Mafia Boss Promised to Marry Whoever Saved His Dog…He Never Expected It to Be a Black Student

Chapter 2

The rain had been falling for two hours before June heard it.

She was walking the long way home — the route that added eleven minutes to her commute but kept her clear of the block where she owed back rent to a landlord who had stopped being patient three weeks ago. Her backpack sat heavy on both shoulders, stuffed with a biochemistry textbook borrowed from a classmate because the library copy was checked out and she couldn’t afford the digital access code. Her jacket was already damp at the collar. Her sneakers had a small split along the left sole that let cold water in on every wet step — which, tonight, meant every single step.

She wasn’t thinking about anything in particular. That was the trick she had learned. Keep the mind empty on the bad nights, because filling it only made the weight heavier. Don’t think about the tuition notice. Don’t think about the clinic stipend that still hadn’t cleared. Don’t think about the phone call from her mother back home, asking if things were getting better, and the way June had said yes too quickly, too brightly — in that particular tone mothers always see through but graciously pretend not to.

Just walk. Just get home.

She heard it between one set of footsteps and the next. A sound so faint she almost convinced herself it was rain against a gutter. A thin, broken whimper — the kind of sound something makes when it has been making noise for a long time and is starting to lose faith that anyone is coming.

June stopped.