Gloria was utterly stunned when she felt the sharp, stinging pain explode across her cheek, like a bolt of fire searing her skin. She instinctively covered her throbbing cheek with her palm, pressing against the rapidly reddening mark, and stared at her mother with wide eyes glazing over with hot, unshed tears that blurred her vision.
She never expected to get a slap from her mother—not in a million years. Gloria had always been a good daughter since she was a child, obedient and thoughtful, acutely aware of her mother's monumental struggles as a single parent scraping by. She had tried her absolute best not to make her mother's life even more difficult, always pitching in with chores, excelling in school to earn that scholarship, and shouldering responsibilities far beyond her years. But
