Chapter 40

“My mother and I have never bonded in the way she did with my siblings. I have four. I was always a problematic kid, and she didn’t know how to handle me. It affected our whole relationship, and I spent my childhood outside of my family. The black sheep, making everything difficult.” He adds as he stares at his fire and bookcase, avoiding my eye, and that little tug of heartache appears low inside of me. Empathy for that poor little boy who only wanted her love flooding me from nowhere. Maybe Gino was right, and their mother had a massive part in how he is.

“So, it wasn’t because of what you did when you protected her, as Gino said?” I know I’m admitting to eavesdropping by asking this, but I’ve always wanted to know the whole story of Alexi and his mother. If she was like this before that event, then why?

Alexi narrows a look at me, bringing back his face with a tilt, obviously wondering where I got that snippet of info, but he doesn’t ask. I think he knows I’ve listene