章 118: Tired of hurting all the time

Ivo heard Vital spoke about Ivaldo -- Ivan, he supposed -- as if he were watching everything play out on the holo. The two of them were linked, whether he wanted to or not. 

Vital was lost in his own memories, so absorbed in the past that his eyes couldn't even focus on what was in front of him.

"His father screamed at him a lot. Nothing Ivan did was ever good enough. He wasn't academically gifted. He said words and numbers never stayed in place when he tried to study, and I suppose Rodrigo's beatings only made it worse." Vital's expression darkened. "He wasn't stupid, but he didn't care about engineering, business, or finances. He was an artist, a talented painter. His room was filled with paintings of the view outside the apartment's windows."

His feet shook on the rug, he slapped one hand down on his knee to keep it still.