The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,122

no more. He’d kill me.’

‘Who’s he?’

‘My boy, Tyler. He ain’t good news. You ever had a guy rough you up?’

‘No, I haven’t.’

‘Then you lucky, girl.’

‘So what will you do?’

Vanessa shrugged. ‘Miles said he’d help me find a place in the city, and a job. But I never finished high school and I’m never gonna get my diploma.’

‘Miles?’

‘Yeah, he’s the one who picked me up off the streets and brought me with him to this place. He’s payin’ for everythin’, but that don’t make him Jesus Christ my Saviour,’ she muttered.

‘Right,’ I replied neutrally. I was out of my depth with this girl and I knew it. ‘You doing all right now with the detox?’

‘Yeah, they pump you full of gear to get you off the gear!’ A glimmer of a smile came to Vanessa’s lips. ‘But as soon as I’m back in the city, I’ll be back on it.’

‘If Miles says he can get you a job and some place to live, then you have to trust him.’

A ‘humpf’ emanated from Vanessa as she rolled her eyes and stuck her headphones back on. I looked at the pen and paper, then put it all back in the drawer and left the dorm to get some fresh air. I’ve never felt more like a privileged princess than I do at this moment, I thought as I went outside to the Serenity Garden and sat down on a bench. And what made it even worse was that I had been aware of the drugs and prostitution that hummed in the background of my daily life in New York. Yet up to now, it had only ever been a hum.

‘Hi there,’ said a familiar voice from the bench behind the fountain. ‘We should stop meeting like this – people will talk.’

‘Hi, Miles,’ I replied, and as he came to sit by me, I felt glad he was there.

‘A little bird told me that you escaped for the day.’

‘I did, yes. I went horse riding and it was fantastic.’

‘I’m glad for you. We all gotta find things that make life worth living.’

‘I didn’t know it was you who was sponsoring Vanessa.’

‘Yeah, well, that could have been me in the gutter, but I had people supporting me, a family. She’s got no one.’

‘She says she can’t go back to where she was living and you’re going to find her a home and a job.’

‘I can fund somewhere for her to live, for sure – a halfway house, or a hostel – then maybe get her some low-paid work. But that doesn’t guarantee she won’t go running back to what she knows.’ Miles sighed. ‘She has to want to do it for herself.’

‘Maybe when she’s got all the shit out of her body and brains, then therapy will help.’

‘Maybe, but what I’ve realised since I brought her in here is that listening to a bunch of educated, entitled folks who don’t even have the bones of what her life is like isn’t going to cut it. I volunteer at a drop-in centre back in Manhattan, advising kids on the legal side of stuff if they’re in trouble and trying to keep them out of jail if I can. There’s a drug epidemic building out there and let me tell you, it’s affecting all colours and creeds.’

‘I could help, couldn’t I?’ It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. ‘I want to do something. I was just thinking how I’ve seen this stuff on TV but—’

‘You don’t give a damn until it directly relates to you,’ Miles finished for me.

‘You got it. I was sitting here feeling really bad, and selfish and spoilt and—’

‘Don’t beat yourself up, Electra, you’re not much older than Vanessa and you’ve lived in a different world. That’s not your fault.’

‘But now that I have, I want to help.’ I rubbed my forehead hard as I pictured Vanessa’s face and the dullness in her eyes. ‘You know, when I looked at her, it was like she was dead inside, like there was no . . .’

‘Hope. That’s the word you’re looking for. Yeah, well, I’m trying to give that back to the kids I work with – that belief that it’s worth carrying on the fight because there might be something better ahead, rather than sinking back into the abyss and feeling like it doesn’t matter whether you live or die. And that’s the hardest damn thing of all, but hey, you gotta keep trying.’

‘You know, I was thinking earlier