บททั้งหมดของ The Carousel Lies: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 9

How much would it cost to rent out the entire amusement park downtown for a day? A few hundred dollars? A few thousand?My hands shook as I pulled up my phone and looked it up. Six figures. My throat went dry, like it had been scorched."Dad, is Mom really rich?"My son had gone quiet for a long time before he finally worked up the courage to ask. His small face was creased with confusion, begging me for an answer.I felt a little dazed. Probably, yes.Jasmine Pepper had once been worth over ten billion dollars, but she'd declared bankruptcy seven years ago, right after the man she'd always loved walked out of her life. She'd been a shell of herself ever since, and eventually she married me, the man who'd always trailed after her.Jasmine didn't love me. She didn't love our son, either.But I never, not in a million years, imagined she'd been faking poverty for seven whole years.I looked down at my son's clothes, faded and shrunk from wear, and felt the blood drain straight ou

My son's eyes welled up with tears the second he saw me, but I didn't stop to comfort him. Instead, I scooped him up, my chest tight with excitement, and pressed my mouth close to his ear."Mom bought you a present! I saw it myself!"But there wasn't a trace of joy on his face. He kept pressing me with questions instead."Dad, did someone hurt you? Does it hurt?"I forced a foolish little smile, swallowing down the ache in my chest."Dad's just clumsy," I said, feigning embarrassment. "Ran into someone, that's all."His sad little face finally eased.He opened his mouth like he wanted to say more, but right then the door handle rattled. Jasmine was home.I perked up instantly, and my son was clearly just as eager, his palm going faintly damp in mine. But the next second, we both froze at the same time. Jasmine had come home empty-handed again.My heart plunged straight from the clouds to the floor. I glanced quickly at my son. Disappointment flickered across his face and van

Jasmine kept checking her watch, an unusual flicker of impatience crossing her face.She couldn't put it off any longer. What time was Charlie's contest again?She froze, realizing with a jolt that she couldn't even remember the exact time, even though Cody had drilled it into her the day before, over and over.A flicker of panic hit her. She slipped away from the birthday crowd and headed toward the office, where she'd stashed the toy she'd bought that morning to give Charlie after the contest.Josh had been watching her the whole time, and he caught up to her quickly."You haven't even had cake yet," he said.Jasmine gave a distracted hum and kept walking without looking back."You all go ahead. I've got something to take care of."Josh shot a quick look at his son.Luke grabbed the hem of her jacket, staring up at her with wide, pleading eyes."Jasmine, weren't you going to teach me the violin? Why are you leaving already?"She looked down at him, torn. "I have something

Something inside Jasmine's head gave a violent snap, like a wire tearing loose. The background noise around her blurred into static. She kicked off her heels and closed the distance to the heavyset woman in a few quick strides, grabbing her by the hair and slapping her hard across the face.Blood poured from the woman's nose. She lay beneath Jasmine, sobbing and begging for mercy, but Jasmine didn't hear a word of it. She grabbed a serving tray off the nearby counter and brought it down on the woman's head, again and again, until she couldn't make another sound.Jasmine spat at her, turned, and went home.A delivery driver was standing at her door. Before he could say a word, the sight of her sent him stumbling back a few steps. Her white blouse was soaked in blood, her expression wild, radiating a warning that told anyone within reach to keep their distance.He set the package down on the ground once he'd put some distance between them."Your delivery. Nobody answered the phone,

Jasmine didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed my hand and forced it against her own face, hitting herself with it, confessing as she went."It's my fault. I'm the one who made you and our son suffer."It's my fault. I never once kept my promise to our son."It's my fault. I didn't stand up for you when you were being harassed."Just hit me. Why won't you hit me?"By the end, she'd broken down into sobs.I listened to her confession calmly, feeling nothing at all. All the tears our son and I had cried, and she thought a few tears of her own could wipe that away? Hitting her would only make me look pathetic.Charlie noticed something was wrong from where he stood nearby. He dropped his skateboard and ran straight over, shoving Jasmine back hard and planting himself between us like a fierce little tiger guarding its den."Who are you? Leave my dad alone," he started, before Jasmine lifted her head and cut him off without a word.The second he saw her face, his eyes went red. His an