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“Mom, please talk to me. How is your back?”
She smiles, settling down. “It turns out that all I needed was proper physical therapy. I don’t feel any pain these days.”
“A few weeks ago, she was hobbling with a cane, but yesterday, I caught her doing some kind of workout with a video on her phone,” Laura whispers.
“How can you afford physical therapy? Mom, don’t tell me you took out another loan,” I groan.
“You have been here barely ten minutes, how are you nagging already?” Laura says between her teeth, spooning some broccoli onto her plate.
I look down at the table. “And isn’t this too much food for just the three of us? How much did you spend on this?”
“She heard that you were coming, and she decided to cook up a storm. I, on the other hand, thought that some bread and butter was sufficient to welcome you, and it turns out that I was right.”
I inhale and turn to my mother, ignoring Laura.
“Who told you that I was coming, and why did you have the money to do all this?”
My mother shrugs. “I missed you,” she sighs. “It’s my fault they took you away in the first place.”
“No, it’s not!” Laura and I both say.
I sigh. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but can I at least know who told you that I was coming?”
“Antonio Russo,” Laura says offhandedly.
“What?”
“Did you hurt your head there?” Laura asks, looking genuinely concerned.
“Be nice to your sister. She has been through enough,” my mother scoffs at Laura.
My mother turns to me. “Eat up first. I’ll explain it all later.”
I shake my head. “I need answers now. Why are you both here? What happened to our old place, and how are you able to afford all this?”
Laura wipes her mouth and looks up at me.
“Why does that matter? Would you rather we were still living in that horrible apartment, and that mom was still sick?”
“Don’t talk back to me.”
“Girls!”
Laura rolls her eyes. “Antonio did all this for us. He got us out of the apartment. He paid Mom’s bills and got her a decent job as a teacher. Is that enough explanation for you? Can we now have our meal in peace?”
“Laura, apologize to your sister at once.”
Their argument fades to the background, and I feel an ache around my heart.
Antonio did this? Why did he decide to help my family? And not only help them but set them up to live so comfortably?
It didn’t make any sense…unless….Antonio isn’t a monster.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Antonio
“We don’t have all the time in the world, move it, people!” I watch Donatello call out to the men moving stacks of product into the basement.
