HOPE

1.

Milo.

"This is your room make yourself comfortable and I will be in the kitchen when you're done." Mia nods and I turn to leave, the door closed behind me and I walked downstairs to be met with Emmy, the man responsible for my children's safety.

"So you adopting a stray?" I glared at him for his statement and he raised his hands up in mock surrender. "She has nowhere to go and it's freezing outside, and I already tasked you with finding out who she is and if she's any trouble." He chuckled lowly.

"Her story checks out, she went to NYU on scholarship, couldn't get a decent job so she worked as a waitress just to get by, lived with her now boyfriend ex-boyfriend, who is currently screwing another in his apartment which the two shared." I didn't want to feel pity but I did.

Mia had been abused by her boyfriend, she was an orphan, her scholarship to NYU was the only ticket to financial stability she had, but when she couldn't get a job, things didn't go so well.

She had a nightly shift at the diner she worked as a waitress to pay for the bills and apartment she shared with her boyfriend, and this morning she found out how much of a cheating, abusive scum bag her boyfriend was.

"We can help her get back on her own two feet, now get rid of that negative attitude Emmy, she needs help, and you damn well know when people need help we give it to them, I won't remind you of a certain someone who was in her position." His glare was pointed at me, I knew he didn't want me to say anything about his own past.
.

"Great, I'm sure you have business to attend to, or are you staying for dinner?" I assert and he picks up his keys heading for the door. "At least tell me where you're going!!" I yell from the kitchen.

"To bust a nut!!" I don't think I should've asked that particular question, it also had me chuckling by myself. "Hey dad, is dinner ready?" I ruffle Haven's hair. "You're just in time baby, get your brother and set the table." He skips toward their playroom to get his brother.

Mia walks down the stairs wearing my sweater and track pants, it had been the smallest size I had, we had to work with what we had. "These are so comfortable." I chuckle motioning her to sit at the table.

"So Milo what do you do, fancy house, car and you live in a fancy suburb." She asked between her bites of food. "I'm a model, and no I'm not married, I didn't need a man to get where I am." She chuckles a little and went back to eating.

"I wish it was that simple for everyone." She sighs and I knew it really wasn't, we don't all have the same circumstances to make it in the world, I was lucky enough to have my grandparents who propelled my career and helped me with everything before they left.

"You can stay here as long as you want Mia, and if you want I can help you find a good job." She beams a smile toward me and I reciprocated it, I can't help every girl out there who is mistreated but I could start somewhere and that's what I was doing.

Women are taken for granted because they aren't considered worthy enough for anything and unless they're cut throat and won't back down, men will always find a way to put them down, and I hate it.

If Mia were a man with the business degree she had, she wouldn't have been on that bench crying because she had nowhere to go, she would've had her own place and been financially stable.

I just wondered how I would help her, but for now, she needed to heal and rest, the bruises on her were still fresh and she needed a clear headspace. I watched as the boys interacted with Mia, they never really opened up to anybody who wasn't their own age, or rather who wasn't going to play with them.

It surprised me how they adapted to Mia so quickly, it was a good thing, since she was going to be here for a while. After dinner, I cleaned up with Mia, who volunteered to help me.

"Do you have any other siblings or extended family?" I asked wanting to know more about the girl in my home. "No I don't, when my parents moved to New York they had eloped, gotten married on the road and never looked back." I wondered what caused them to do that.

Though it may be absurd to assume it was something bad, sometimes people just do things for love. "So you were an only child, that must have been lonely." I comment and she nods.

"It was but I had books, and education to keep me grounded, my mom always told me that education was a girl's best weapon, and she was right I guess, when my dad started bringing drugs into the house, I knew to stay very far away from them." I nod knowing she had done the best thing for herself.

"Is that how they died, they got involved with the wrong people." She nods. "Yeah, one day dad got into a deal that ended killing both him and his wife, I was in high school back then, luckily my fees were paid up at school and I had already gotten the scholarship." I began to wonder about the struggle Mia had gone through to be where she was.

Though she lost her parents, she herself didn't lose her way, she picked herself up and continued learning wanting to improve herself, I felt proud of her, she was strong.

"You're really brave." I add and she chuckles. When my parents died in a car crash I was a mess, I couldn't eat, sleep or do anything besides cry my eyes out, I was grateful for my grandparents, they picked me up, fixed me and helped me find my own way into the world.
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The rest of the evening is spent with me learning more about Mia and what she aspired to be, at the end I had a few ideas on how I could help her.

"Boys you have school tomorrow, get your cute little butts in bed." They walked into their room yawning. "But we aren't tired dad." Haden spoke stifling a yawn. "Yeah you aren't baby, you very much aren't." I chuckled looking at my droopy eyed sons.

They were my pride and joy, they helped me focus on a lot I needed to improve myself on, though the mention of having kids has had many of the men who wanted to date me run for the hills, I was okay as long as my boys were with me.

It had its perks being a parent, one of those is unconditional love from two beautiful angels, who had given me sleepless nights at one point in my life, when they had fevers or just cried without reason, but now it felt rewarding having endured all of it.

"The boy jumped over leaves to find himself." I stopped reading the bedtime story when I noticed they were asleep, so much for not being tired. I stood up and placed a kiss on their foreheads.

"Goodnight my little princes." The mumble good night as I leave their room, I turn on the night light and leave their door slightly open, Haven has a tendency of waking up in the middle of the night and come to my room and it seems Haden picked it up too.

"Your sons are so adorable, where is their mom." I had a lopsided smile, how do you tell someone you're gay and you adopted your kids when they were babies. "I already know you're gay, the way your bodyguard was looking at you said it all, so now I'm assuming there is no mom." I nod and she smiles.

"I've had them since they were babies." I exclaim and she smiles. "You're really cool." I smugly grin toward her as the movie began to play, I never had friends before and the girl who was sitting on the other couch might be my first friend.

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This book is not edited, any errors grammatical or otherwise will be corrected in due course.

LMJ