Page 53 of Villainous
Dallas looks up at me and pushes his glasses up on his nose before he exhales. He leans back in his executive chair, potbelly hanging over his belt. “The paperwork you signed says your rights were terminated, and therefore you can’t get your son back.”
Despair clouds Maya’s face, and her eyes light up in horror. “Wait. What? That’s not what this paperwork I have in my hand says. It states I can get him back if I can prove I’m a good mother.”
He grabs the paperwork from her hand and scans through it. “This is not signed off by a judge. This is. And this is your signature right here.”
He gives the paperwork to her, and her eyes gloss over with tears and her face turns the color of beetroot. I’ve never seen her so angry. “I never signed these. I don’t remember signing my name on this. She forged my signature!” She slams the paperwork on the table.
Rage shimmers in my chest as I snatch the paper from the oak desk. It says she had her rights terminated.
I cock my right eyebrow. “We can’t reverse her rights?”
“I’m afraid not. In the state of New York City, once the rights are terminated, they can’t do reversal adoption. From the paperwork, you’re not supposed to even see AJ. She made the adoption closed.”
“Can I prove she forged my signature?” she says between sobs.
“It could take years for you to prove it, and even then, family court can go on for years,” Dallas says.
“Give us a minute to ourselves,” I tell him.
He nods, then leaves the office.
Maya paces the white tile, tugging on her hair. She’s breathing rapidly as if she’s having an anxiety attack. “How could she do this to me? How could she trick me?” She screams at the top of her lungs.
I get up from the chair and wrap my arms around her, lifting her up, and I sit us in the chair. She’s resistant at first and trying to push herself off me, but I hold her tighter.
“I’m not letting you, so stop it,” I demand, glancing down at her. She finally caves, sobbing on my crisp white shirt, and I kiss the top of her forehead.
Hopelessness paints her face. “I’ll never have a chance to get him back.”
I don’t know what to do. I want to kill Kennedy for the shit she pulled, but Maya won’t let me.
“We will find a way. I promise.”
“I want to believe your words, but I don’t.” She pauses. “I just want our son back.”
I don’t believe my words either, but I don’t want her to give up on hope that everything is going to be okay.
“I know, little dove.”
She cries in my arms.
During the car ride, Maya goes back to being her cold self, and I look out the window. The silence is filled with anger and despair, and the tension is so suffocating I crack the window, letting the cold air smack me in the face. I grab Maya’s hand and squeeze tight, and shockingly, she squeezes my hand back. She’s given up on getting AJ back, but I haven’t. I’ll get her bitch of a mother to pay for what she did.
Once we make it to the gated manor, one of my soldiers informs me an older woman is here with the police.
Maya stares at her mom in disbelief when we get to the door, and she stomps up to her and balls up her fist. I grab it and lean down and whisper in her ear. “Don’t hit her in front of the cop. It’s what she wants from you.”
Maya snatches her hand from me. “Tell that bitch she’s not allowed on this property.”
“I’m here to pick up AJ,” Kennedy says, pushing back her shoulders and flattening out her leather coat.
“He’s not here. We haven’t seen him,” I tell her. “Maya, go inside. I’ll handle your mother.”
She nods, and I watch her disappear inside the manor. I turn my view to Kennedy, and she smirks at me.
“Officer, search the property,” Kennedy demands.
“Do you have a search warrant?” I ask the officer.
