LIFE BEFORE DAMAGED VOL. 10 (THE FERRO FAMILY) by H.M. Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

for hours. We both sit there exhausted beyond comprehension. I've been offered a new start in a home that conjures ghosts scary enough to terrify this unbreakable woman. She didn’t have to offer me anything. She could have let me die.
    By the time night falls, I’m ready to say it out loud. “I won’t go home. I’ll make sure they never know.” I swallow hard and swat at the tears escaping my eyes. “What do you want me to sign?”
    There’s got to be a contract, something Constance will lord over me if I suddenly change my mind and rush off to Pete, something that will land my ass in jail or worse.
    She places her empty teacup down and looks at me. “There are no papers for this agreement, only your word that you’ll keep your promise.”
    “What? Why?” I don’t hide my shock.
    “Like I said before, this is your decision, not mine. No one is forcing you to do this, so if you come to the same conclusion on your own—that the ones you love will be safer if they think you’re gone—you’ll keep your bargain no matter what. A signature can’t offer that type of loyalty, but a promise can.”
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    A fter her few initial visits , I’ve not heard from Constance in a long time. According to the newspapers, everyone thinks she died in the Ferro Mansion bombing, but I know better. Nothing is obvious when it comes to Constance Ferro.
    I’ve watched Pete from afar for years, lurking around the Internet, wishing I could help him. I know the best way to keep him safe is to stay away, so I did. What started as a daily ritual of searching the Internet for mention of his name slowly faded to occasionally checking in on him.
    For months on end, no one could find him. That almost pulled me out of hiding, but then he reappeared in New Jersey of all places. He’s with someone again, which eases my conscience.
    My life with Pete seems like a lifetime ago. I was someone else, trapped in a life I couldn't live. Even though I loved him, we didn’t belong together. We had too much baggage, too many fissures, and too much raw pain.
    Looking at the newspaper now, I feel like I’m reading about an old friend and I have no regrets. We were there for each other at a time when we were both lost. From the looks of this picture, Pete is finally happy.
    I stare at the engagement announcement and smile. Deep inside, Pete was always the handsome English professor, the poet afraid to live in the open. Meanwhile, I’ve discovered there’s no one better to share my thrilling adventures with than David.
    When his contract with the Ferro family ended, David bought a house on the main island and started a water sports business. His newest acquisition is flyboarding. It’s amazing to see him flying through the air, grinning like a little boy when I know he could snap someone in half.
    That man stood over me every night for years on end. He was always there, wiping every tear, vanquishing every fear. In its own time, something more developed between us.
    After living in Constance's childhood home for so long, the staff became the family I needed most. It was only natural they would be our honored guests as I walked down the beach at sunset to meet David at the shoreline, only natural they'd be part of the life we now share as man and wife. I cherish the memories of Viola crying as she laced my silk gown and her accompanying me down the seashell lined aisle to give me away. When I first moved in, I feared she’d never grow to like me, and now she’s prodding for grandchildren.
    There’s no trace of Gina Granz anymore. I’m only Regina Chit, madly in love with my husband—a man who’s flying through the air above the water, flipping that board around like he was born with it. I love my new life, and would never have found David if it weren’t for Pete Ferro.
    I set the newspaper on the little table under the umbrella and rise off the beach chaise. The wind catches the pages, and I listen to them fluttering as I walk away. The past is