“Tell me what the fuck happened and why what I did was such a goddamn mistake.” Sig insisted. He pressed fingers to his temple and winced like he had a bad headache.
“Before I get to that, I want to be upfront that I’m asking for your help. I’m hoping that you can help me because I have nowhere else to turn and I’m… desperate. But the reason I need this help is more important than what happened to me. Though, in truth, it’s tied together.”
“What kind of assistance do you need?” Autumn asked calmly. “We’ll do whatever we can.”
Syn believed her. She directed her answer toward her brother’s ol’ lady instead of him. Being a woman, she might understand why she was so desperate. “I need an attorney.”
“An attorney?” Sig asked, his brow pulled low.
“A defense attorney?” Dodge asked from beside her.
She shook her head. “No. Not for defense.”
“Why the fuck do you need an attorney?” Sig asked, scowling. “Just fuckin’ say what the fuck’s goin’ on, goddamn it.”
She blew out a breath. Telling them this, unburying the deep hurt and sharp pain, would be like pulling the rope on a bucket from the bottom of a well. Attempting to lift that full bucket to the surface without tipping it along the way. She had dropped that bucket to the very bottom a long time ago and left it there because every time she tried to pull it up, it tipped and slipped and she got nothing but an empty bucket when it finally reached the top.
She hoped like hell she now would have help getting that full bucket to the surface with hardly spilling a drop.
Even so, her head began to spin and her stomach churned at what she was about to reveal. “To help me get my daughter.”
“What the fuck?” Sig growled and Dodge whispered at the same time.
“What daughter? You ain’t old enough to have a daughter!” Sig shouted.
That wasn’t true. “I have a—”
“Who the fuck has her? How old is she? Why the fuck does someone else got her? Why the fuck ain’t she with you?”
“Sig! Give her a chance to answer your questions one at a time instead of bombarding her with them all at once,” Autumn scolded, once again holding onto him. “This has to be hard on her.”
Dodge’s hand moved from her hip, slid up her back, under her hair and those long, warm fingers curled around the back of her neck. For some odd reason, his touch gave her strength. “The problem is, I need a good attorney, but I can’t afford even a bad one. I can’t afford a retainer at all.”
“Who has her? The father?” While Dodge’s questions were asked calmly, they still held an edge.
Syn shook her head. “The people Sig gave me to. They have her and won’t give her to me. I just want her back. That’s all I want. I don’t care about everything or anything else.”
“What do you mean ‘everything or anything else?’” Dodge asked, using the grip on her neck to turn her toward him. His dark brown eyes narrowed on her.
He had read between the lines but she didn’t want to get pulled into that gaping space between. She needed to stay steady and stick to those critical lines.
So, she ignored that question. That wasn’t the important part. Getting Maya back was. “They took guardianship of her after she was born and now won’t even let me see her anymore. They’re afraid I’ll snatch her. Just take her and run.”
“She’s your baby girl. Of course you would,” Dodge grumbled.
“Yes, I would. She’s mine. I’m the one who carried her for nine months. After hours and hours of labor, they finally had to do a C-Section.” Because of her age, her hips had been too narrow and they’d had no other choice. She slapped a hand to her chest. “I went through that, not them. As soon as she was born, they petitioned the courts for guardianship saying that I couldn’t give her what she needed, using my age as an excuse. They claimed I couldn’t take care of her because I couldn’t even take care of myself. My only option has been to get a lawyer and fight them. It doesn’t matter how old I am, I’m her,” Syn’s voice broke but she forced out the rest, “mother. I should be her guardian, not them. She belongs to me. She belongs with me.”
Don’t fucking break down right now, Syn.
She had no idea what those people were doing to Maya. She had no idea if her daughter was safe. The last time she tried to see her, they told Syn they had a restraining order against her and would have her arrested if she ever tried to see Maya again or even stepped on their property.