Brecken let out a harsh breath. “What I’ve already told you wasn’t the bad part. This is. Mila was a ward of the state for twenty-five months. During that time, she stayed in two foster homes and a group home.”
My stomach churned like the sea during hurricane season. I’d been in foster care. I knew what the bad placements were like.
“Please fucking tell me there’s a scintilla of positive somewhere in this girl’s life.”
“The good news here is that as rough as Mila’s had it, she’s a good egg. Good grades, no rap sheet, and no drug use. The bad news is that she’s currently on welfare and food stamps because Sally stole the keys to the convenience store Mila worked in and robbed it fucking blind. Sally’s in jail awaiting trial. Hopefully, they’ll throw the book at her—she fucking deserves it for fucking with her kid like that.”
The pounding in my head was off the goddamn charts. Mila’s father was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Although he’d been born into wealth and had gone on to quadruple the family coffers, he’d have given up every last cent if it meant he could’ve raised his child. When he found out what her childhood had been like and that she was destitute, he was going to lose his mind.
“How. The. Fuck. Did she wind up in fuckberg being raised by criminals?” I spat.
My anger only grew when he explained. I promised myself then and there that when it came time to dole out retribution, I’d be on the front line.
“Hanson Anderson was born and raised in Dusty Hill, Wyoming. Sally Brown is his second cousin. Ivory stayed with them while she was pregnant. Apparently, Franklin was shooting blanks, and Sally wanted a baby, so Ivory left the child with them after she was born.”
Once Brecken had given me all the details he had and we got off the phone, I sat and weighed the options. My mind was spinning like a damn top, and I felt sick because of it. I knew I had to tell James the facts, but I was terrified that doing so could cause him to have a physical reaction.
I needed to talk it through with someone, but James was like a steel vault where Mila was concerned, so my options were limited. I understood why he was the way he was since the other side of her family were goddamn vultures. Any time they saw weakness in him, they swooped in and made it worse. He was adamant about keeping certain things secret, and for good reason. Since that was the case, much as I wanted to talk to Allie, my hands were tied. I needed James’s permission to do so, and since I hadn’t been able to tell him about her yet, there was no way.
The only other people who knew about Mila were Mason and his dad, Glenn—and Mason’s girlfriend, Rory, because James had given the okay for her to be told.
Mason and I had always been tight, so calling him was a no-brainer. I also knew that he’d run everything past his dad, which would save me a phone call. I liked Glenn a lot, but at the moment, I was so overwhelmed with everything that had come out in the past day that I couldn’t face telling him the whole story. He’d been with James through it all—I knew his reaction was going to be nearly as bad as James’s would.
After calling Mason, filling him in on the situation and talking it out, I decided on a course of action. I arranged to leave for Wyoming before lunch. Renting a jet cost a fortune, an expense I’d normally eschew, but given the circumstances, I felt it was necessary. From the airport, I’d pick up a rental car and drive an hour to the town where Mila lived.
With the plan firmly in place, I went to see James. Luck was on my side because Marcella wasn’t there, but other than that, it was as fucking terrible as I’d anticipated.
I left more worried about him than I’d been when I arrived, which meant I was on edge. I was willing and able to do whatever it took to bring James’s daughter home where she belonged, but it weighed on me that I couldn’t tell Allie where I was going. If the shoe were on the other foot, I’d want to know that she was traveling.
When I said as much to Mason, his advice was not to focus on things out of my control. “Don’t make something out of nothing,” he’d instructed. “You’re borrowing trouble. Allie’s a cool girl—when you tell her all of this happened, she’ll be fine.”
I knew he was right, but it still sucked. I couldn’t fucking wait for her to be home from the shoot so that I could fill her in on everything and take her to meet James.