They Gave My Sister My Room, Now They've Lost Everything novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Deposit

Valentina had come by bus, and she looked like it.

Her hair was flat on one side, her eyes were swollen, and she kept both hands on the handle of her suitcase.

"How did you get past the front desk?" I asked.

"A boy held the door. I said I was your sister."

"You are."

"I know."

She said it so quietly that I stepped back and let her into my room.

Luca had stood up from the floor.

He looked at me, and I nodded, and he went to the doorway and stayed there with his arms folded.

Valentina saw him and went white.

"Is that the guy from the party?"

"That's Luca."

"You're not supposed to have boys in your room."

"There are no rules about that," Luca said, "that I plan to enforce."

She sat on the edge of the bare second bed with her suitcase between her knees.

She didn't look at the paper bags on the floor, or my hair, or my shirt.

"Dad took my phone," she said. "He took everyone's. He says someone is tracking us."

"Nobody is tracking you, Valentina."

"I know that. I'm not stupid." She rubbed her nose with her sleeve. "My school sent an email Friday. Housing is cancelled unless the deposit is paid by tomorrow at noon. It's eighteen hundred dollars."

"So pay it."

"With what? Dad's cards stopped working. The bank froze the account that the house payment comes from. Mom is crying in the pantry and Dad is screaming at the lawyer on speakerphone."

"I'm sorry," I said. It was true, and it didn't change anything.

"You could fix it."

"I could?"

She reached into her suitcase and took out a flat white envelope.

My stomach dropped before she opened it.

← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend