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

picture of my son, I felt a powerful rush of pain coupled with longing and loss, and a hint of something else entirely. Pride. 
    I felt it all so deeply the experience was almost foreign to me.  Deep and cutting and raw.
    Ever since Lana left me in the restaurant that night, I’ve been deluged by emotion after emotion.  All of them unbearable. 
    I don’t know what to do with them all.  But I do know that I have to see Lana again.  My cruel words at the restaurant were in the heat of the moment.  Surely she’ll understand that and invite me to see my son.  Won’t she?
    With that thought in mind, I call her escort service and ask for her.  They have no record of anyone named Lana working there, which makes sense.  Of course she wouldn’t use her real name in that line of work.  So I give them my name and the details of my date with her so they can look her up that way.  If they aren’t willing to give me her contact information, I’ll simply book another date with her and apologize then.
    After clicking through records, the receptionist says, “Your date was with Chanel.  I’m sorry to tell you that she’s left our agency, but I can set you up with a girl you’ll like just as much.  I see that you—“
    “Give me Lana—Chanel’s—phone number and I’ll give you ten thousand dollars in cash by the end of today.”
    “I’m sorry, I can’t to that.”
    “Fifty thousand.”
    “She didn’t leave any forwarding information, and we’re not exactly the kind of business that keeps detailed employee records.  We contact all our girls with throw away cell phones and we don’t know their real names.  It prevents any legal issues, you see.  But honey, if you’ve got fifty thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket, I could give you a lot more than a phone number.  I’ll do anything you want. ”
    “Unless you can give me Chanel’s address or a lead of some kind, there’s nothing more I require.”
    “That’s all I’ve got on Chanel.  I wish I had more.”
    “Thank you, then.” For nothing. I click off the call and slam the phone down on my desk. 
    Fuck.
    So this is it then?  After all this time, I find Lana again only to lose her forever?
    No, this won’t do.  I have contacts in Vegas, powerful ones. I know a few good private investigators.  And I have copious amounts of money.
    I have to find her again, no matter what it takes. 

 
    Lana
    Now…
    It feels good to do homework again.  It’s been a long time.  Today Sam and I sit together at the kitchen table, me working on my nursing homework and him working on his book report.
    After everything that happened with Raine, I knew it was finally time for me to make a big change.  I’d been saving for years, accumulating quite a nest egg so I could go back to school once Sam was a little older and more independent. 
    But after the way Raine looked at me when he talked about my job, how ashamed it made me feel, I knew it was finally time to move on.  Even though I’d been an escort for years, I’d never grown used to it.
    The one good thing it afforded me was the means to give Sam a comfortable life, and the ability to spend a lot of time with him. After all I’d been through, I didn’t trust anyone else to care for him like I did. 
    Getting up to $10,000 a date was a big payday, and I always tried to stretch my income so I could get by with as few jobs as possible.  Still, I lived in fear of Sam ever finding out what I did for a living—I could hardly bear to think of it. And I’d always hoped to one day start a career that would make him proud.
    And that was why I was now working on my nursing degree. Once I started a nursing job, the hours would be intense, and I’d need to hire child care for Sam while I was working, but my financials were now such that I could do it.  And I would make sure he was safe—that was the most important thing.
    But I needed to do this, needed to make this change.  Not just for Sam