Broken Dreams #1 / Slow Burn - Age Gap - Billionaire - BDSM

It is painful to receive ingratitude from those to whom we were capable of giving our lives.

(Unknown author)

***

Maya

Life is not made of easy choices. Sometimes, there are moments when we reach crucial points, where we have to decide between upholding our values imposed by a hypocritical society or taking risks for those we love.

It's difficult when we discover that these will be the first to leave us behind, without making the slightest effort to understand the reason for our choices.

To be judged and left to one's own devices by those who swore to love and protect us from the beginning of our lives, is the worst pain and the worst contempt anyone can feel.

Something I learned from this, the hard way, is that no matter how good you have been to these people. In the end, they will be the ones to throw stones at you.

***

At eighteen, I was accepted into the University of Houston, in Texas, through a full scholarship. A future doctor in the family was a source of great pride for everyone, especially for my father, Teddy. For months he had my acceptance letter tacked to the refrigerator door, displaying it to anyone who came to our house.

Every morning, when he entered the kitchen for coffee, he would look at it and smile as if it were a signed check with many zeros on the right. I remember that on the day I received the much-anticipated mail, he spent hours on the phone telling everyone he knew that his little girl was going to college.

He was always a simple man, but one with big dreams. The biggest of them was that his only daughter could make something of herself with a diploma in hand. The second, he achieved six years ago when he finally took the project off paper and opened his own vintage car restoration shop.

But sometimes, joy has an expiration date. His business hadn't been doing well in recent months. Debts had been accumulating since we discovered that my mother, Meredith, was sick. She was the best mother, wife, daughter, and friend anyone could ever have the pleasure of knowing.

He divided his time between work and the hospital, but it was complicated to do so with little help and me being so far from home nine months a year. Even so, he said he didn't get tired or mind making sacrifices for her; after all, they had sworn to love each other until death do them part, but I knew how difficult it was for him.

As a child, I always admired their affection for each other. Despite the difficulties they faced together, their love was still unique and beautiful. I always thought that one day I would have with someone what they had as a couple and a family, but that's not quite how it started for me.

My love life began with Mark: my first boyfriend, passion, and first time. I thought that virginity was something beautiful and delicate, that it should be given to someone who proved to love it, or, at least, to someone you believed loved it.

We met at the university welcome party, in the first week of classes. He smiled at me with those white and perfect teeth, and I smiled back, of course! Who wouldn't respond to such a seductive smile?

An hour later, I was lying on an unfamiliar bed and beneath him. When things heated up, I had to tell him that I was a virgin and and that I wasn't ready to have sex, especially at a party and in a random person's bed. He said he found that beautiful and promised he would be worthy. I smiled foolishly, innocently, and almost in love.

Mark filled my ears with things any foolish girl would want to hear: "That's amazing!", "You're wonderful!", "You respect yourself!", "Women like you are special," and I believed him.

A month had passed since that party, and I had a handsome boyfriend who was preparing the perfect night for me to give him what we both desired. My first night happened, and it was all romantic and perfect. Mark took us for a weekend out of town, to a cabin in the mountains. We had a candlelight dinner, hot baths in the jacuzzi, and passionate sex for a good part of three days.

When we completed nine months of dating, we were happy and fulfilled; I thought I had found the right person for my life, whom I would marry after graduation.

It was at the same party where my path crossed with his that I met Penny: the girl who became my new best friend and confidante. She approached me, complimenting my dress, and I complimented her shoes. We talked, drank a few beers, and she introduced me to some people. Penny was the kind of friend who would get into trouble for you and who, when she did something idiotic, wasn't afraid to tell me. She completed my happiness away from home.

But the magical pink bubble of happiness I lived in for nine months burst when my dad left a three-minute message on the answering machine, which changed my world. It was the sad news that my mom had stage two breast cancer. That same day, I returned home a week earlier than planned, prepared to face the diagnosis alongside my parents.

