Scam Mom, Push Me at Cars Chapter 2

The man’s name was Landon Pierce. He dragged my mother out of the car.

She shrieked, “What do you want? I’m warning you, don’t try anything crazy! I’ve already called the police!”

Landon ignored her. He retrieved a crowbar from the trunk and tossed it at her feet.

He pointed at me. Then at my mother. “Her, or you?”

“What?” she stammered, not understanding.

“I said,” Landon’s voice was flat, emotionless, “do you do it, or do I?”

“Your daughter has one leg in a cast. The other one is perfectly fine.”

“You choose. Either you break your own arm, or I’ll help you out and break your daughter’s other leg.”

The color drained from my mother’s face. She looked from the crowbar on the ground to me.

“Sir, please, I was wrong! I swear, I was wrong! I have a family to support, I was just desperate…”

“Choose,” Landon cut her off. A single, unyielding word.

I stared at my mother, the woman who always claimed I was her entire world. I waited for her to pick up the crowbar, even if it was just for show. I waited for her to shield me with her body, to scream “Don’t you touch my daughter.”

She didn’t.

She dropped to her knees with a thud and clutched Landon’s leg.

“Please, I’m begging you, let me go! I can’t break my arm! How will I work? How will I support her?”

“She’s young, her bones heal fast! She’ll be fine! Please, hurt her! Just don’t touch me!”

In that moment, even the wind howling around the factory seemed to fall silent.

Landon kicked her away, his face a mask of undisguised contempt. He came to the car, opened the door, and pulled me out.

“Mom! Help me!” I cried, reaching for her.

My mother scrambled to her feet, but not to run to me. She stumbled away, toward the factory gates.

“Nina, you just be brave! Mommy’s going to get help!”

She ran without a backward glance, leaving me alone with this monster.

Landon didn’t follow her. He just looked at me, his expression a mixture of something I couldn’t name—pity, maybe, or disgust.

He knelt and gently touched my good leg.

“Does it hurt?”

I was too terrified to speak, shaking my head frantically.

“Don’t be afraid. Uncle will be very gentle.”

He stood up and raised the crowbar.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the familiar, sickening pain.

There was a sharp crack.

My scream died in my throat.

Landon had broken my other leg.

He tucked a bank card into my pocket.

“The PIN is six zeros. A lesson for you both. There’s enough money in there to live on for a long time, and enough to fix your legs.”

“Tell your mother this is what she earned. I hope she enjoys the money she bought with her daughter’s two broken legs.”

He got back in his car, started the engine, and the black sedan vanished down the road.

My mother must have been hiding nearby. She came running back, saw me crumpled on the ground, and after a brief pause, threw herself on me, frantically searching my pockets.

When she found the card, her face lit up with a grotesque, ecstatic joy.

She hugged me, not with concern, but with manic excitement.

“Nina! My darling girl! You’re Mommy’s lucky charm! We’re rich! We’re rich!”

She spun in a circle, holding me tight, oblivious to the searing pain in my legs.

Tears streamed down my face. I couldn’t tell if they were from the pain, or from the chill that had settled deep in my heart.

Mom, I thought, your lucky charm now has two broken legs.