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“No. You’re her next of kin, Alessa. You’d have been given custody of her,” Rachel soothed.
It gratified me when she appeared as if she regretted opening that particular can of worms too.
“Who would take her?” Amara queried, her expression puzzled. “She brat. No one want her.”
“I take exception to that,” I grumbled, even though I couldn’t deny Kat was a brat. That was what made her interesting.
“Star doesn’t exactly have a legal claim to Katina. What with kidnapping her and crossing state lines—”
“Kidnapping?” Amara muttered, more puzzled than ever. “How do you kidnap someone who is your daughter?”
Rachel heaved a sigh. “Ohio, the state, fostered Katina into Star's care. She wasn’t supposed to bring her to New Jersey without express approval. Ergo, she kidnapped Katina. There are probably all kinds of alerts open on Kat’s head.”
“There won’t be for long,” I sniped. “I’m dealing with it.”
“Dealing with it? The only way you can deal with that is to pull shady moves,” Rachel retorted.
I growled under my breath. “Why the fuck did you bring me in on this foundation if you disapprove of everything I’ve done?!”
“Because you should be involved. No one has worked harder to help the victims than you, but you’re so fucking difficult as usual that you’re impossible to work with,” Rachel spat, which made Sommer burble a wail as she stopped nursing.
She was the only reason I didn’t storm to my feet or slam my hands against the table in annoyance.
Gritting my teeth, I bit out, “Two words. Pot. Kettle.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re the ornery one.”
“Hate to break it to you, Rach, but you’re not exactly a teddy bear.” I sniffed. “We need to find a common ground if we’re going to work together.”
“Bring Lily in. She’s a natural peacemaker. Plus, she’s rich as fuck and will donate,” was Rex’s pragmatic answer.
He wasn’t wrong about her being ‘rich as fuck’—Lily had a piggy bank full of billions, not just a few paltry million like me. Or Rex, and probably Rachel, for that matter. In fact, now that I thought about it, Amara and Alessa had also received a couple million from Lily as unofficial compensation for what her father and brother had put them through when they were enslaved by them.
I was literally surrounded by millionaires.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I muttered, concocting a plan to have Lily and I fund the tip line because, whatever Rachel thought, we needed that in place. Stat.
"First my idea," Amara groused.
“We do work well together,” Rachel mused. “Tiff would be good too. She and Lily bounce off each other.”
“Hell, while we’re at it, why don’t we make it a whole Old Ladies’ project?” I queried. “It’s not like Giulia, Indy, and Stone don’t have something to bring to the party.”
Rex hitched a shoulder. “Sounds smart to me.”
Rachel pursed her lips. “You can deal with Giulia.”
I grinned. “You afwaid of a wittle Old Lady, Rachel?”
Her eyes promised me hell which was creepy considering she was stroking Sommer’s head lovingly. “No, but you’re the same level of annoying so you two can pair off.”
Rex laughed. “She’s not wrong.”
Though I huffed, I couldn’t argue. Amara nodded. “Is good idea. Your brains not just in your balls, Rex.”
“Why, thank you, Amara,” he said pleasantly. “Always nice to get a compliment from you.” In an undertone, he muttered, “Instead of another fucking dog.” As if their new pup heard his species being taken in vain, Alfonso started barking in the backyard.
“Or kittens,” I added.
