Damian breathed out deeply, forcing himself to relax as much as possible.
He took a deep breath and spoke, "My father died before I was even born. My mother was a single parent, and she worked hard to make sure I had everything I needed growing up. She worked three jobs to provide for me, and eventually she remarried, got cancer not long after, and died. I moved in with her new husband, who treated me like a callboy.
I hated him, and I hated the fact that I had to use his last name to get anywhere in this world. I wanted to be known as Damian, not the son of a man who was nothing more than a whore. When I realized I was seventeen years old and still living with a man who looked down on me because he knew I was his stepson, I finally ran away.
