Chapter One
CORA
Of course,I wanted to be a mom—someday.
I just wasn’t expecting to suddenly find myself on the phone with Valle Perdido, Texas, Child Protective Services, telling me that my twenty-year-old sister, Maya, was killed in a car accident and that I was named guardian of my two-month-old nephew, Elias—a nephew I didn’t even know about until five minutes ago.
“I'm sorry for delivering news like this over the phone, Ms. Williams.” The woman on the phone had identified herself as Maria Chen. “I know this can be hard.”
Hard? That word sounded like it should go with walking up a steep hill, making sourdough bread, or speed dating, not taking guardianship of a baby when I was twenty-four. No, I’m still young, but I expected nine months of prep and pep talks.
“You said he’s in foster care at the moment?” I asked the question and mouthed thank you to the woman handing me a hot dog. Had I known I was going to be a mom by the time I got lunch, I wouldn’t have gotten in line at the hot dog cart in the first place. I couldn’t even think about food at the moment.
As I passed a homeless guy, I motioned with it and he nodded. I handed it to him and continued my way back to the Wicker Park office building where I worked.
“Yes, he’s currently with a foster family.”
“What about his father, Colter Briggs?” No way would he just let me have Maya’s baby, especially if he was the father. Based on her level of dependency, I was certain on that.
I couldn’t keep the snarl off my lips. That pig of a man had isolated my baby sister, convinced her that he was the only man who could ever love her, and then he’d slowly suffocated her light.
The last fight Maya and I had. More than a year and a half ago, she’d shown up in Chicago to “visit me.” Which translated into escaping Colter because he was being violent. That fight was the worst one we’d had. The one where I told her I couldn’t enable her anymore…
She’d been sitting on my couch, holding a mug with chipped edges, rocking her knee the way she did when she was anxious. “He loves me, Cora,” she’d said quietly. “He just… needs help.”
I remembered the way her eyes darted away from mine. How her voice cracked. I should’ve pushed harder. Or maybe softer. Maybe if I’d just said I loved her instead of listing all the reasons I couldn’t watch her self-destruct, things would have been different.
The woman sighed. “He wasn’t listed on the birth certificate. According to county records, your sister married him after Elias was born.”
The relief that flooded me. Yeah, I’d be taking Elias far, far away from the psycho biker guy. There was no way I could fail my baby sister again.
“I should warn you. He’s already identified the body and made funeral arrangements.” Ms. Chen paused. “She was cremated this morning.”
My heart sank. Of course, he had. One last way to control her.
One minute I had a sister, and the next, she was just gone… A mix of shock and grief settled into my bones.
I reached the office and stepped inside, shaking off the early-March snow that had accumulated on my wool coat. “What do I need to do to gain custody of Elias?"
“We’ll need you to come here. There will be a court hearing, an interview, all the normal steps that would come with adopting a child.”
“But she named me guardian, right?”
“Yes, but there are legal steps that will need to be taken. You’ll need to plan to be here a while.”
The elevator door slid shut, and suddenly I felt claustrophobic. Be there a while? I had a job. A life. Jason Georgiou, my boss. He needed me. I ignored the little voice in the back of my mind that whispered I needed him too. He was my boss.Just my boss.
Even if things weren’t complicated now, suddenly becoming a mom would certainly put me in that category. Why would Jason want me once I took on the responsibility of an infant?
And why was I even thinking about that?
“Right. Um, when is the court hearing?”
“We’ve made the judge aware of your need to make arrangements to get here, so it’ll be the day after tomorrow. Nine in the morning.”
I raked my hand through my hair, my mind racing. I couldn’t even think of any questions. All I could do was say, “All right. I’ll see you Thursday.”
“I know this is a lot to take in, Ms. Williams. But you’re not alone in this. If you have any questions before Thursday, don’t hesitate to call me directly. I’ll email you everything you’ll need to bring. We’ll see you at the courthouse at nine.”