I was by her side during her recovery from a total mastectomy and all the radiotherapy and chemotherapy sessions that happened during my summer vacation. My father had a great health plan, which gave her quick treatment with maximum comfort. I knew it wouldn't be cheap and that it was beyond our means, but we couldn't spare any effort for my mom.

When the vacation ended, I returned to university in early September with the good news that she was, finally, on the way to recovery.

With my father in debt, he could no longer help me stay in college. I made some efforts and gave up parts of my curriculum to work at night. It was hard to get used to the new routine, but everything was working out.

In the mornings, I attended classes. In the afternoons, I studied in the campus library with my study group; and at night, I worked as a waitress at Roger's, a local bar near the university. The salary wasn't bad, but the hours were tiring. However, the tips made up for it, especially on show nights.

Nine months later, before I knew it, vacation was approaching. The tight routine only got worse. College classes became increasingly difficult, taking up more of the time I didn't have. At work, I started working even on holidays to avoid needing my parents' help as much as possible. On weekends when I wasn't working, I was visiting them or studying for exams and tests. I barely had time for my boyfriend anymore.

It wasn't that I put Mark in second place; I just couldn't give him all the attention he wanted, or that I used to give him. I know how annoying it was for him to be with all our friends at the bar on a Friday night, when each of them was drinking and having fun with their girlfriends, while he was alone and I was serving them. But even so, that was no reason for him to hurt me or betray me in my own bed.

There was one Friday when I forgot to bring my documents for Roger to renew my work contract for another nine months.

"I can't keep stalling you, Maya. Take advantage of the band still setting up the stage and go get your documents. We're opening in thirty minutes!" he said.

"Alright. I'll be quick," I replied before leaving his office.

When I arrived at the parking lot, I found Dirck, our bartender, arriving for another shift.

"Dirck?" I called out as I approached him.

"Hey there, pretty girl?" he asked, all smiles.

"Can you lend me your car? I need to go to the sorority and be back in half an hour," I asked with an awkward smile.

"Sure!" he agreed, tossing me his car keys and winking.

I drove to campus and entered the house where I lived with fourteen other girls. I climbed the two flights of stairs that led to the second floor, and the moment I stepped into the hallway, I could hear moans and exasperated cries.

"Mark! Please... fuck me hard!" pleaded the breathless voice between moans.

"Mark?" I repeated, whispering the name I had just heard.

With each step down the hallway, the moans grew louder and louder. I followed the sound which led me to my bedroom door, and before opening it, I finally recognized the voice screaming uncontrollably. It was Violet's, my roommate.

I opened the door slowly and entered, stopping at the threshold. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I felt the walls around me spin and my stomach churn. They continued for a few more seconds, maybe a minute, until they noticed my presence.

Violet was the first. She shrieked in alarm, pushing Mark off her and trying to cover herself with the crumpled, sweaty sheets. Mark got up, grabbing the pillow fallen on the floor and covering his penis with it. Violet brought her knees to her chest and hugged her legs as she cried, apologizing to me. Mark's face was pale and his eyes wide, staring at me speechless. I waited for him to say something, but nothing came out of his slightly open mouth.

Maya

I turned my back on them both, but before I passed through the door, I glanced aside and saw my bag on the dresser, remembering what I had gone there to do. I grabbed it and slammed the door behind me. I descended the steps slowly, trying to digest what I had just witnessed.

When I reached the living room, I heard Mark call out for me in the hallway. I quickened my steps and ran through the front door, heading to the car and getting in quickly, starting the engine. The two of them came out of the house disheveled and ill-dressed, asking me to wait and talk. Without listening to them, I sped off, burning rubber on the asphalt.

On the way back to work, I held back my tears and focused on how the night could fill my pockets with good tips. I parked the car in the employee spot and entered the bar, heading straight to Roger's office. I handed him my documents and left, grabbing my apron and the tray from the drink counter.

The