Cruel Paradise - A Mafia Romance

t you dare pe

adwoman. I was mortified. Her laugh was infamous across campus, so I had no doubt that someone was going to recognize it,

o good. I was the one who was always trying to rein h

ad. Alwa

car gleaming in the primo parking spot, it spar

hand for balance as she squatted o

ethod of vengeance. "Screw that," Sienna said when I told her that living wel

cranberry vodkas, I helped her back down to the asphalt

me. What does th

good," I

ces at me and, when I refused, she tickled me in the

I love you!

n did sh

m. You're the stars to my

aughed-her laugh and mine, two sides of the same

fe without her. I nev

-thousand dollar couch. And, as of three years, six mo

, I turn an

long walk up the four flights of stairs because, of course, the elevator is broken yet again. I'm almost literally sexually arou

is an absol

ds' clothes are mildewing in the wash. The ki

m between his fingertips and the other hand is clutching the dregs of a lukewarm Bud Light. I march over and pluck both from him, stubbing the ciga

a reason he's not on the lock screen of my phone. A re

When someone is that bright of a personality, it's hard not

e soldiered on, no mat

e he couldn't afford the mortgage on their house with no income. When he deigns to parent his own children, he does it like a fairytale ogre, all spit-flecked bellowing and flyin

grace. He's going through a da

s in the first place. I found ways to tolerate him for Sienna's

, though...

come of wondering why this is the hand I've been dealt. I just have to do the work.

, and do what I can to make it kind to

ttle by little, the mess dwindles. In the corner, the clock hand ticks past 1:00 AM. I need to be back at Bane by quarter t

-walk my way down the hall. My room beckons, but before

rst one on the right. I o

ck it back up on the mattress so the monsters won't get it. I pause and listen, but her breathing is practically im

it away. Unlike Caroline, she's a snorer. She's got a real honk-shoo-honk-shoomimimi pattern to her sleep breathing

embers her mom. She was

l the door shut silently behind me. Then

edges. He does that himself every morning without fail, though no one has ever

out cold, his hands still fiddling with something in his lap. I'm confused

, my hear

hey're straight-up ruined. There are gaping holes on either sole, with wads of paper towels and duct t

does is for his sisters. He makes Reagan eat her vegetables and he helps Caroline paint her nails. He does his chores

anted to play basketball this year, I wan

ey just cou

dult-sized baby drinking all the beer) is even more expensive than that. Money just seems to disappear, leaki

econd. Gon

ss that's why he was trying to fix his shoes him

st into tears. I do it silently because I don't want to w

ead and her husband is more of a burden than a help and I have three innocent kids I'm doing my best to raise right but I can't seem to catch a br

to think optimistically. What would Sienna say? I wond

get better.

hell can't