Chapter 1 - The Stolen Years
I stared at the financial hardship application glowing under the fluorescent lights of the guidance counselor's office.
The signature belonged to my mother, but the cruelty belonged to a monster.
Mrs. Ortega watched me with a mixture of pity and deep concern.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through five years of digital bank receipts.
I had sent exactly thirty-two thousand and four hundred dollars to my mother's account.
Every single penny was supposed to guarantee my daughter a comfortable life.
Instead, Maya was soaking a dry piece of bread in hot water just to trick her stomach into feeling full.
I asked the counselor for the address listed on Maya's emergency contact form.
I fully expected to see my mother's suburban address in the wealthy part of Austin.
Mrs. Ortega handed me a slip of paper that made my blood run completely cold.
The address was not my mother's beautiful four-bedroom house.
It was a rundown apartment complex on the absolute worst side of the city.
I left the school without speaking to Maya, knowing I needed to see this nightmare with my own eyes.
I rented a car and drove straight to the address on the paper.
The building was surrounded by rusted chain-link fences and broken security cameras.
I sat in the rental car for three hours until the school bus finally dropped Maya off at the corner.
My beautiful daughter walked with her head down, clutching her worn backpack tightly against her chest.
She unlocked the door to apartment number four and stepped inside.
I got out of my car and quietly walked up to the dirty window.
I looked through the broken blinds and saw my ten-year-old daughter sitting completely alone in an empty room.
There was no furniture, no television, and absolutely no sign of my mother anywhere.
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Suddenly, a massive man covered in prison tattoos kicked the front door open.
He grabbed my daughter by the arm and demanded to know where the rent money was.
