Page 80 of Manacled Hearts

“Their savings. Mom put it in a sort of trust and a direct debit runs out of there monthly. She wanted to make sure that money is secure. But… it’s running out. No one could have anticipated she—” I have to take a deep breath, swallowing through the emotions the memory of her brings. “That she wouldn’t be here now.”

“What happened?” Finnigan asks.

“Dad was already in the care home by this point. For quite some time. Mom went to the grocery store, came out to head to her car and… got caught in the middle of a gang war. She was shot in the parking lot. Police called her collateral damage, wrong place at the wrong time and all that. She stood no chance and died on scene.”

I think we both stopped breathing, because you could hear a needle drop in this heavy silence.

“Some time ago you told me something—you don’t know what your world did to mine—is this what you meant?”

I flinch at Finnigan’s question. How does he even remember that? I blamed him and his world, and it’s hard not to feel a little guilty about it now. A little right, too.

“It’s easy to put all crime in one pot. Gangs are still criminal organizations, seeing the commonalities isn’t that hard.” I answer sincerely. Then there’s what happened after… what their world turned me into, but I barely admit that to myself, so I’m not going to tell him. “And after all that, Maya and I fell into the clutches of another side of this dangerous world.”

“I understand. I’m sorry about your mom, Evie.” He moves on from the subject. Though, he doesn’t deny it.

“Thank you. It’s been long enough that I’ve gotten used to the entire situation.”

“You shouldn’t have to get used to something like this. You’re supposed to have support, people around you to help you through it all. How did you end up on the streets?”

“We had nowhere to go.” I shrug. “We couldn’t stay home, not as two minors. The only solution was placement, but in different foster families. And under no circumstances was I going to allow Maya to be separated from me.”

“How did you escape the system?”

“I never went in it,” I answer bluntly. “After the police came to the door to tell us about mom, I gathered everything I could hold in two backpacks, and ran. I knew what the system meant, and I wasn’t going to allow it to swallow us whole. I was inspired enough to grab all photos of us as well, though they’re all lost now. I wanted the memories, but it was mainly for Maya’s benefit. I knew the police would put our faces on the side of a milk carton, especially Maya since she was so young. She’s probably on the missing children list with no photo, just a name and birthplace.”

“How did you manage to get her enrolled in school?”

“Fake documents and a person pretending to be our mom. It helped that Maya was never in school before, it was her first year. And we changed her name from Shaw to Shawn. Thought it would be easy to brush it off as a typo whenever I did manage to get custody and enroll her properly under her real name.”

“Jesus…” He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. He takes a deep breath, and I know he’s pondering his next question. I bet he has a lot of them. “I just don’t understand how you managed all of this on your own. This… fuck, it’s so much, Evelyn. You were what, sixteen? Christ.”

“I didn’t have a choice. It was between this or losing my sister in the system. Imagine if she ended up in a closed adoption or something. It was not an option in my book. Though, I do wonder sometimes”—more often than I want to admit—“if Maya would have had a better life. If she would have found an amazing family. One who didn’t live in shady motels or in their car. Who didn’t get kidnapped in a trafficking ring.”

Warmth and softness wrap around both my hands on my lap and I’m speechless when I look down—his large hand holds mine. Squeezing. Soothing. Comforting.

“You made the best choice.”

I have no idea what to say to that, because his touch is a welcome distraction from all the sorrow I shared. His hand over both of mine drives me down a path of forbidden touch and untapped desire. If only he would move it higher, run it all up my arm, drag this electric current over my shoulders, my throat, my cheek… down my back, over my ass, and—

“How were you able to visit your dad?” He interrupts my dangerous thoughts. “Didn’t the staff report you?”

“No. I knew one of the nurses. She wanted to call CPS at first, but I convinced her eventually. When her boyfriend was away on business, she used to take us in for the night. She’s the one who called—Jackie. The rest of the staff I came in contact with didn’t really ask, but Jackie told them we were in foster care. No one has time to question that.” I’m still looking at our hands. “Where are your parents?” I ask.

“This month, on a yacht somewhere off the East coast. I think. They travel a lot.” He shrugs.

How peculiar. He’s not even bothered by it. His thumb has started moving, rubbing slowly, mindlessly over my knuckles, distracting me.

“You’re not close?”

“As close as I can be to two parents who filled their time with work their whole life, and when they retired, they left.”

“I’m sorry. That must be rough.”

“Not at all,” he says, his thumb still stroking over my hand. “It’s what I’ve always known from them. I did have Mamaw June though.”

“Vincent’s mom, really? How long have you all known each other?” I didn’t expect that. I thought they were close because they were business partners.

“Since we were kids. We were in school together. Madds and Vin were already friends, then we came along not long after. June was like a surrogate mother for all of us. She always had enough love in her for all of us.”

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