Chapter 1

Nicole Flaherty looks down from the banister to the party of richly well-dressed people and women wearing flowing gowns and glittering stones. She could be at a scene straight out of some TV show. Silly little white trash girl that she is, she would have felt horribly out of place a week ago. But now she knows better. This kind of glamour and luxury are in her blood, Uncle Richard told her so. What an immense change!

She had been living in a trailer park outside of Topeka with her stay-at-home mom Lupe and odd job working father Patrick. They didn’t have much, but her mom and dad loved each other. Until suddenly her dad didn’t come home. Mom had freaked saying all kinds of spanish words that she usually only used when dad wasn’t around. After checking the hospitals, they got a call that he’d been arrested. Things got way worse at the bail hearing. The charges were bad: felony possession, weapons charges, and felony assault. The judge ended up setting the bail at a ridiculously high amount. They were about to leave to go to a bail bondsman when two men in windbreakers scooped up her mother. Nicole had half a mind to flee and the other half had her yelling and screaming at the men. She’d already been in tears seeing her father cuffed, and her mom had been the only thing keeping her together.

She spent what felt like an eternity at a police station where no one knew where her mother was. The worst part of it was that no one would answer any of her questions. She felt like she was back in elementary school, tiny and scared, waiting for her punishment, except this was more of a nightmare. She wiped her tears, and steeled herself. She was in High School, she wasn’t some baby. She just needed to figure out how to get to her mom. Or maybe if she could get to a bail bondsman, she could get her dad out. He’d know what to do.

She was grabbed up by another set of officers and taken over to a court where there were sad parents, sullen kids, and exhausted lawyers. A judge told her that her mom was in custody of ICE, which was ridiculous.

“Your honor, this is crazy, my mom has been here my whole life! Be- be- besides, she’s married to my dad, and he’s a citizen. Why are you doing this?”

He ignored her as a lawyer drones, “Your honor, the state asks for the minor to be transferred to the foster care system.”

Her lawyer, such as it was, stammered out, “Your honor, the child’s interests would best be served if she could be kept with family and we’d like time to find them, sir. If your honor could grant a continuance so I could find them-”

“Do you know of any family?”

“No your honor, but-”

“But?”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to my client.”

Nicole blurted out, “No one is talking to me! Jesus, why are you doing this, I’m white!”

The judge shot her a withering look, “Counsellor, make sure your client doesn’t speak out of turn anymore.”

“Yes, your honor,” he tried to take her shoulder to calm her, but Nicole shrugged him off.

The judge turned to her, “Miss, this hearing is not about your mother. This is a hearing to determine who is going to take care of you. With both of your parents in custody, it falls to us to determine what is best for you. This is not criminal court, this is family court, we are all here seeking your best interests. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

The way he looked at her like a pest gave her the chill feeling that either he’d gone into the wrong profession or he’d been in this one too long. She wanted to protest more, but there was an edge to his voice that locked up hers. Even her state appointed lawyer seemed to cow.

That was when she walked in. She was composed, striding with an economy of motion in high heels that barely made her as tall as Nicole. Yet somehow, she seemed 10 feet tall.

“Your honor, Rachel Sipowicz representing the child’s next of kin, if it pleases the court, my client petitions for immediate temporary custody of the child pending permanent placement,” she strode forward with papers in had, passing them to the judge.

The judge arched a brow, “Kin? I was given to understand her kin could not be found,” he sneered at Nicole’s state appointed lawyer.

“Uncle, your honor. He has just been made aware of the situation. As I am sure the child’s representative has argued, it would be best if she remained with family, and her uncle is more than well equipped to provide for the child’s welfare.”

The judge looked over the papers, “Everything seems in order here, any objection from the state?”

“Well, your honor, the state would like to verify the identity of the family member, but barring issues there...”

It was at that point that Nicole hit her lawyer’s arm and whispered, “I don’t have an uncle.”

“Your honor, the child, I mean, we are concerned about the veracity of the claim as the child has indicated that she doesn’t have an uncle.”

“Oh my god, I’m not a child! I don’t know what is going on here, but-”

That’s when she dropped a picture on the desk in front of Nicole. It was old, but there was no doubt it was her father as a teenager with grandmama and his little brother, scrawny and small compared to her athletic young father.

“Oh.”

He was granted temporary custody without any more fuss. She followed Rachel out to the hall and straight out to open air that let her shed the weight of the entire building.

“Are all your clothes like that?” The attorney looked at her skeptically.

“Uhm, no?” She looked down at herself with apprehension. She had on a flannel blouse with rolled up sleeves, a baby blue t-shirt underneath with a screaming mouth on it and jeans. She felt positively boyish next to the high powered lawyer in the suit that probably cost more than a month in the trailer park.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Mr. Flaherty will take care of you.”

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, he’s killin’ it so far.”

She registered bafflement for a flash before the smiled, “No, not Patrick, I mean Mr. Flaherty, your uncle.”

“Oh.” Right, she had an uncle now, that was going to take some getting used to. “Yeah, about that-” her question died in her mouth as she realized they were walking to a limo.

“You’ll have your questions answered soon enough, but for the moment...” Nicole had stopped listening. Everything was changing too fast, she was trying to get her bearings. She was on the private plane before it occurred to her that they hadn’t stopped by her home for clothes.

She was buzzed with nervous energy during the flight and couldn’t sleep. The lawyer had offered her a pill to help her relax, but she turned it down. Instead, she just about lost her marbles asking Rachel tons of questions. She found the attorney to be about as responsive as a stone wall, so she took to exploring the plane while in flight. By the time she’d landed in LA, she’d been completely wiped out and had to practically be dragged to the waiting limo. Waking up to see the mansion was an unreal experience. It was not a home, it was a citadel marked by lavish, prodigious, opulence. It took a moment to register that the road they were on was actually his driveway, lined by dual rows of trees culminating in a grand circle with a marble fountain.

“What is this place?” she asked in wonderment.

Rachel smiled, “Welcome home, Miss Flaherty.”

She still could not shake the dreamlike feeling as she approached, “Uhm, Mrs. Sipowicz, is ... is my uncle a drug dealer?”

Rachel arced her eyebrow at the young girl then laughed her into the home.

Young Nicole made note of three maids, but quickly forgot their names as one of them brought her to an amazing bedroom. She hardly even noticed the buxom matronly maid who gathered the exhausted girl up to her quarters with such care. If she had been paying attention, she may have seen the brief moments that the maid’s eyes lingered over her small body with barely disguised lust. A slow smile crept up her deviant lips for the fun she knew was to come with this delicious morsel. Instead, all Nicole noticed was a deep fluffy bed that drew her into its soporific embrace before she could think about not putting away the clothes that she didn’t have.

“What do you think of our new girl?” He tilted the screen to get a better look at the sleeping girl as he sat at his imposing mahogany desk.

“She looks utterly delicious,” came the voice of his maid from down between his legs.

“Yes, she is isn’t she,” he tapped the screen tracing his fingers along her covered frame.

“I can’t wait to see what nasty things you have in mind for her, such nasty things,” she punctuated her words with long languid licks of his cock as she looked up to his eyes, but his vision was locked onto the girl in the bed.

“In due course kitten. But for right now why don’t you put your head back where it belongs.”

“Oh yes, M-”, she lost her words as he put her mouth back on his hardened cock. Ryan Flaherty needed to get to bed soon, and his cock needed servicing.