Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Dinner would go smoothly, and then, once dessert was served, the donations would begin. Nancy liked to announce what each person had donated. He didn’t know why, as no one compared with one another. But this happened every single year.
“This is such a good cause,” Nora said.
Nancy had handed her a leaflet, which she had started to read as the meal was served.
Gabriel picked up his fork, and Nora followed his lead.
“Yes.”
“They help foster children in the local area. They help them survive and thrive.” He saw how happy Nora was. “I’ve taken several kids to these shelters. I donate there as well.”
He had also known this about Nora. There was nothing he didn’t know about her. Just like he knew she was ahead with her rent, and her landlady wasn’t comfortable taking money in advance, but she did for Nora.
After getting kicked out of her family home and sent to the streets, Nora had to survive, and her habits showed she didn’t want to return to the streets. It was that time he didn’t know about. Also, how she got off the streets.
“What children?” he asked. This could be the opening for filling in the blanks.
“Oh,” Nora said, and took a bite of her food. The steak was delicious. Medium-rare, but he was more of a burnt-to-a-crisp man, not that he would admit it. “For a short time, about three years, I was living on the streets.”
“You were?”
“Yes. It’s kind of a long story. I lost my parents in a car accident. I ended up in a coma for a few weeks, and during that time I somehow lost everything. I had no home and was on the streets, learning to survive.”
Even though her aunt and uncle took everything from her, she didn’t say a word against them. Gabriel found this intriguing.
“What happened?” he asked.
“You learn to … hide,” Nora said and pursed her lips. Her gaze went past his shoulder and she frowned. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s not always good on the streets.”
“How did you get out of it?” Gabriel asked. This was the blank he wanted to fill in.
At that precise moment, Nancy chose to go on stage, and it was time to show off the donations. The room went quiet, and Gabriel was annoyed.
The rest of the night, he watched as Nora clapped at each donation. He saw this charity held a special place in her heart. Before he even knew who Nora was, he donated to this cause, and his company, as always, donated the most. Nancy was a friend. He didn’t want to see kids out in the cold.
Once they were back in the car, and he was driving toward her apartment, he asked her again.
“How did you get off the streets? You didn’t finish.”
Nora sighed. “It was four years ago. I’d been down this alleyway, and that was when I saw this young girl. I think she was thirteen or something. She had been taken from the mall. Milly was her name. I’d seen her on the news and her parents were terrified. I didn’t call the cops, I told Milly to come with me, and I had earned a little cash doing a few odd jobs. Not a lot. She was terrified, so I got on the bus with her, and she told me where she needed to go. She told me how she had gone to the bathroom and didn’t know that a man had followed her. He attacked her from behind, knocked her out, and she woke up in a trunk. Her dad loved cars, and she worked on them as well. She knew how to get the trunk open, and she literally jumped out of a moving car. She ran as hard and as fast as she could, and she made it to that alleyway. I saw her, took her home.”
Gabriel frowned. Milly, abduction. He had seen something on the news about that. “You helped stop a human trafficking ring?”
“No, no, I didn’t. That was all Milly. She heard the men talking. All I did was get her back to her home.”
“How did that get you off the streets?” he asked.
“Milly found me with her dad. He … helped me. First he wanted to know if I was drinking or on drugs, or if I was a prostitute. I told him I helped people, and then he helped me. Got me a place to stay, a job, and he gave me a little money to get started. I was a waitress at a diner. The diner closed, and I was able to get a job at your mailing room. He helped me when I needed it. No one had helped me before that.”
Gabriel was thankful for Milly’s dad.
“Do you still hear from Milly?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes, she is heading to college. She plans to study law. She told me in one of her letters that she intends to be a nightmare for the bad guys.”