Page 28 of Grumpy Sunshine

Silver resembled her bio dad, who was half Native American and half Italian.

I, on the other hand, was conceived with a Swiss man that left to his home country before I’d even been born.

Silver’s dad had warmed up to being a father to Silver, but only Silver.

Meanwhile, my mom threw such a huge ass fit when Silver’s dad refused to take me or have anything to do with me that she’d gone to court.There, a court had decided that it was cruel to break up “twin” sisters, and had forced Silver’s dad, Barry, to take me with them on all major holidays and vacations.

Barry and his family hated me, and never went a day without showing it.

And when I emancipated myself, I also stopped going to any and all holiday events that pertained to the Donahue side of the family.

It was the best and worst decision ever.

One, it made it to where Silver didn’t have to constantly worry about me and whether I was having fun or a good time.Two, I no longer had to suffer the scowls and indifference of the Donahues anymore.

But just because they were in Silver’s life didn’t mean that they were great people.

Silver’s family was poor.

They’d been that way all their lives, and some of them had zero aspirations in life.

The most any of them accomplished was finishing high school, and most of them accomplished it by getting their GED.

Not that that was a bad thing, per se, but more so it was because all of them had dropped out of high school because it was “too hard.”

“Ma’am, can you tell me from the beginning what happened?”the older man, who I now realized was the chief of police, asked.

I gave him everything, ending with, “And I think that she was trying to frame the Truth Tellers.They fired her from her job last week.She had a month to find alternate accommodations.”

I was such a liar.

“What happened when you got to their compound?”he asked.

“I parked beside my mother’s car and got out,” I said.“I confronted her, and the rest you know.”

The older man pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Dad, there are quite a few reports filed against the mother, but none of them were ever substantiated,” the officer at my side, the detective, offered up as he scanned a laptop in his lap.

The elder Carter shook his head.“Give everything you have on the mother to Fort Worth PD.This isn’t our jurisdiction…thank God.”

My lips almost twitched.

“Do you know where the money is now?”the chief asked me.

I was already shaking my head before he’d finished his sentence.

“Nope,” I said.“I didn’t want to touch it.”

At least I didn’t lie about that particular bit of information.

I could honestly say that I had no clue.

“Okay,” he said.“Give me your number.”

I gave him my number, both my cell and my work phone, and stood up.

“You know Val?”the older man asked when I stood.

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