From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 94

Chapter 94: A New Company

The next day, Sheri let out a long moan as she twisted and turned in bed. The bright ray of sunlight piercing through the curtains hit her face, forcing her to squint. Slowly, her eyes cracked open, only making the pounding in her head worse.

"What the... where am I?" she groaned, clinging to the edge of her quilt.

Looking around, the space felt familiar, because it was. She was in her own bedroom.

"How did I even get here? I can’t... I can’t remember anything from last night."

Bits and pieces started to resurface. The fundraising event... the drinking... the tears rolling down her cheeks. And then, Max. Her eyes widened as the final memory clicked into place.

Immediately, she yanked the sheets over her head and curled into a tight ball.

"No, no, no... I cried in front of Max," she thought, mortified. "And I cried so much! I leaned on him. What was wrong with me yesterday?!"

Her face was burning. It didn’t help that she still had no idea how she’d gotten home. But if she was back here, that meant something else too, her mother was home.

Sheri and her mother still lived together in a luxurious apartment in the city. It spanned two floors, complete with a sea view framed by floor-to-ceiling windows. The upstairs housed their bedrooms, while downstairs was an expansive open-plan space: kitchen, lounge, and dining area all flowing into one.

The calm silence of her room felt like a temporary shield, a break from whatever storm was waiting for her just outside the door.

When she glanced at her clock, the numbers glowed back at her, it was already midday.

"I guess Mum didn’t bother to wake me up for school," Sheri muttered to herself. "She must’ve seen how much I drank... I guess she understands."

But the moment she thought of her mother, her heart started to pound. Her stomach twisted, sinking lower and lower. The dread weighed heavier than the throbbing pain in her skull, because this wasn’t just a hangover.

This was the fear of facing her.

’After what I did... she’s going to kill me. She’s going to kick me out of the house. I don’t even know what’s going to happen!’

Sheri curled up under the covers again, suffocating in her own panicked thoughts. All she’d had to do was one thing. One simple thing, and everything would have been fine.

But her mouth was dry, her head ached worse than before, and she knew she couldn’t stay in bed forever. Sooner or later, she’d have to face her mother.

’It can’t be that bad, right?’ she told herself. ’I mean... if it was, Mum wouldn’t have brought me back home at all...’

Eventually, Sheri tiptoed out of her room and stepped onto the upstairs balcony that overlooked the open-plan living area. She moved quietly, hoping to hear if her mother was even in.

That’s when she heard it, a faint whistling sound.

’That’s... odd. I don’t remember the last time I heard her whistling.’

Then, something else hit her, the smell. The delicious scent drifted up from the floor below, and as she peeked over the edge of the balcony, what she saw confirmed it.

’Did Mum cook a meal for herself... and she’s the one whistling? When was the last time that happened?’

She sat at the island, staring at the smoothie and the meal. Part of her wondered if it had been poisoned. Nothing about this was normal.