Page 32 of Mating Mia
Tears prick at the corners of my eyes. I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but the cold rejection still hurts more than I expected.
“What brings you crawling back after all this time? Need money? Got yourself in trouble again?” asks Martha.
“No,” I say, fighting to keep my voice steady. “I’m doing well. I have a good job and a nice place to live. I came because I need to see my adoption papers.”
The atmosphere in the room shifts instantly, becoming charged with a tension so thick it’s almost visible. Martha’s movements in the kitchen stop abruptly.
“What for?” Steve demands, eyes narrowing to suspicious slits. “Those papers are ancient history. Nothing in them that concerns you.”
“They’re about me,” I counter, a spark of the backbone I’ve developed with my alphas showing through. “I think that makes them very much my concern.”
“Watch your tone, girl,” Steve warns, leaning forward in his chair. “You may think you’re all grown up now, but in this house?—”
“In this house, what?” Kane interrupts, his deep voice startling everyone. “In this house, she’s still expected to cower and obey without question? Is that what you were going to say?”
Steve’s face darkens with anger. “Now see here…”
“No,yousee here,” Kane continues, his tone deceptively calm but underlined with steel. “Mia came here with a simple request. She has every right to her adoption papers. They’re legally hers once she’s an adult, which she is.”
“As far as I’m concerned, Mia gave up her right to be part of this family when she ran away,” says Martha, looking at me in distaste.
“I only left because I was tired of getting beaten. I was tired of being screamed at and worked to death!” I yell, my heart pumping loudly in my ears.
Silence fills the house at my outburst.
“The adoption papers,” Finn says into the silence, his voice cool and detached, as if this were a business transaction. “Where do you keep them?”
Martha’s chin lifts defiantly. “That’s none of your business.”
“Actually,” Finn continues in that same measured tone, “as Mia’s legal counsel, it is very much my business.”
Even though Finn’s lying, he certainly has the demeanor of a lawyer. Authoritative, slightly intimidating, and utterly convincing.
“Legal counsel?” Steve echoes, some of the color draining from his face.
“Yes,” Finn nods solemnly. “I can return with a court order if necessary.”
It’s a brilliant bluff, and for a moment, I think it might work. I see uncertainty flicker across Martha’s face, her eyes darting to Steve for guidance.
But Steve has never been one to back down, especially not when his authority is challenged. “There ain’t no adoption papers,” he says flatly. “Not anymore.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, my heart sinking.
“Burned ’em,” he says with a shrug, trying to act casual, but I can see he’s hiding something. “Years ago, after you left. Figured there was no point in keeping ’em since you made it clear you weren’t no daughter of mine.”
“You... burned them?” I repeat, disbelief giving way to devastation. “All of them? The original certificate, the court documents, everything?”
“Everything,” Martha confirms, a hint of vindictive satisfaction in her voice. “Actions have consequences, Mia.”
The room spins slightly as the implications hit me. My one lead, my one hope of finding information about my birth mother, is gone.
“I think we’re done here,” Kane says quietly, his hand on my shoulder steadying me as I sway slightly. “Mia, let’s go.”
I allow myself to be guided toward the door, too numb to resist, too heartbroken to even cry. As we reach the threshold, I turn back one last time, searching the faces of the people who raised me for any sign of regret, any flicker of the love I desperately wanted as a child.
There’s nothing but cold gazes and people who have always hated me. They were never my family.
I feel numb with every step back to the van. Tears roll down my face in a flood as Finn closes the van doors and I’m safely inside.
