“Daddy has a fistful of love for you. Always and forever,” he said with a tear-soaked smile, pressing his fist to his chest. He pulled her close and hugged her tightly.
She wound her arms around his neck, his black beard grazing her soft cheeks, his spicy odor seeping under her tender skin. She never wanted to let him go.
But he tore away, tears gushing down his dark cheeks. “Goodbye, Kaya. I love you, baby. I’ll always love you, my little princess.”
“Daddy!” Kaya called as he staggered down the walkway. Somehow, in her five-year-old heart, she knew she would never see him again. “Daddy, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me here. Daddy! Daddy—”
“Kay! Kay! I told you to come inside!”
Her mother grabbed her by the arm. Kaya fought her with every bit of strength in her lithe body. But it was no use. Through her tears, amidst her screams, she watched the taillights of her father’s car disappear around the corner. When she collapsed on the step, too weak to fight anymore, her mother dragged her inside as if she were a rag doll.
“What did I tell you, Kay?”
“It’s Kaya. Kaya! My name is Kaya. It means ‘Stay and don’t go back.’ My daddy told me.”
“Well, I don’t see that man who gave it to you around here, do I? You want me to tell you where he is, Kay?”
“You made my daddy go away. You made him leave. I hate you. I hate you! I—”
Her skinny frame rocked from the force of the slap across her face, and a million bright stars shot across her vision, momentarily blinding her.
“You can think about how much you hate me while you’re in there.” Nadine opened the closet door and threw her daughter atop a heap of smelly coats, old shoes, and dilapidated cardboard boxes filled with junk. “You’re not coming out ’til you apologize for your sassy mouth.”
“I don’t care! I don’t ever want to come out! I don’t ever want to see your ugly face ever again!”
“Suits me fine. You can stay in there for the rest of your miserable life, you ungrateful little brat.” Nadine slammed the door.
Kaya pulled the object her father had given her from her pocket, and closing her fingers around it, she stuffed her fist into her mouth as a fresh batch of tears rolled down her cheeks, stinging the tender spot where her mother had slapped her.
“Why, Daddy? Why did you leave me here?”
Kaya wept her little broken heart out, and when she had no more tears, when there was no energy left in her small body, she curled up in the musky darkness and went to sleep.
CHAPTER ONE
Eighteen years later…
“There must be some mistake, Steven.” Kaya Brehna’s hands tightened around the arm of the chair.
“I really wish there was, Kaya.”
“They— they left nothing?”
“Nothing,” the man behind the mahogany desk reiterated with a shake of his head.
Kaya pressed an unsteady hand to her chest. Her heart raced with fear and her mind swam in a pool of confusion and uncertainty. Even though she’d never had a close relationship with Lauren, when Steven had called with the news of her sister and brother-in-law’s deaths, and that they had named her guardian of their children, Kaya had dropped everything to be with her nephew and two nieces.
Up until a minute ago, she had every reason to believe that nine-year-old Jason, four-year-old Alyssa, and two-month-old Anastasia were financially secure. She hadn’t met the children until yesterday, but the minute she saw them, Kaya knew she could never abandon them. She was all set to put her life on hold to nurse them through this most grievous time of their lives, but how on earth could she do that after what the executor of Michael and Lauren’s will just told her?
They died bankrupt.
Nothing made any sense.