Chapter 5

“Jim, Linda, you both know Annie is a truly dedicated teacher, always looking after her students, right? She goes above and beyond, making sure they have everything they need. Well, this time, she decided to help one of them… a little too much.”

Jim was starting to lose his patience. “Just get to the point!”

I paused for effect, raising my eyebrows. “That is the point, Jim. Annie took her student, Brandon, into the car for a little, shall we say, extra tutoring session. They were getting real close when that truck came out of nowhere.”

“You’re saying what, exactly?” Jim barked.

“That our sweet, innocent Annie was… well, let’s just say, ‘educating’ her student in the back seat when they got hit.”

“You’re lying! You filthy liar!” Jim roared, swinging his arm, trying to punch me. I dodged him easily, and he nearly stumbled into the bed.

“He’s been spewing lies from the moment he got here! He’s just jealous that Annie’s more successful than he ever was. Marrying our daughter was the best thing that ever happened to this scumbag!” Linda joined in, her voice shrill and furious.

“Yeah! Annie’s pure and kind! If she ever did something like that, I’ll jump out of this window right now!” Jim added, pounding his chest like a righteous man.

Jim and Linda were so worked up, they could hardly see straight. They couldn’t believe their precious daughter could be anything but perfect.

I watched them closely. They had always been a family that valued their son over their daughter. Annie’s brother, Tyler, had been kicked out of college for fighting, and now both parents relied on Annie’s dance career to fund their cushy lifestyle.

No matter how much money I made, I was never good enough for them. They pretended I didn’t exist when things were good, but when things went bad, they all turned to Annie to bail them out.

When my business was doing well, I didn’t let it get to me. I figured, hey, it’s family. But after my company crashed, they treated me like a stray dog. Tyler used to offer to park my car; now, when I go to dinner, I can feel the disdain rolling off of him in waves.

That’s what this family is: opportunistic parasites.

"Who here is Annie Cooper?" a stern voice called from the doorway.

Jim and Linda’s ranting came to a halt as two police officers stepped into the room.

“Officers! Finally! Arrest this lying scumbag! He’s been slandering our daughter this whole time, and he’s the one responsible for her accident! He’s the reason she lost her legs!” Linda screamed, jumping up and pointing at me like I was public enemy number one.

The officers didn’t bother acknowledging her theatrics. They walked straight up to Annie’s bed and pulled out a stack of photos.

“Mrs. Cooper, we’ve got surveillance footage from the crash site. Is this you?” One of the officers held up a photograph.