Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Swallowing hard, Sal was grateful not to have to comment as she continued speaking.
“My father’s the one who I really blame. She didn’t technically owe me anything. We weren’t blood related or anything, you know?”
That statement made his body seethe for Valerie.
“No, you weren’t. And while I agree your father is a piece of shit, she’s no less of a piece of shit than he is. Whether you’re related to someone by blood or not is irrelevant. The day she married your father was the day she chose to accept you as family as well, considering you were only a child. If anything, she should have encouraged your relationship with your father and, even more importantly, your interests and talent. I’m sorry, Valerie, but none of your family was your true family.”
“I guess I never thought about it that way.” Those words quietly left her lips in sadness but also realization.
A few quiet moments in contemplation passed before she spoke again.
“You know, it sounds like you’re speaking from experience. Is that how you ended up becoming loyal to the Carusos?”
“How I got where I am today is rather complicated and a long story that will put you to sleep considering how tired you must be.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” she said, highly interested, but it wasn’t hard to miss the heavy lids growing, her eyes looking wearier by the second.
“You can take my room upstairs, if you’d like,” he offered, but there would be no answer as she had fallen fast asleep after her eventful weekend and day.
Not bothering to move her, considering how comfortable she looked, he went upstairs to grab a few things before coming back down.
Placing one of his shirts on the couch beside her, he did so in case she woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to be more comfortable, before he covered her with a cozy blanket. Tomorrow, he would have to figure out a way to get some of her stuff here for the time being.
Despite wanting to curse Lucca for forcing his hand to help her, his feelings of strong hate toward her were slowly turning into strong dislike.
Unable to help himself, he brushed some of the silky hair off her face with his fingertips to reveal more of her sunlit kisses.
Fine. Mild dislike.
“Good night, Valerie.” Sal finally pulled himself away from her to catch some sleep as well. “Sweet dreams.”
It was going to be something he instinctively knew he wasn’t going to have tonight …
It was Sal’s tenth birthday and had been going pretty shitty until he noticed his mother waving him down after the school bell rang.
To say school was fun when you were homeless would be a stretch of the imagination. Him being so advanced for his age only made it that much worse.
“You like it?” His mother wiggled her brows at her son playfully.
It took Sal a minute to figure out she was talking about the navy-colored car she was standing in front of.
“It’s a Cadillac Coupe de Ville,” she said proudly. “For your birthday.”
“What?” his child mind said in disbelief before they both jumped into the car. “This is so cool!” He knew it wasn’t new by any means, but it still felt like a spaceship to him, considering they had never owned a car before in his whole life. “Wow!” He ran his young hand across the dash. “I love it. How’d you get it?”
“I won it,” she said, flashing a broken smile.
That, Sal highly doubted.
Ruffling his chestnut hair, she started the car up, making his smile brighter. “How was school?”
Slowly, his smile disappeared. “It was okay.”
“The kids are just jealous of how smart you are, honey. Don’t you worry; everything’s going to be different now. We have this car we can sleep in, so no more shelter, and I’m about to come into some money, so we can finally buy a house on the upper side. That way, you can start going to school with kids who are more your speed.”
For his mother’s sake, Sal faked a smile and nodded his head, knowing that was never, ever going to happen. Every time she got better, it only lasted for a month or two before they were right back on the streets. While it was the first car she had ever gotten, he knew it wasn’t going to last.
Of course, he wasn’t wrong about it not lasting forever, but it did at least last longer than he’d originally thought before his spaceship was swooped up by a tow truck.
Those had been the happiest four months of his life, and one day, he swore he’d get one just like it for them again when he was older.
The day it was taken away had been hard. It had been so cold, wet, and rainy all day for them not to have a roof over their heads, and he knew the night was only going to be rougher. To top it all off, he was starving.