"So can we just pretend that we're not falling into the deep end?"
15 year old Marlowe Alvarez is your stereotypical troubled teen living with her aunt and uncle after her mother died in childbirth and her father abandoned her, not wanting anything...
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As the sun starting rising over the horizon, my senses starting coming to me. First I could hear everything going on around me. Which wasn't anything but the whir of the mini fridge that Dino insisted I have. Then, I could feel the weight and warmth of the blanket that was on top of me. Finally, I opened my eyes and saw the beautiful view of the garden.
I could get used to this.
I heard a soft knock the door. "Hey, Marls. Can I come in? It's Orlando."
I wasn't sure whether to go over and open the door or tell him that he could come in.
I chose the latter. This bed is really comfortable.
"Yeah." I answered. I wonder if there's an underground fighting ring nearby. Maybe a street race I could go to. I would only be able to watch, though. I used to steal Sebastián's car in the middle of the night and run away to the races. I'm sorry. Drive away.
I heard the door creak as it opened. I didn't hear anyone walk in yet. Weird. I looked up and saw Orlando standing there creepily.
Okay then, Disney, Pop off, I guess.
He smiled at me and walked in. "Good morning, capretto. How did you sleep?"
I shrugged. Other than the aching pain in my ribs that we aren't going to talk about, pretty good actually.
You're talking about it right now.
Shut up.
"So, Dino and Lorenzo were planning on taking you shopping. Is that okay or is that too much for you?" He started telling me the plans for the day.
Why is he treating me like cracked glass that will shatter if it's tapped too hard?
Also, I just want to say I called it. Dino is going to force me to go shopping.
"Yeah, that's fine. Is there anything else that we are doing today?" I asked, trying to sneakily plan a way out to go to a race.
"After you go shopping with those two, you're going to be so tired you aren't going to want to do anything else. They will drag you into every store. Literally." Orlando chucked.
"So excited." I said unenthusiastically.
"I'll leave you to get ready. The boys want to leave in about 45 minutes. Breakfast will be ready in about 30." He informed me.
As soon as he left, I put on an old t-shirt that I had in my bag and put the same pants on that I had on yesterday.
I never thought I would say this, but I need new clothes. Desperately.
After I was dressed, I pulled out a burner phone and looked at public police reports about illegal fighting rings in New York. I found a ring down the street from where the warehouse was that I was taken to by Vincenzo. By the sounds of it, it's still in operation and the police didn't do a good job at completely shutting it down.
