CHAPTER 63: BAD LUCK AND A BURDEN

"Settle it yourself," Daisy snapped, storming out the door.

But Jasmine didn’t let go. Still clinging to her daughter’s hand, she stumbled forward, dragged a few steps as Daisy tried to break free.

"I’m sorry... but I know you have money now," Jasmine pleaded, her voice cracking.

"Just this once, please help me... it’ll be the last time, I promise."

Daisy let out a sharp huff, head tilted back in pure disbelief.

She closed her eyes for a beat, breathing through the urge to commit something violent.

’Would smacking the back of your own mother’s head be considered self-defense... or a crime of passion?’

She opened her eyes again, jaw clenched. "You’ve said ’last time’ so many times, I’ve lost count."

"No! No!" Jasmine shook her head frantically, still pleading.

"I promise, this time... if you want me to sign an agreement or whatever, I’ll do it. I just need enough to settle the loan... and a bit more to go back to my family..."

Daisy scoffed, loud and bitter.

"I honestly don’t know how your brain works, Mom. Why would you need money to return to your own family?" Her voice grew sharper. "If they loved you, they’d accept you with no conditions and no price tag!"

She stepped back, disgusted.

"And what? They’re in a tight spot? You’re so easy to fool. They don’t want you back... they just don’t want the burden." Her voice cracked at the end, but she pushed through it. "A burden. That’s what you are to them."

She paused, then spat out the last part with disbelief. "The great Kennedy Group, in a tight spot? Please. Who do you think you’re talking to?"

"But—"

"Just admit it." Daisy cut her off sharply. "They don’t want you back. To them, you’re just bad luck... the one they got rid of the moment they realized you had nothing left to offer."

Jasmine stared at her daughter, unblinking. Anger flickered behind eyes that were slowly reddening, and tears began to well up.

"Great... just great..." she whispered bitterly. "So what makes you any different from them?"

Daisy’s brows furrowed, disbelief flickering across her face. "I’m nothing like them."

"No!" Jasmine cut in, her voice rising with emotion.

"Right now, you’re doing the same thing! They threw me out, and now you’re trying to get rid of me too... my own daughter..." She stood up, feeling frustration.

Daisy gave a sharp nod, then sneered.

"Okay, so according to your logic... even if I end up dead at the hands of a loan shark, I should just accept it... because I’m your daughter?"

"No! I said... help me one last time!" Jasmine cried, desperation thick in her voice.

"How?!" Daisy finally burst, her voice breaking as her chest rose and fell. "Tell me how?! I don’t have any money left! I used it all to pay off Dad’s debt!"

Her words echoed through the house, sharp and final, before dissolving into a silence so heavy it felt like the air itself refused to move.

Daisy stared at Jasmine as tears began to slip down her cheeks. She wiped them away quickly and said, voice soft but trembling, "Mom... can you, for just one second, think about me?"

She closed her eyes, pressing her fingers to her forehead as if holding herself together.

"I’ve always wondered..." she whispered, then looked up, her eyes meeting her mother’s. "Have you... just once... ever thought about helping me?"

Jasmine bit her trembling lip. "How can I help you if I can’t even help myself—"

"Enough." Daisy cut in, her voice low but firm. She nodded slowly, as if finally accepting something bitter.

"There’s no point arguing. Nothing I say will ever get through that head of yours."

She turned, her grip pulling slightly as she tried to walk away.

"Let go of my hand."

"No!" Jasmine tightened her grip. "Not until you give me the money... just this once!"

Daisy yanked her hand free, making Jasmine stumble slightly.

Without missing a beat, Daisy turned to the agent, who was watching the scene right outside of the door with a deep frown, his expression weighed down by guilt.

"I’ll sign the agreement," she said, her voice steady but cold. "Go ahead. I agree to sell it."

"Stop! What are you doing?!" Jasmine shouted, lunging forward and grabbing a fistful of Daisy’s shirt, yanking her back roughly.

Daisy lost her footing and fell hard onto the floor, landing on her bottom with a painful thud.

She winced, a sharp hiss escaping through her teeth as the sting shot up her spine.

She lost it. Daisy finally lost it, the pain, not just from the fall, but everything was too much to hold in.

She covered her face with both hands, her voice breaking as she sobbed, loud and raw. "Why? Why did I have to come from your womb?"

Her chest heaved, breaths uneven. "My life could’ve been okay... I could’ve been okay... if it wasn’t for you."

The words hung between them, brittle and heavy.

"You keep coming back just to break whatever little peace I have left."

Jasmine stood frozen, speechless, as her daughter crumbled in front of her, not from poverty, not from failure, but from the one person who was supposed to protect her.

Daisy finally gazed up with her face full of messy tears, "Can you just go and die? Because I think, my life would be better without you as my moth—"

A sharp slap landed on Daisy’s head, snapping her neck slightly to the side.

She gasped, more in shock than pain, blinking as silence crashed back down around them.

Jasmine stood over her, hand still raised, trembling. "How dare you say that to me..." she hissed, voice cracking. "I carried you for nine months, raised you with nothing—"

Daisy let out a bitter laugh as she wiped the corner of her mouth. "Raise me? Since when?"

She slowly pushed herself up from the floor, spine stiff, eyes hollow. "You only show up when you need something, mom. Not when I’m hurting. Not when I’m scared. Only when you need... something."

Jasmine looked away, jaw clenched but saying nothing.

Daisy’s voice lowered, now steady in the quiet, "And every time I or dad pull you out of the water... you drag us back in with you."