Surprisingly, when I had gotten home from Kai’s last night, Mom hadn’t said two words to me.
She had stayed up to see if I got home all right, but after a, “Good night,” she went right to bed. I hadn’t pushed it because I didn’t want to argue.
But the next day, I needed answers to my burning questions. I sat at the kitchen island on my computer and glanced at Mom, who made her coffee with her hair pulled into a bonnet this late in the morning, which was unusual.
Her eyes were still black, the bruises on her lip still prominent.
“Can we talk about Akio’s family?” I asked her.
“No.”
“Yes, we need to,” I said. “Are they the mob?”
“Don’t worry about them,” she said quickly, blowing on her hot coffee and refusing to look up at me. Instead, she took a seat across from me and swallowed har
