“You have no idea,” she whispered, tears finally spilling over. “You have no idea what it’s like to dilute milk with water so it lasts longer. To hold your baby while she burns with fever and you can’t afford a doctor. To sleep in a car with four children while you, you were on the cover of Forbes magazine.”
“I know,” Marcus wept. “I am a monster. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I don’t deserve it. But I am here to get you out. The charges are dropped. The bail is paid. We are leaving. Now.”
Elena laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. “And then what? You think you can just buy us? You think you can write a check and fix ten years of trauma?”
“No. I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to fix it. Please, Elena. For the girls. They are freezing. They are alone.”
The mention of the girls broke her. Elena collapsed onto the cot, sobbing into her hands. Marcus crawled forward and, tentatively, placed a hand on her knee. She didn’t pull away.
“Let’s get them,” he whispered. “Let’s get our daughters.”
PART 4: The Introduction
The legal machinery of a billionaire is swift. Within an hour, Elena was processed out. She changed into the clothes Marcus had had his assistant buy—a warm wool coat, boots, and a soft sweater. She looked at herself in the mirror of the jail bathroom and barely recognized the woman staring back.
They drove to the temporary foster home where the girls had been taken by Child Protective Services just hours after Marcus had seen them.
This was the hardest part.
When they walked into the small living room of the foster home, the four girls were sitting on a couch, looking terrified.
“Mommy!”
