Page 1 of Until Kendal
ChapterOne
Joel
Staring at the broken trailer with boards missing from the floor, I rocked on my feet.
It seemed like a lifetime ago. I remembered my disgusting green T-shirt, which I'd practically lived in except for the weekly washing my sister had insisted on. I'd never had any memories of my birth mom, but my father, a user who’d lived in the disaster here in this trailer, had been all too happy to send me to foster care once my sister died.
Starting foster care at fourteen was usually a death sentence, but I was charmed somehow. I’d gone to the group home only briefly. Now, as a Norouzi, I had eleven brothers, Pedar, and Maman, who was the only mother who'd ever looked out for me. None of the people in my new life were anything like my birth father. My birth father would have hated that I'd ended up in the lap of luxury. In fact, I'd hired the wrecking team driving down the street to demolish this hovel.
A helicopter hovered overhead. Glancing up, I saw the black and gold and knew someone from my family was here. Quickly, I packed up the two boxes of sister’s papers that he’d kept, including my niece’s birth certificate. I knew many kids in the foster care system never had this paperwork. Without the papers, travel was impossible.
I’d been saved, but honestly, I had no idea what had happened to my niece, Hope. Her father's nineteen-year-old sister, Ellie, had taken custody of the baby. It was time to find her and offer what I could.
On the street, the helicopter landed, and Arman stepped out. I recognized his dark hair and build from the distance. My lips quirked up as I imagined him walking on the hardened mud in his Tom Ford dress shoes. However, he directed the demolition team, so he had to come.
I took one more look around. The neighbors had clearly taken whatever valuables my father had in here long before I showed up. Luckily no one touched my sister’s ashes, which I’d grabbed, along with the box of photos and papers.
I walked out, and Arman took one of the boxes from me then helped me put it behind my seat in the silver Maserati I’d driven here yesterday. As we finished, Arman asked, “This was your home?”
My lips thinned. My memories of this place weren’t of a family home. I patted him on the back and said, “The only home I had was with our family.”
Arman pointed me to the demolition team looking for an order as he said, “And Maman would be upset if she saw this place.”
I pointed to the trailer, and the bulldozer rumbled forward. A second later, the mobile home was ripped apart. I wished my memories were that simple. As Arman and I watched the destruction, I hoped my sister in heaven would forgive me for not finding her daughter sooner. She would be eight or nine now.
I turned to my adopted brother, who had never known anything but wealth. “It’s why I didn’t want any of you coming.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
That was sweet. Somehow, I'd ended up with adoptive parents who loved me. Arman was now my business partner, and although the rest of my adopted brothers were everything from heart surgeons to pilots, we were all equal in our parents' eyes. Thanks to Pedar’s trillions, I’d gone from nothing to one of the richest men in the world in a blink of an eye.
Yet one little girl out there shared my blood. So I needed to find her. My sister had been the only angel from my early life. I owed it to her to find her daughter.
Once the trailer was nothing more than scraps of trash being thrown into the dumpster, I told Arman, “The next part, I have to do alone.”
He shrugged and motioned to my car. “We can courier any of this, and you can take the helicopter with me.”
I laughed. A helicopter to a jet was the opposite of humble, not that Arman knew that word. I shook my head. “Iwantto do this on my own.”
“Well, let’s get dinner.”
At least Maman had only sent one of my brothers. I wouldn’t have known how to break free of all of them to go find Hope to ensure she was safe and happy.
"The only restaurant I know nearby is at the hotel I booked," I told Arman.
“Good thing you’re driving, then.” He went and told the helicopter pilot where to meet us so he could get a ride later.
Once again, it sounded like a scene in a war movie as the helicopter left, but Arman hopped into my car. I turned down my blaring country music and drove onto the old county road that led away from the trailer park.
“Arman,” I asked, now that we were alone, “why did you come?”
In Beverly Hills, where we lived, palm trees lined the streets. Tennessee was the opposite of our normal lives. Arman's presence made me forget my past and act more like my normal self, though.
“Maman and Pedar were both worried about you when you decided to come alone,” he said.
“You mentioned her twice now. Is she on speed dial?”
“She’d like to be. I told her I’d look out for you.”
