Page 52 of Hidden Ties

Chloe even gave her two cents, agreeing with Nero. “I do think it was a little harsh to give you a ticket for that.”

“What do you think?” Valerie asked Sal curiously, having heard the other’s responses.

“I mean, you didtechnicallyget a ticket foreleven, nottenri—Ow!” Sal bellowed when Maria’s heel hit him in his foot.

Valerie just rolled her eyes, not sure why she thought he would think any differently than analytically.Typical.

Lucca, who had been quietly listening to everyone discuss, finally gave his opinion on the matter. “Do you know the officer’s name who wrote you the ticket?”

By the dark look on his face, he meant to do something about it. She knew she was risking a man’s life, but she just couldn’t help it, remembering when she was almost shoved to the ground.

“Why, yes, I do—Officer Dunbar.”

Maria hitting him again,this time more discreetly, had Sal taking a mental note of that name. He’d been on duty the night of Valerie’s arrest and usually patrolled with Officer Daniels. However, he was certain if Daniels was there, she wouldn’t have gotten a ticket in the first place, let alone been pulled over for that. Dunbar enjoyed giving out tickets; he had one of the highest quotas in the precinct.

Amo’s big mouth spoke up again when Valerie was just about to win. “Come on; aren’t you supposed to be The Great Salvatore, or what?”

Oh shit.

The controller slippedfrom Valerie’s hand in pure shock, letting Sal use his finishing move and defeating her. Thinking maybe she hadn’t heard Amo correctly, she knew she actually had when Maria spoke.

“Wait—” The blonde looked around to see it wasn’t only her who was confused. “You didn’t even at least tell her who you are?”

“No …” Sal gave Amo a threatening glance.

“Well, I didn’t know!” he blurted out, trying to desperately save his ass. “Maybe she doesn’t even know what it means. It’s not like everyone’s heard of The Great Salvato—”

“Oh, I think she knows.” Katarina could see the obvious, just like everyone else in the room. “I think she’s broken.”

Valerie stood catatonic. Everything made sense as the last piece of the Sal puzzle filled itself in.Holy fuck, he didn’t even try tohidehis identity. How stupid could she be?

“You’reThe Great Salvatore?” she asked, still in disbelief but able to form words at last.

“Yep, she knows,” Amo said, setting the popcorn down and getting up to leave. “Time to go.”

“Oh, I think it’s time foreveryoneto leave,” Valerie made herself clear, staring Sal down.

“Good idea.” Maria hurried for the door next.

“Goodbye.”

“See ya next time.”

“We had fun!” a different guest chimed in, as they all knew their stay had reached to the over-welcomed part.

With a quiet room, her eyes had yet to move from him. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that at least.”

She wanted to feel hurt that he had yet to trust her with a thing, considering she had freely told him everything about her. She had hidden no part of herself and become so vulnerable with absolutely nothing in exchange. But right now, it wasn’t hurt that she felt …

“Go on.” Sal sat down on the couch, preparing himself for all the questions. “Ask me everything you want to know.”

Every now and then, The Great Salvatore would do a stunt the whole world would hear about, but curiosity wasn’t what she was feeling, either.

“I don’t want to know how you did anything.”

“You don’t?” he asked, confused.

“I already know,” she revealed, like what he did wasn’t hard. “Whywouldn’tI know?”