My Family Stole My Run I Returned A Leader Chapter 10
“She had that girl working in the backyard before dawn.”
“In the dead of winter, she didn’t even have a proper pair of boots.”
“She still had to do the laundry outside, by hand.”
“The cracks on her hands would barely heal before the cold split them open again the next day.”
Her anger grew as she spoke.
“This change here? She saved it by collecting bottles and cans at daybreak to cash in the deposits.”
“She set aside food she couldn’t bear to eat herself.”
“And she asked neighbors heading into the central district to bring it to Bella.”
“She told me Tony and Bella both had special talents.”
“She wanted to save up and buy them something, too.”
My mother stared at the coins, her face growing paler by the second.
She suddenly remembered that when I had first been brought home, my hands had been covered in the rough scars of old frostbite.
All she’d done then was frown and say,
“Those hands are too rough. Don’t touch Bella’s clothes. She can’t stand the smell of blood after she shifts.”
Tony had gone still, too.
He remembered the time I had carefully offered him a cheap pen.
The clip had the Cedar Ridge warrior crest on it, because I knew he wanted to try out for the selection.
He had tossed it straight into the trash.
“Keep your junk for yourself.”
Stefan hadn’t taken his eyes off the metal tin.
He crouched and found, underneath the pile of coins, a neatly folded sheet of paper.
He recognized it instantly.
It was the first note he had ever written me.
It said:
“Paloma, don’t be scared.”
“I’ll take care of you from now on.”
He turned it over.
On the back was a single, childishly written line.
“Stefan is the best person in the world.”
“Paloma has to grow up fast and go back to Cedar Ridge to find him.”