Masked

Chapter Thirteen

"Hey Lily," Anastasia said, but not as brightly. 

"Can we just cut to the chase?!" Athena snapped. "We're going bankrupt! Dad lost all of his money to some hacker!"

Evelyn gasped. "Wait what?!"

"We overheard them..." Ana whispered. "Mom and Dad were arguing. That's why Daddy's been so busy."

"This is insane, I'm sure there's an explanation," Willow said, her eyebrows furrowed. 

"Where will we live?" Karyna asked. I could tell she was thinking hard and trying to rationalize things. 

"Well I know the house is paid off," Allura said. "I don't know about everything else though."

"Why are we freaking out?" Rym piped up. "Dad'll just make more money, so will Allie and Willow."

"You don't understand!" Athena bit back tears. "They hacked all of our accounts. All of them! Dad doesn't get paid in cash it's transferred to his bank account. The hackers forged our signatures so they get whatever money any of us make!"

Athena buried her face in her hands. 

"Who would do that?" Ana said softly. "What did Dad do?"

"He didn't do anything," I said immediately. "There's got to be a more logical explanation."

Yeah, there was. 

I had to do something. 

~~~

Falling asleep wasn't easy. I had just found out that the next time I fought in the tournament was December. It was ridiculous. 

I woke up to my alarm and light leaking through my side of my room's curtains, Rym was sleeping peacefully in her bed and I couldn't help but feel useless. 

How could anyone do this? What had my father done? Was it all just for money?

I sat up in my bed and stared at my folded hands, allowing some tears to fall from my violet eyes. Eventually I found myself silently sobbing, holding back a hiccup with my right hand. I wiped the tears from my face not so delicately and slipped out of bed as silently as possible, scurrying to Rym and I's bathroom. 

My phone clock read nine-thirty, I let out a breath of relief. Plenty of time for my Saturday morning workout. I decided not to shower since I was going to get sweaty anyway and settled for Dove deodorant. Then I threw my long, black hair into a tight messy bun and threw on some Nike pros and a muscle shirt. 

Good enough. 

I grabbed my water bottle and started downstairs, not smelling breakfast to my surprise. It wasn't like I couldn't cook or anything, it was just either Mom or Maria insisted on making breakfast. 

But neither Mom or Maria were anywhere in sight. 

It was weird to see the kitchen so quiet and vacant at this time in the morning, but I shrugged it off the best I could and started making myself an egg in a cup. 

Once the microwave beeped, telling me my eggs were done, I removed them and sat down alone at the counter. It was awkward and lonely.