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“I don’t...I don’t have a role. I’m the project manager.”
“Allison, we really don’t want to get the cops involved,” Phoenix says. He’s using what I like to think of as his “Dommy” voice. He’s trying to top her, to guide her. She doesn’t even realize what he’s doing, but she also doesn’t realize she’s responding. As soon as he deepens his voice, Allison seems to calm down. She relaxes a little bit.
“You can’t involve the cops, Phoenix. Those kids weren’t abducted. They were adopted. It’s all valid. It’s all legal.”
“You really believe that, don’t you?” I ask. She’s not lying, I realize. For some reason, Alliison is very invested in this project, but it’s not because she’s getting any sort of monetary compensation – aside from her regular salary, of course.
“I do.”
“Why?”
“I have to,” she whispers.
“Allison,” Phoenix says. “Why do you have to?”
When she looks up, there’s defeat in her eyes. There’s no fire. No passion. No excitement. Literally just defeat and sadness.
“Because,” she whispers. “I’m one of those kids.”
“What?” I ask.
“I was adopted through Project Sunshine,” she says.
29.
Alex
“You’ve found him,” I say. I’m sitting in Molly’s office. She’s been working on my case for a few weeks now, so I’m certain she has some sort of news about my brother’s disappearance.
“Not exactly,” she says. Molly leans back in her chair and avoids eye contact for a moment. This certainly isn’t a good sign. Shit. Maybe I read the room wrong. When she asked me to come in for a meeting, I just naturally assumed it was good news.
“What do you mean? Is he dead?” My heart feels like it’s going to stop beating. He can’t be dead. Not after all of this time.
A horrified look crosses Molly’s face.
“Oh, shit, no. Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“Then what? Why don’t know you where he is?”
“He was adopted,” she says.
Adopted.
Somehow, adoption is every foster kid’s dream or nightmare. For me, it was both. I didn’t want to get adopted because I thought it meant I’d get a new name, and Aaron would never be able to find me.
