Abandoned by All I Took It All Back novel Chapter 195

Wendy Clifford came from a modest background. Her parents were from a rural village, and she had a younger brother, Baron Clifford, who dropped out of middle school to find work in Portsborough.

To save up for a house for Baron, her parents had left the village years ago to work in the city.

Mr. Clifford worked as a steelworker on construction sites, only coming home once a year for the holidays.

Mrs. Clifford was a factory worker at an electronics plant, often working 12-hour shifts to earn more overtime pay.

When Wendy was in elementary school, she lived with her aunt.

For middle and high school, she boarded at school, returning to her aunt's house on weekends.

Once she got into college, she took on three part-time jobs. One was washing dishes in the school cafeteria, which came with free meals and saved her a lot on living expenses.

On weekends, she also tutored.

From the start of college, Wendy never took a single cent from her family. In fact, she was able to send her parents a few hundred dollars every year.

Finally, through their combined efforts, the family managed to buy a house for Baron in Clayborne City. The down payment was six hundred thousand dollars, with a monthly mortgage of four thousand, to be paid off over fifteen years.

Life was tight, but things were looking up.

But then, the unexpected happened. Baron, who had developed a near-manic gambling addiction, lost the house they had owned for less than three years.

When you have a leech in the family, everyone gets dragged down.

Baron wasn't in school and didn't hold a job. He spent his days with a bad crowd, eating, drinking, and having fun. Gambling was his greatest passion.

At the time, Wendy had just started her career.

After the disaster, Mrs. Clifford cried in front of her for an entire night.

Baron knelt before his parents and wrote a letter of promise, swearing he would get a proper job and never gamble again.

Just like that, the entire burden of the family fell onto Wendy's shoulders. She had no choice but to step in and clean up Baron's mess.

She was furious, but he was her brother. She couldn't bear to watch her aging parents waste away in tears over him.

After taking her seat.

Wendy downed a glass of beer. Her eyes fell on Janina's stomach, and a faint smile finally touched her lips.

"Nina, you've only got three months to go. Have you picked out a name for the baby yet?"

Janina rubbed her belly. "Not yet. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl. My brothers have all come up with names, though. We'll decide when the baby's born."

Maggie poured Wendy a glass of juice.

"Drinking is bad for you. Look how worn out you are. Let Baron deal with his own problems. He's an adult. Why is he still so irresponsible?"

The more Maggie spoke, the angrier she got. If she had a brother like that, she would have cut ties with him long ago.

Wendy took a sip of juice, her voice filled with weary resignation.

"There's nothing I can do this time. The court has already issued a judgment. We have one month. Either we let them auction the house, or we pay off the remaining seven hundred thousand dollars on the loan."