Chapter 10 - The Money He Never Saved
Sarah dropped the statement on the table.
"Explain it."
Mark did not reach for the paper.
Austin stood by the doorway, perfectly still.
"I started the account when Lily was a baby," Mark said.
Sarah's voice was dangerous.
"And when Austin became part of this family?"
"I kept meaning to open one."
Austin laughed once.
It sounded exactly like Mark had the night Margaret revealed the DNA test.
"Six years of meaning to?"
"Austin—"
"Don't."
He backed away.
Sarah looked at Mark with disgust.
"You told me money was tight every time I brought up college savings."
"It was."
"But not too tight for Lily."
"That account was automatic. I barely thought about it."
Austin's eyes burned.
"That's worse."
Mark looked at him.
"What?"
"You didn't even have to hate me. You just didn't think about me."
Then Austin turned and walked outside.
Sarah started after him.
Margaret, who had just come through the kitchen, touched her arm.
"Give him one minute."
Sarah rounded on Mark instead.
"You are not fixing this with a shopping trip. You are not fixing it with a check. You are going to look at every way you treated those two children differently and you are going to face it."
Mark sat down.
For once, he had no defense.
He pulled up his banking app.
There it was.
Birthday deposits for Lily.
Christmas money.
Automatic transfers.
A small inheritance from his grandfather.
Nothing for Austin.
Not one dollar.
Mark felt sick.
"I didn't realize."
Sarah's eyes hardened.
"That's the problem."
He spent the next hour reviewing six years of family expenses.
The pattern was ugly because it was ordinary.
A more expensive summer camp for Lily.
New baseball equipment for Austin only when something broke.
Lily's phone replaced after a cracked screen.
Austin told to keep using his because it still worked.
Little choices.
Hundreds of them.
A child could build a whole definition of love out of little choices.
Mark walked outside.
Austin sat on the curb with his hood pulled up.
Mark sat several feet away.
"I found more."
Austin stared at the street.
"Congratulations."
"I'm not proud of it."
"Good."
Mark held out his phone.
"I want you to see all of it."
Austin finally looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to hide behind 'I didn't know.'"
The boy hesitated, then took the phone.
He scrolled.
His face did not change until he reached one line.
Then he froze.
"What's this?"
Mark leaned closer.
The transaction was from three years earlier.
PRIVATE SCHOOL DEPOSIT - LILY BENNETT.
Austin looked up.
"You were going to send her to Westbridge?"
Mark went silent.
May you like
Austin's voice cracked.
"And leave me behind?"
