Page 82 of Promise to Break

Maricela

I tried to keep all my feelings at bay, especially the ones brought on by the promises Killian gives me each night he sneaks into my room and fucks me silly. He's become unstoppable since he started fucking me without a condom. I can't even blame him for that because I'm no better than he is.

"I'm going to miss the hell out of you, little angel," I say to Connie as I give her another kiss on the cheek and look into her blue eyes.

Santino takes his daughter from me. "She isn't going anywhere, and you need to get back to school." I smile, seeing how he tries to be with her as much as he can. It's as if my sister gave him the world, and in a sense, she did. Every single day, she gives him love, and now he gets to have them both.

"I'll miss her," I admit.

"There's only two more months before you graduate. Then you're going to make it big," Santino says. A proud look on his face.

"I was thinking about opening a small cake shop. Nothing big. And I'm not asking you for money. I just wanted to know what you think about it?"

Santino was in favor of me becoming a journalist when I told him about my plans to become a field journalist. He encouraged my dream and told me that he would take care of my sister even when I was away from her. But now I want to stay close, and just the thought of being away from my family makes me sad.

"First, I'll give you money for anything you need, you know that." I try to object, but he doesn't let me as he keeps going. "But I respect your choices. If anyone can make it by herself, it's you. And if you don't want to pursue a career in journalism, you can do whatever you want."

My steps are light as I step back onto campus. Killian wanted to take me with him on the bike, but I refused. We didn't say a thing about whatever it is that's going on between us, and I don't want Serena to worry about it, so I made sure she doesn't know. Raven and I drove the hour back to school and arrived together, as always.

"I didn't miss this place," she says as we park. I try to look at the place from her perspective. She's never known anything else in her life. I'm the odd one in her world, but I know that she would give her soul to the devil to experience just a little bit of time in what she likes to call the real world. I hope she never does because it's a scary place to be, and Raven is too fragile for it.

"Well, we have only two more months, and then you can open your gallery." I nudge her.

"And you'll write reviews about it." I haven't told anyone my plans about not becoming a journalist apart from Santino. The truth is, I don't want to let that dream go. It's always in the back of my mind. I can see all the cultures I can learn about, all the people living in other places, a completely different life. My obsession with the truth and journalism started because of the way my father convinced the universe he was such a good person, but it enhanced because of Maverick Hope. He's my first class of the day, and I'm nervous about the pictures I'm about to show him. They're unplanned and nothing like I hoped they'd come out, but they're real.

"Well, look who's here," Lila says as she looks me over. I don't know what she sees, but it makes her back away with a vicious smile. The marks I expect to see there aren't there. I know she won't ever believe me, but I am happy that she is fine.

"She's crazy," Raven murmurs in my ear. "After Killian left her, she lost it."

Killian left her? I didn't want to believe it at first, but I remembered the way Santino looked at his brother as he asked Killian about Lila. I almost jumped to Killian's aid. Since I now know the truth about what Franco is capable of, I can't help but wonder about Santino. He's so much like his father.

"I'm going to help Ronen," I say to Raven, and we split up so I can go to work. Officially, I took the day off, but I miss him and his antics.

"Ah, she came. My salvation came." He bows in front of me.

"What happened to your hair?" I ask, looking at it from all angles.

"I shaved it."

"No shit. But why? You loved your hair." I get closer and see he didn't just shave it. No, he has the pink icon of cancer painted on the short buzz he has left. "Ronen—"

"Don't you start because then I'll start to cry, and no one wants that."

I sit on the counter. Usually, he would start jabbering by now, but for all he says, it's never about himself. "You're my friend, so start talking now," I demand.

"It's Rachel." No. Fuck no.

"Your nineteen-year-old sister?"

"Breast cancer, stage two. She started to lose her hair after the fourth treatment."

Fuck. I am going to cry. He does as I hold him, and I wish I was one to cry, too, at this moment.

"She's laughing it off," he tells me as he wipes his tears away and sinks to the floor. "She says she never liked boobs anyway, and now she'll know if a boy likes her for who she is."

I sit beside him on the floor and wait quietly to let him get it all out. Thankfully, breakfast time is over, so there's no need for him to rush back to work.

He glances at the huge clock on the wall. "You'll be late for hot stuff's class, girl."

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