“Go for it,” I said with a laugh, “Uncle, I have
proof I sent the money to my mom, and there is
no way that house is going back. Maybe you
should call a lawyer and see how many years
you can get for lying to the court!”
My uncle stammered. “Lu Ann, you’re so
cruel…”
Then I heard the sound of my uncle collapsing.
9
My uncle had a stroke because of me!
He couldn’t yell at me anymore.
I brought him some fruit and visited him once,
but his condition got worse.
One of them was my brother, the other my
uncle.
Augu mes 1000s part of T
I figured he was going to hook up with Tiffany.
Go to my
When we were dating, I installed an app on his
phone.
1 1 987 0800
A couple of weeks later, I found out that the old
A po upp
I knew he was sleeping with Tiffany, and he
poddrs to po s t u
Ape
let my brother start dialysis, per the doctor’s
pa se pid 1upinomi
My mom tumed gray overnight with
2168
<
sneaking in.
Her elevator stopped on the twelfth floor, so I
called the police.
I used the old trick. “Officers, there’s some
prostitution going on at the XX Hotel, floor 12.”
The police immediately went, and I also called
the local newspaper.
Then, I went up to the twelfth floor.
The old man and Tiffany were quickly found
out.
The old man knew Tiffany’s name but not any
other information.
And Tiffany didn’t even know the old man’s
name!
The police thought that the two were involved in
2:58
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I took some photos and sent them to my
brother. “Your wife is messing around on you.”
Then, I shut my phone off.
Of course, my mom and brother were going
crazy mad.
A while later, my mom came to the coffee shop.
“Mark and Tiffany are getting a divorce. Since
it’s her fault, she should leave with nothing. But
I can’t take care of Kevin by myself. So I had to
agree to pay Tiffany $3000 for his support. Lu
Ann, I don’t want Kevin to leave. Can you take
him and let Lily have a playmate?”
I cut her off. “Mom, it’s never going to happen.
Don’t even think about it.”
My mom didn’t yell this time. She just sighed. “I
know you wouldn’t agree, but I just had to try.
This is all my fault. If I didn’t take all your
<
money back then, you wouldn’t be divorced, and
you would still care.”
She was regretting things.
But, it was too late.
10
After Mark and Tiffany divorced, he couldn’t
afford his mortgage, so he quickly sold his
house.
He and my mom moved into a small rental.
My mom was no longer living high on the hog.
She went to the market every day to get
produce and sell it in front of the neighborhood.
It was enough for her to scrape by.
I, on the other hand, wanted to escape all that
drama, so I sold the coffee shop.
TI
<
And then, I took Lily and moved to another
district.
Mike would come to see us on the weekends.
We were planning to get remarried for the New
Year.
Winter came soon.
On Christmas day, Mike took Lily and me
shopping.
On the fifth floor, we heard a familiar cry.
Lily tilted her head. “Mommy, it sounds like
Kevin crying.”
We turned around, and it was him.
He was holding a toy and lying on the floor,
kicking his legs, and begging Tiffany to buy it
for him.
<
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86
Tiffany wouldn’t buy it. She was spanking his butt. “That toy is a thousand dollars. Do you
think I’m made of money? Go ask your dad for
toys!”
Then she started crying.
When Kevin saw his mom cry, he stopped and slowly put the toy down.
Tiffany pulled him up, and when she looked up,
she saw me.
She glared at me. “Are you happy to see me
like this?”
“Oh, no, I’ve always been so good to you! I even gave you that old geezer, and you’ve ended up like this. Whose fault is that?”
Don’t mess with me. I’m ready to snap.
<
was a bum! He didn’t even have $500,000. You
tricked me!”
That old man had seen me as his meal ticket
because I had a coffee shop.
After he got mixed up with Tiffany, he just
wanted a place to have sex.
He didn’t expect Tiffany to leave her husband
and try to tie herself to him.
He beat Tiffany up and ran off.
After a while, Tiffany found out that he was
broke, and his house was a rental.
He had only been trying to impress people to
get them into his net.
When Kevin saw Lily, all dressed up, he started
crying. “Auntie, can you buy me this toy?”
<
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86
I shook my head. “Sorry Kevin, I’m buying dolls
for Lily today. I can’t get you the toy.”
The little brat started bawling.
I grabbed Mike’s hand and pulled Lily away,
without looking back.
11
New Year’s day arrived.
Mike and I went to get remarried.
Lily was jumping with joy. “Mommy didn’t lie to
me, mommy only loves daddy!”
By coincidence, we ran into Mark and Tiffany at
the courthouse.
My mom and Kevin were with them.
It seemed like they were getting remarried, too.
<
But for some reason, they started arguing
before they could do it.
86
After listening for a bit, I found out that Tiffany
had said that she didn’t want my mom to live with them.
Mark had matured and wasn’t going to listen to her. “You were the one who begged me to remarry you, now you don’t want me to help my
mom? You can do it, or go to hell!”
Tiffany was humiliated in public.
She pulled out a knife and stabbed Mark.
He didn’t see it coming.
My mom, trying to protect him, jumped in front.
Tiffany, seeing red, screamed, “I’m going to kill
you, old lady! If not for you, we wouldn’t be in
this mess!”
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86
Blood was seeping through my mom’s clothes.
I covered Lily’s eyes.
Mike and Mark reacted quickly and
overpowered Tiffany.
My mom, stabbed by the woman she had seen
as her daughter–in–law, was nearly dead.
They rushed her to the hospital, and she was
barely saved.
Because her intestines were badly damaged,
they had to give her a colostomy.
When she was out of danger, she said that she
couldn’t burden Mark anymore and asked me to
take her in.
I refused.
<
2:59
Last time, she owed me a life.
~ 86
On the day of Tiffany’s sentencing, I dropped
my mom off at the nursing home. I told her,
“Mom, you gave me life, and I’ll pay for your nursing home. That’s it. Don’t ask me for anything else or I’ll cut you off!”
My mom’s old, milky eyes were full of tears.
“Can you at least help Mark? He has kidney
failure and Kevin to care for. How is he going to
survive?”
“Mom, life goes on. Don’t worry so much.”
As I left the nursing home, it was a beautiful,
sunny spring day.
I smiled.
Light will always drive out the darkness, won’t
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