Bound to My Mafia Stepuncle novel · Chapter 20 of 32

Chapter 20: Bruises

Angelo drove one-handed down Broad Street with his stitches pulling.

I didn't tell him to slow down.

The Jefferson emergency room smelled like bleach and burnt coffee.

A nurse at the desk looked at my CORSO BOXING hoodie and the bruise on Angelo's chest showing through his open jacket.

"Family?"

"Daughter," I said.

I hadn't been allowed to say it in a week.

My mother was in a curtained bay at the end of the hall.

I almost didn't know her.

Her left eye was swollen shut, purple and shiny as a plum.

Her bottom lip was split.

Her blonde hair was flat and dirty on one side, and there was dried blood in it.

Two of her long pink nails were broken off at the quick.

She saw me with her one good eye.

She didn't say anything.

She just started to cry, without any sound, the tears running sideways into her ear.

I'd never seen her cry when nobody was watching.

I pulled the plastic chair up to the bed.

I checked her chart on the clipboard at the foot of the bed out of habit.

Two cracked ribs.

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