Page 80 of Revenge Vows

Donatello walks to the door and stops.

“If you knew she was in contact with Giovanni, why was your first inkling to send her to safety?”

I run my fingers through my hair.

“You called it, didn’t you? I’m an idiot.”

“Just shoot me already.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Alyssa

“You’re telling me that he paid all the bills, got them out of the old apartment, and got my mother a job?”

Ray nods. “He also compensated me pretty handsomely. Quite the generous fellow.”

I kick him from under the table, and he groans.

“Can you two pipe down? I’m trying to do a livestream,” Laura snaps from the living area.

“Isn’t it too early for a livestream?”

“Isn’t it too early to be in my business?”

I sigh tiredly. “Turns out that all she needed to be a nuisance was a full stomach.”

“I cannot believe you!” I cry, kicking him from underneath the table.

“What did I do wrong?” he cries.

“One job Ray, one fucking job! I asked you to look after my family.”

“And I did just that,” he answers fiercely. “They’re in one piece, aren’t they?”

“You let Antonio get to them.”

“And you act like that’s a bad thing,” he whispers. “Your mother isn’t struggling with a bad back anymore. She has a job, and she can take care of your sister.”

“That would have happened without Antonio. I told you I was going to come back. It was just two fucking months, and you couldn’t just hang on.”

Ray inhales. “Do you want to know what happened in those two months?”

“I don’t care. I asked—”

“Your mother was so sick that she had to get admitted to the hospital.”

His words hit me like a hammer.

“I spent every dime you gave me, and I had to pick up a part-time job. Laura had to—” he sighs. “She had to scrub filthy toilets to make measly change for groceries.”

“I know it must have been hard.”

He laughs manically. “Hard? You have got to be kidding me. After two weeks, the hospital kicked your mother out, and she had to depend on cheap pain meds to get a wink of sleep. Laura stayed up by her side every night—mind you, the poor thing was scrubbing toilets all morning and afternoon.”

Tears sting my eyes.

“Then the bills, lord the fucking bills. How many times did that poor girl have to turn off her phone and ignore the creditors calling?”

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