To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 32

When she was thirteen, they pulled her out of a riverbank ditch. When she woke, she couldn't remember her name, her parents, or where she belonged. After being passed from one hand to another, she finally ended up at the Kingston City Welfare Home.

But she hadn't been there a month before an old man adopted her.

He was a wealthy businessman, claiming to be childless. Only once she arrived at his mansion did she realize the truth—he had both a son and a daughter. He'd taken her in to satisfy one of his twisted whims.

Elara barely escaped with her life. With nowhere to go, she drifted through the streets.

For half a year, she lived near a dumpster in a narrow alley. That's where Ryan Linden, the son of a local family, found her on his way home from school and brought her back with him.

Rose, his mother, was beside herself when she saw Elara.

"Ryan, you know perfectly well how tight things are around here. I already think the stray cats and dogs you bring home eat too much, and now you've brought a girl? What on earth were you thinking?"

Ryan, right in the heart of his rebellious years, had no intention of backing down from his social-climbing mother.

"I'll look after her myself. You won't have to lift a finger."

Rose was livid. "You're only thirteen yourself! You can't even take care of yourself yet—you expect me to believe you can look after someone else?"

That's when Ryan's grandfather spoke up.

"One more mouth at the table, that's all. She's here for a reason. Didn't you always wish Ryan had a sibling to share the burden? Maybe this is a sign. The Lord sent you a child—are you going to turn her away?"

Rose always had a sharp tongue, but after a round of grumbling, she accepted Elara into the family.

The Linden family treated Elara well, especially Grandpa. When another child needed to go to school and money was tight, the sixty-year-old man started sweeping streets just to make ends meet.

Those days in the Linden household were the happiest Elara could remember. That lasted until four years ago, when Ryan died suddenly, and the shock gave Grandpa a serious heart condition.

"Why didn't you wake me when you came in?" he asked, trying to sit up. Elara rushed to help.

"You need your rest, Grandpa. Getting sleep is a blessing—you'll get better if you take care of yourself."

Propped against his pillow, he could see straight through her forced smile.

He'd never been rich or powerful, but he understood people. He knew what it meant to be an outsider in a family like the Vincents. In a marriage without equal footing, Elara would never have a voice. Even if she was mistreated, her husband would always put the family's interests first—she'd never get true justice.

She may have been a stray he'd taken in, but to him, Elara and Ryan were equally precious.

"My girl, stop sacrificing yourself for me. I'm not worth clipping your wings and keeping you chained to the Vincent family. If you can leave, then leave."

"Dad, how can you say that?" Rose burst in, her voice tight with emotion. "If she divorces Brian and the Vincent money stops, you won't get your special medication. You'll die."