Page 320 of Sins of the Heart

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“I moved around to a few places. When I was eleven,

I got with good people. They didn’t have much, but

they had good hearts. They both worked long hours,

though, and sent money back to relatives in Haiti. I was

alone a lot. A neighbor was supposed to keep me when

they weren’t around. She never paid much attention.

The year I turned twelve, my foster parents took in

another kid. Then I wasn’t alone anymore.” She pressed

her lips together and drew a shuddering breath. “For a

while.”

“But the night I found you, you were alone again.”

He felt her tense beneath his touch, the muscles of

her calf twitching, like she meant to bolt. She shifted

on the mattress, tried to pull away, to withdraw. Not

gonna happen.

Pushing to a sitting position, he stared at her, faceto-face. He stretched his legs out on either side of her,

his knees slightly bent so he created a sort of openended circle with her in the middle.

“Alone.” She jutted her chin forward and nodded

slowly. She took a breath, opened her mouth. Closed it.

And again. Until she summoned whatever strength she

needed and finally continued. “You know what it feels

like to burn. The pain. The heat. Indescribable, right?”

EVE SILVER

317

A question, but he knew she wasn’t looking for an

answer.

Her gaze dropped to his hand. “My foster family

burned. We lived in Valleyview Village, a low-rise

apartment complex. Still the projects, but better

projects than Rogers Park. I came back from a track

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