, letting me hold on to him. I sniffle.
“Don’t hide,” he urges.
I carefully pull my hand away and grab the phone. Needing to see his reaction, I turn my head to watch his face as I show him the abysmal amounts. “Why would I do this to myself?”
He stares down at the numbers.
He clicks, opening a drop-down of transactions. Nosy, but I didn’t know it could do that. I find myself leaning into him, trying to see it better, while he still has one of my hands caught in his.
“Lump sums were withdrawn in cash,” he says carefully, angling the phone so I can see it.
Fifteen thousand dollars from my checking account. And double that from my savings.
“Why?” My voice is hoarse. “Who would do that?”
“You might’ve,” he says. “It’s dated before you were in the hospital. Almost six months prior.”
He’s thinking something. Calculating, or counting back.
“What is it?”
Then I remember.
Lucy said I dropped off the face of the earth just over two years ago. Subtract the three months since I woke up in the hospital… subtract six months from that? Something significant happened nine months ago.
There are three events, then.
When I disappeared.
When the money was taken out.
And when I ended up in the hospital.
I run my finger across my throat, contemplating it all. Three big events, and so far, none of them seem tied to Jacob. In that regard… I might be safe. From him, with him.
