DON'T BREAK THE RULES

Chapter 41 - Jamie's Past (Part 3)

23 years ago — Jamie: 5 years old

The Willas.

"That's my nephew," said Mindy Willa. "I have been fighting for months to get legal custody of this child, but you all would not even allow me to see him."

Jamie McGollony was now five years old and had remained in the Kollon foster home for two years now. It was a terrible shock to find out that his aunt, one his mother had never mentioned, was Mindy Willa, wife of Freister Willa. Both had been wealthy for years, and were known across several states for owning branches of banks, but there were other fields they had also involved themselves, such as publishing a few novels about The Keys to Success.

When Mindy Willa had lost contact with her sister years ago, but had known about the birth of her son, Jamie McGollony. It was not until her passing that Mindy searched for him, and had gone through several milestones to find him.

When she heard he was stuck in Kollon, she filed for his custody to be in her care—never did she know the process would have been this long. Besides, it did not help that the boy was initially removed from his main guardian, who also happened to be his mother. Nonetheless, she fought enough for the day to come where she was finally able to meet him.

Jamie had never heard of other family members he had; the only person he knew was his mother, and he thought that was the only person he would always have. It was such a surprise to have the caretakers ask him to head into the lunch room by himself during the quiet hours, and a man and a woman both waited for him with gigantic smiles on their faces.

But Jamie was not happy.

The moment Mindy said she had been her mother's sister, Jamie was instantly thrown into a panic attack. Afterwards, he refused to see them, and fought the staff every time they visited. It took a few tries until Jamie finally agreed, and reluctantly, he headed towards the lunch room when they returned.

He did not stare at them; he recognized too many familiar features from her mother in Mindy's face. But there were differences from her than his mother—her tone was soothing and delicate, as if she was meant to sing lullabies to butterflies. Her touches were soft and he felt his entire body run warm whenever she did touch his hand or his forehead. Whenever he met her gaze, although he recognized the blue eyes from his mother, hers were filled with such joy and love that he felt his walls begin to crumble.

It was not long until Jamie was taken into Mindy's custody, but he never had told them what his mother had done to him. They never spoke about his mother after his panic attack, and when Mindy asked to have his last name changed, he agreed without any hesitation. He wanted to forget about that past, and was shocked by how much love he had been receiving from Mindy that he was starting to forget the memories of his mother. Although he was scarred forever, it was not long until the image of his mother stopped recurring daily in his mind.

When Tyler found out Jamie was being adopted the next day, he was not pleased. It was even worse when he found out Jamie was related to the Willas, and when he had the chance to speak to Jamie on his last day, he made it known how furious he was. He had been stuck in the foster system for years of his life to the point that he looked forward to turning eighteen and being able to be on his own. And maybe it was envy, craving the family Jamie unknowingly had, but he had seen a connection between him and Jamie.

And he thought they were the same.

"But I guess you lied to me, about everything..." he hissed to Jamie, a young five year old boy who barely understood what was going on in his own world. Jamie simply shook his head, but Tyler tightened his fist around his fork, "You said you had gone through the same things I had. That you had nothing growing up; I thought I saw something in you that I saw in myself."

But Jamie was much too young to understand what he meant, and instead reached forward and placed his palm over Tyler's curled up fist. He felt it relax a bit, and a long smile pulled his lips, "We'll still be friends. I know kids go on one day trips sometimes. I can ask Auntie Dee if she would take you one day."

"Do you even know who these people are?" he quietly said to Jamie. "Your aunt is rich—she's practically a billionaire. She has so much money that you'll never have to pay for anything in your life, Jamie. And you think we can still be friends?"

"I'm sorry," Jamie shrugged his shoulders, saddened that his best friend was angry with him for something he did not know how to fix. "Maybe I can make sure you don't have to pay for anything either, Ty."

It was scary how much Jamie had changed through his stay at Kollon. He started as a loner, with no one to speak to and avoiding all his peers, to opening his heart and giggling whenever he was seen. Then his behaviour had spiralled when his friendship with Tyler began, but the innocence and kindness from within him never left, which was surprising after the brutality he had faced at an early age.

But all Tyler was seeing was naivety.