Time for Love

Chapter One

"Sweetie, are you okay?" I nodded silently and averted my gaze to the outside of the police car window. The tall structured buildings passed by in a blur and my heart felt broken again, lost in its despair and sorrow. Tell me, would this feeling ever go away?

Today, the day of death. The day my father died a year ago. The day I lost myself and fell apart until there was nothing left of me. Why did that day come again? Since he had died, I was put into the system and lived in foster homes. I would still be living in one if my father's will hadn't been discovered. It had been hidden away in his home until the maid of the family living there uncovered it's hiding place. I was being relocated because in the will, it stated that if he ever were to pass and leave his daughter, me, alone, I were to go and live with his very best friend that he trusted, Mr. Christopher Brown. Story was they grew up together and even though they went on separate journeys when they became adults, they never lost touch. I have been told that this Mr. Brown was a 26 year old lawyer who lived alone except for his assistant and maid. They said he was good at his job but was hardly seen anywhere but his home and his office. And in a court room of course. They say he's rich because he never loses a case and usually is only employed by high class people. That was what was known of him. I wasn't too interested in finding out who he was behind the doors of his home but I knew I would sooner or later.

We turned onto a road where the houses stood far apart and each one was big, dark, and old looking. The car finally pulled to a stop in front of a brown, cobblestone house.

"María, darling, it's time for you to go to your new home." The officer spoke softly to me, like I was delicate.

"What if I don't want to go?" I spoke with such a sound of anger in my small voice.

"You have to. I would help you if I could." She opened the car door and stepped onto the hard asphalt.

"Hmph. Este mundo está lleno de mentiras." I grumbled angrily, getting out the car also. She took my suitcase out of the trunk and held it for me as we walked to the front door. The house was massive, and old looking but sturdy. I stared off into the distance but listened to the woman ring the doorbell twice. I was annoyed but was scared on the inside. What if his friend didn't like me and refused me? I was already unwanted but his rejection might just tip me over the edge and send me plummeting to my death. The door creaked as it began to open and I gulped, my stomach was churning with nervousness and I felt like throwing up.

"Oh hello!" A light skinned, chunky looking lady with an apron on had opened the door with a delighted look on her face. Today wasn't so dreary for her.

"Hello, I'm officer Tracey Black and this is María Castiglione." She gestured to me. "She was born in Italy but raised in Mexico until she was 14 and moved to California. A year later her father passed and it wasn't until recently that we found her father's will."

"Wait, you said Castiglione. Her father wouldn't happen to be Carlos Castiglione would it?" That caught my attention.

"You knew my father?" I finally spoke to her.

"Of course, he was good friends with Mr. Brown. He visited a few times. I never knew he had a daughter."

"I had never heard of this friend of his either. Now I have to live with him."

"Excuse me?"

"That's just it." Tracey said. "In his will, he wanted her to go live with him because he was a trusted friend and knew she would be in good hands."

"Oh, this is so sudden, Mr. Brown will not like this."

"I'm late for a meeting, can you take her in or do I need to take her back to her foster home?"