"Thank you for a nice evening," he said to her softly. He gave her another small kiss before he walked her to the door.
"Good night, Sebastian," she smiled.
"Good night, sweetheart."
She didn't even know she'd been dismissed until it was too late.
Katie
"Mr. Boa!" A young girl shrieked his name and ran into him with such force that it knocked Sebastian back a step. She wrapped her arms around his hips and hugged him tight.
"Hello, Felicity," Sebastian chuckled. He smoothed her dark hair and hugged the ten-year-old back. "How are you, sweetheart?"
"I'm fine." She turned smiling green eyes up to him. "You've been gone a long time this time."
"I've been busy with work." He patted her hair. "Where's Miss Rachel?"
The Home was a children's home Sebastian had founded and funded as a safe place for abused, underage models and children of models. He'd been running it for a year and a half now and currently had eight children whose lives he was essentially responsible for.
"She's in the office. We might have a new girl."
"Is that so?" Sebastian gently detached Felicity from his waist and knelt down so he was at eye level with her. "I need to speak with her about some business. When I'm done, I'll take everyone to get ice cream. How does that sound?"
Felicity grinned.
"Really?
Can I tell everyone?"
"Yes, ma'am.
Go let everyone know."
Felicity ran off to find the other children, and Sebastian went to the office. It was situated at the end of the hall and off to the side. The building was old and boasted odd angles and a few secret passages the children hadn't found yet. Sebastian leaned against the doorjamb and knocked gently. Rachel Finnergan sat behind her desk, her fiery red hair piled on top of her head in an attractive twist. She flushed when she saw him. Sebastian smirked and pushed himself into the room. He took a seat across from her, his arms loose on the arms of the chair.
"How are you, Rachel?" he asked the Irish woman. Her lashes fluttered over green eyes.
"Oh, I'm fine, Mr. Boa. A wee bit busy, but well. How are you?"
"I'm well. Felicity tells me there's going to be a new girl?"
Rachel nodded. "Her name is Katie." She heaved a heavy sigh. "She's in hospital right now.
Sebastian, the poor girl."
He frowned. "What happened?"
"Katie is a four year old pageant star. She was in a car accident a few months ago that cut and scarred her face. Her parents decided she wasn't worth the trouble to keep around since she isn't 'pretty' anymore. She's been beaten and malnourished. Sebastian…"
He nodded.
Someone shouting obscenities in the hall brought Sebastian out of his chair.
"Who the hell is swearing like that in front of the children?" He didn't have to feign shock when he walked into the hall and was greeted by an obese woman in a flowered dress that hung to the floor.
"I don't know who the fuck you think you are," the woman shouted. Her pudgy face was red with her put-on fury and her eyes darted about to see who was watching. What she wanted was an audience, but all she got was a handful of curious, frightened children and some pissed off adults.
"Excuse me." Sebastian kept his voice low and even. "I don't know who you think
you
are to come in here and speak like that in front of these children."
The woman stopped a few feet from him and cocked her head like she was offended by what he said. Sebastian folded his arms over his chest. He narrowed his eyes and struck her with a smoldering, furious gaze that melted the scowl from her lips.
"I'm just trying to figure out why you think you can take my daughter away from me, Mr. Boa."
From this distance, Sebastian smelled her sour breath and body odor. It was a struggle for him to keep from gagging.
"Perhaps we could come up with a solution to our problem," she continued and stepped closer to him. Her mouth turned up into a flirtatious grin, flashing teeth that reminded him of the rotting boards of a wooden fence. She reached out to stroke his arm.
Sebastian took a step out of her reach. "I assure you, despite what people may say about me, my tastes are far too discriminatory for anything of that sort. Please step into the office." He frowned at the woman's silent partner. He looked none too swift and that wide necktie did not work to hide his beer belly. Instead, it made him look like a clown with all of those polka dots.
"Rachel, take them into the office and leave the door open. I need to take care of something." He raised his eyebrows and hoped she'd understand that he wasn't leaving her alone. "I'll be back in a few moments."
"Right," Rachel nodded determinedly. "I'll see if I can't get a handle on the situation before you get back."
Sebastian smiled and touched her cheek tenderly. Rachel blushed.
"When we get this smoothed over, perhaps you'd like to come over for dinner?"
Rachel,
refused to meet his gaze. "I'll have to make sure the children are down for the evening first."
"Of course."
Movement in the office caught his eye. "Oi!" he shouted. The woman jumped and dropped something heavy onto the desk.
"I was just looking at it," she insisted, but the unattractive flush of her face said otherwise.
"Get in there and make sure they don't steal anything. You'd think adults would know better." Sebastian shook his head as he walked away.
There was a phone in the first room by the front door. Rebecca, one of the home's employees, was there with some of the children.
"Mr. Boa, what on earth is going on?" she asked, her voice a bit too high to be calm.
"Those are Katie's parents," a young boy by the name of Tony said. "They're not happy that she was taken away from them."
Sebastian looked from Rebecca to Tony,
then
addressed the child. "How badly did they hurt her?"
Tony shrugged. "They didn't let her eat with them. She had to eat scraps from a bowl with the dogs, but she's small, so the dogs ate most of it."
Sebastian's heart thumped hard against his ribs as anger swelled within his chest. He cleared his throat to loosen the tightness that settled there. "They did what?" He couldn't believe he was hearing this.
"They made her drink from the same bowl as the dogs. She's really sick. Miss Rachel let me go see her yesterday."
"How do you know all of this?" Sebastian questioned.
"She used to do pageants with my little sister. Her parents are the ones who killed my family in the car accident."
