“Jinx! Worthless brat! Ever since you were born, my luck at the casino has never once been good!”
As he cursed, he dragged me toward the kitchen.
Then he turned and shoved Aunt Lisa out the door with a brutal blow.
“Bring me half a billion dollars, or don’t even dream of taking this little brat away!”
Aunt Lisa looked at me, sick and barely standing, still being forced to cook for them. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
She was wealthy, but only comfortably so—she couldn’t possibly hand over that kind of money.
I knew she wanted to help, but she was powerless.
As I cooked, I swayed on my feet.
Dad sat outside, calculating his gambling money, and shouted into the kitchen:
“Hurry up! You trying to starve your old man? How did I end up with such a useless kid?”
Then he bellowed at Mom:
“You useless woman! Why are there still so many rats in this house? What if they bite Jacob?”
The sound of crashes followed.
I didn’t need to look—I knew Dad was hitting Mom again.
Terror gripped me.
I sped up my work, but my hands trembled uncontrollably.
By mistake, I grabbed the wrong container and poured it into the rice jar.
When I looked closer, my heart stopped.
It was the rat poison Mom had warned me about.