Page 20 of Candy & Her Saints

Mom, Lucia, drew the donut picture years ago, when she was first matched with Dad.

Mom, an Omega, created the cookbook by sticking together cut out recipes from magazines, books, and handwritten recipes.

Mom was an incredible cook and baker.

She was happiest in the kitchen. She had a stool that she let me stand on to help her bake, stir the dough, or cut out cookies, even if I made more of a mess than I actually helped.

She had a sweet, tinkling laugh. She never raised her voice, and that includes the time when Vito as a toddler shook cornstarch over me and the rest of the kitchen, saying that he was making it snow.

I hated to see the way that Mom had to kneel for every Alpha and Beta in the pack.

I hated the way that Mom never laughed, whenever anyone else walked into the room.

But the thing that I hated most was that one day, Mom simply disappeared and nobody was allowed to mention her again.

When Vito was brave enough to demand, Daddy give us Mommy back, he was dragged into his bedroom.

I wept outside his door, hearing his sobs inside, as he was punished harsher than I’d ever heard before.

Vito made me swear after that to never talk about Mommy in front of the adults.

It was Gia, the cruelest of our Alpha triplet sisters, who eventually told me what had happened to Mom.

Frustrated that she had to help bathe me again, Gia threw the sponge into the water with a splash.

“Why did that stupid bitch have to plot to run?” Gia hissed, as I cowered back.

My skin raised into goosebumps. I wrapped my arms around myself.

“Run?” I whispered.

Gia’s eyes gleamed, darkly. “Yeah, no one wants to tell you like you’re too young to know or something. But you should. Mom’s been sold to the Institute because of you.”

Sold?

I let out a wail of distress.

Gia’s eyes widened in panic.

She clamped her long-nailed hand over my mouth. “Shut up, little snake. Do you want to get us both killed? You’re not meant to know.”

I tried to stop crying.

I really did.

But I couldn’t.

Mom had been sold to the Institute? Did that mean that another pack had now bought her?

Cautiously, Gia removed her palm from my mouth.

Tears dripped down my cheeks. “Is she someone else’s Mommy now?”

Gia nodded.

“Why? What did I do?”

Gia looked severe.

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