Tony's chin quivered, but the tears that made his voice soft never fell. The young boy steeled his backbone against the pain of losing his family. Emotion washed over Tony's features, but it was soon gone. He was a strong kid.
"I'll take care of Katie," Sebastian promised. "I'll expect you to look after her when I'm away."
Tony nodded, his eyes filling with determination and pride. Sebastian ruffled the kid's hair and turned back to Rebecca.
"Please phone the police," he told her. "Tell them it's an emergency and Sebastian Boa needs them here immediately."
"Yes, sir."
Rebecca picked up the phone and dialed.
Sebastian marched back to the office where the unattractive woman spilled out of a leather wingback chair.
"What do you mean, I can't have my baby back?" the woman shouted as Sebastian entered. She came up out of the seat like she was going to do something, but the moment she saw his face she stopped.
"Oh, hello."
Sebastian was disgusted. "You will not be getting your daughter back," he informed her. "She has already been signed into the care of the home. You signed over your rights to her without a second thought. I'd like to know why, all of a sudden, you want her so badly after treating her like an animal. Is it, perhaps, because I have taken an interest in her?"
The woman had nothing to say.
At least, not right away.
She stared at him, dumbfounded, before she found her voice again.
"How dare you accuse me of treating my child like an
animal!
I love my little girl! What proof do you have?"
"I have a witness," Sebastian said evenly, "but that is no concern of yours."
"No concern of mine?" She was out of her seat and in Sebastian's face a moment later.
"Sit down and shut up before I have you arrested for assault," he snapped. There was an edge to his voice that caught the woman off guard.
The woman huffed and took her seat. Sebastian rounded the desk and stood behind Rachel as the officers came in.
"We were a few blocks away," one of them answered Sebastian's unasked question. "What's the problem here?"
"This bitch," the woman spat at Rachel, "is trying to steal my baby girl!"
Sebastian fought not to say anything off color about her stench. The woman was red in the face again, showing out now that the police had arrived.
"I want you to shut up," Sebastian said.
"Excuse me?" The woman looked like she was about to pop the blood vessel that throbbed against her forehead.
"Stop.
Talking.
Do not say another word. Your breath is offensive." So much for keeping his mouth shut, but the police officers hid agreeing smiles behind their hands. Rachel gasped, but Sebastian dared not look down at her.
"I beg-"
Sebastian stopped her with a simple glare and turned to Rachel. "Miss Rachel, please tell the officers what's going on here."
"I got a call a few days ago about Katie, this couple's daughter. She is malnourished and dehydrated and, when she collapsed at a pageant the other night and was left in the middle of the floor," Rachel was starting to get upset, "she was removed from her parent's custody. Because she was a pageant child, they brought her to me. Mr. and Mrs. Wickham showed up this evening, demanding their child back."
An officer frowned. "If the child was removed from their custody, then what's the problem?"
"We're still tying up loose ends with the paperwork," Rachel answered, "but they showed up here this evening causing trouble and I can't have this kind of behavior in front of the children. It's not professional and it's not safe. My staff and the kids are scared out of their minds."
Sebastian nodded. "Officers, I want these two removed from my property. They are not allowed here anymore and if I catch them here they will be prosecuted.
Any other questions?"
"Yes!" Mrs. Wickham insisted. "I want-"
"I don't care what you want," Sebastian said. "I care that you're still on my property. Please, get them out of here now."
Sebastian watched in silence as the loud, profane Mrs. Wickham and her silent husband were all but dragged from the building shouting curses and threats the whole way.
"Where is the child now?" Sebastian asked.
"Katie is still at the hospital," Rachel told him. "She's actually doing really well, capturing the hearts of the male staff." Rachel tried to hide a smile. "She's precious. Maybe…it might be a good idea for you to go see her."
Sebastian nodded and followed her out.
***
Katie's long, blonde hair should have been glossy and thick, but it hung in dull, brittle waves over her shoulders. There was a pink scar down the right side of her face from the middle of her forehead to her jaw. It just missed bisecting her ear. It could easily be covered with her hair, but by the time she was sixteen it would all but disappear. It did nothing to mar the child's natural beauty and charm. When Sebastian walked into the hospital room where she was hooked up to machines and IV's, she smiled at him, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Hello." Sebastian greeted the little girl with a genuine smile he saved for children and elderly women. "You must be Katie." He kept his hands in his pockets; cool, comfortable, non-threatening.
Katie
nodded,
her eyes wary but alert.
"Yes, sir.
Are you Sebastian Boa?"
Sebastian's smile widened.
"Yes, ma'am."
She giggled. "I'm the one who is going to be taking care of you from now on. Is that okay?"
Katie's smile was sad, though bright. "My mommy and daddy don't want me anymore." There was far too much understanding in those words. "They say that I'm not pretty enough to win the pageants anymore so they don't need me."
Sebastian hid his shock behind a frown. "Why on earth would they say something like that?"
"Because I got hurt when we were in the car accident and it messed up my face."
"You mean this scar?" Sebastian traced the line of her scar and smiled. "That's just a scratch."
"My ear almost fell off."
Sebastian blinked and had to smile. "Maybe it was a little more than a scratch. I have a scar too." He pointed to one just below his right eye, high on his cheek bone.
Katie's tiny fingers brushed against it. "My mommy says your scar is sexy. I don't know what that means." She giggled.
Sebastian couldn't hold back his chuckle. "You know what I think, sweetheart?" He knelt by the bed and brushed her hair away from her face. "I think you're beautiful and you can be in as many pageants as you want to be."