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only blood related family Mia has. We’re all we have left. I will not lose her. I can’t lose her.  
    “I’m not giving you my daughter. She’s never been neglected by anyone and this house,” I motion to the back of our house, “this is the safest place she will ever be. So I will tell you again,” I look right into the CPS worker’s eyes. “You’re not taking my daughter.”  
    The CPS worker is joined by several more police officers and suddenly the three of us are being swarmed. They divide and conquer, separating Reggie and Darcie from me. Then a man of my equal size approaches. He’s built and it looks like his arms are about to rip the sleeves of his shirt. “One last time, sir—please hand over the child.”  
    “Fuck. You.” I seethe in his direction.  
    The smallest smirk comes from his lips when an equally large forearm is being secured around my throat. I’m holding Mia tightly to my chest, but I’m losing my battle with breathing. Then, from nowhere, the burley police officer rips my daughter from my arms and quickly hands her over to the CPS worker.  
    “NOOOOOO!” I scream in their faces. I move to charge the officers, but I’m soon restrained once again as four men tackle me to the ground. Two of them are sitting on my back, each one holding my arms behind my back while the other has his knee digging between my shoulder blades. My face is scraping against the concrete and pain is shooting everywhere in my body, yet I refuse to acknowledge it.  
    “You can’t take her from me! She’s all I have left!” I plead into the air as I watch the CPS worker disappear from my sight, carrying my crying baby down the driveway.  
    She’s gone. I stop struggling as I watch my baby vanish from my life. The small glimmer of hope I’ve developed over the last few days has vanished as the rest of my soul is being ripped from my arms. My body falls limp into the cold pavement. My vision fades from red to purple then to black as everything I’ve ever had evaporates.  
     

Chapter Four  
    Drake  
     
    Reggie helps me off the ground as the officers finally leave after a day of hell. The side of my face is torn up from my head being pressed into the concrete. I’m slowing dying all over again, but this time it’s much worse. My insides are gradually falling apart, and I can’t get a handle on anything I’m feeling.  
    When I lost Presley, I thought nothing could compare to losing her, but I was wrong.  
    There are no words to explain the helplessness I feel at having my baby ripped from my arms and watching her disappear from my sight. She is innocent. Mia has done nothing wrong, and tonight she has been forced to suffer the consequences of Jeremy’s stupidity.  
    After trudging up the stairs, I furiously stomp to my bedroom, slamming the door closed. Agony is evaporating as the anger sets in. I turn to my wall and start punching the shit out of it. I slam my fist into the drywall, sinking it deeper and deeper with every blow.  
    This whole time Jeremy knew how distraught I was after Presley’s overdose, and yet, he said nothing. That was the time for him to say something—to confess his mistakes. Wait? Did he know she was involved with Carter before she overdosed? Was he hiding this from me because he wanted to save face with his drug connections?  
    The very thought infuriates me even more, causing my fist to drive into wall again.  
    Several minutes pass, and my breathing is labored. I have holes covering the entire wall in my bedroom, and I don’t give a fuck. I exit my room and go to the kitchen to get a drink. I haven’t tasted alcohol since the day of Presley’s funeral, but now it seems like the right time to get annihilated.  
    I open up the cupboard, seeing the bottles are dwindling down to nothing. I’m not the only one nursing the hurt with liquor. Jake probably has been drinking, too. He’s been off since Presley’s funeral, and I know he’s been coming home