Foster Brother's Arms by Penny Blake Read Free Book Online Page A

all the big museums when he turns thirteen.  And…oh, Raine…please say something.”
    He looks up from the picture, shock written all over his face.  “I have a son,” he whispers.
    Without saying more, he flings Sam’s picture back at me over the table.  It flutters to the floor, which for some reason makes my heart break into a million pieces.  I quickly pick up the photo and tuck it in my purse with care, where it’s safe and protected. 
    Once again, his eyes are pure ice.  But there’s something else there.  Something that frightens me.  Pure, undiluted contempt.
    “How could you?” he finally says.
    “I didn’t know I was pregnant until after I’d left.”
    “And you couldn’t have called me when you found out?  To tell me you were carrying my child?”
    “I was going to give him up for adoption. Raine. We were just in high school—“
    “I would have found a way to care for what’s mine.”
    “And then you would have nothing, just like me.  Look at your life now—look at how far you’ve risen. I still stand by what I did, though I understand why you’re angry.”
    “Anger doesn’t begin to describe it.  You had no right to make that decision for me.  He was my son too! I had a right to know.”
    “The whole time I was pregnant, I planned to give him up for adoption, and all that I’d be left with after he was gone was loss and pain.  I didn’t want you to suffer that too. I felt like I was sparing you by keeping you in the dark.”
    “But you didn’t give him up—you kept him in your life. And yet you didn’t allow me the same privilege.”
    “I’ve thought about contacting you a thousand times over the years.”
    “Funny that you never did.  I’m not particularly hard to find.”
    “Well we’re together now, and now you know.  So what comes next? What do you want to happen now, Raine? Would you like to meet him? Whatever you want, I’ll do.”
    I expect him to consider it and give me a reasonable answer, but his expression remains a wall of ice. “That won’t be necessary.  Frankly Lana, I want nothing to do with you.  You’re not the person I thought you were.  All you’ve brought into my life is lies and deception.  Though I do insist on taking care of what’s mine.” He reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a checkbook.  “How much do you need to get out of that filthy business you’re in?  I don’t want my son to be raised by a professional whore.  I can give you a lump sum now and a monthly check afterwards.”
    “Sam has no idea what I do and he never will. He’s well protected from the truth.  I don’t need your money.”
    “My money was perfectly good last night. If I fuck you again will you take it?”
    I lift my wineglass and splash its contents in his face, then I muster up the last shreds of my dignity and storm out.  He doesn’t follow me. 

 
    Raine
    Now…
    I’ll sue her for custody.  Between my team of lawyers and the fact that Lana has spent the past nine years of her life as a prostitute, there’s no way she’ll stand a chance.   I’ll strip everything from her—even weekends, birthdays and holidays—until she has no part in his life.
    Even after everything she put me through, I’ve never once unleashed my cruelty on her.  But all that’s about to change.  I’ll make her pay, and I’ll have my son back. And then once I have him, I’ll poison his mind against Lana, so she won’t even have that much, not even a place in his heart.  She took everything from me, and now I’ll do the same to her.
    These are the thoughts I console myself with the entire plane ride back from Vegas.  But when I arrive home, an odd thing happens.
    All my anger has bled away, leaving me feeling nothing but utter, wretched loneliness.  The feeling is so intense, so acute, I think I might die from it. 
    When Lana left me all those years ago, something inside me broke, making it impossible for me to feel.  But when I saw that