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“I didn’t want to wake you up.”

He strolls away, his words cracking something in the hard shell around my heart.

Chapter 14

Saar

“Your parents didn’t mind you leaving the home at fifteen?”

I snort and shove a spoonful of my now-favorite cereal into my mouth.

“My parents were the ones who sent me to Europe. My father only cares about himself. I wasn’t shaping into the socialite my mother hoped for, so I became a nuisance to her.”

The man has an uncanny ability to make me talk. Or maybe I’m so starved for attention, I blabber away happily.

For four days, Corm has been doting on me. If making sure I eat, growling and glaring at me, and borderline threatening me can be defined as doting.

He ignores me most of the time, but he shares meals with me, and it’s the weirdest thing, because most of those occasions are fairly civil. Like we became roommates, but we also make an effort to get to know each other.

Somehow it just happened, because I couldn’t eat in silence while he glared at me. And somehow, I tired him with my attempts at conversation, and he conceded.

To a certain extent because he avoids most of my questions, but inquires about my life. And actually listens to everything I say.

“Is that why you’re estranged?” He takes a sip of his coffee, not looking at his watch or his phone. It’s strange when you don’t trust someone, and he’s one of the few people who listens when you talk.

“No, no, I still would go home and try my hardest to gain their… I don’t know, approval, love, or at least kindness. When Finn and Cal pulled father’s company from under him, I didn’t have to think twice about whose side to take. My parents tried to guilt me into becoming a dutiful daughter. But by then I recognized who they were, and I knew their interest in me was more to demonstrate to the world they were the wronged party.”

“How?”

“Mother didn’t ask me how I am, didn’t try to find out anything about my life, but she demanded I accompany her to an event. It was a PR op for her. Having one child turn against you publicly is one thing, but having all three of them… I haven’t spoken to them since then.”

“From what you’re telling me, you’re better off without them. But I’m sure it wasn’t easy when you were a teenager.”

“Luckily, Vito found me, and he became my proxy father. Or I made him into one. And the catwalk became my home. Strangely, having all those eyes on me somehow subbed for the attention I hadn’t gotten at home.”

“Do you miss it?”

I chuckle. “God no. It was demanding, like a real relationship, and yet all fake, superficial. I’m lost at the moment, but I don’t ever want to go back.”

“You will figure it out in no time.”

“It’s easy for you to say. You have money, a job, purpose.”

“It’s easy for you to have those things as well.”

“I wish I had your confidence.” I push the empty bowl away, a bit uncomfortable with spilling my anxieties over breakfast with him. Especially with him.

“Did you have those things once?” he asks.

“Yes.”

He shrugs and puts his cup down. “That’s all the proof you need to know it’s possible.”

“I don’t know where to start.” I sigh.

Perhaps it’s easier to be vulnerable with him. He’s just a stranger, and he’ll be gone from my life in a few months, so I don’t care what he thinks about me.

He’s a transient fixture in my life, so even if he judges me, I don’t have to live with that judgment for the rest of my life.