24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Beau
I sat at my desk, staring at the paperwork in front of me, but none of it registered. Numbers, contracts, reports—all of it felt meaningless. My mind kept drifting back to Mira. The way she'd looked at me that night, broken, desperate, begging me to believe her. I couldn't stop hearing Pari's little voice, crying out for her Miramashi .
Hell, I hadn't been able to shake any of it. Not the way Mira's voice trembled over the phone as she sang Pari to sleep, not the way Pari had calmed almost instantly. It tore at something inside me, something I couldn't push away, no matter how hard I tried.
Then there was the damn CPS report. Her parents, her own parents , saying she wasn't fit to take care of Pari. That she'd shaken the baby so hard that her brain had rattled. How the hell could I ignore that? That document, those accusations, they were like a noose tightening around my neck every time I thought about letting Mira back into our lives.
I ran a hand over my face, trying to shake off the endless loop in my head. The promise she'd asked me to make to her—that I'd never leave Pari alone with her parents—was the only thing keeping me from letting them see her now. I knew that if I broke that promise to Mira, which I'd silently made, I'd never forgive myself.
A sharp ring cut through my thoughts, snapping me back to the present. My phone buzzed on the desk, the screen flashing with a number I didn't recognize.
"Bodine," I answered, my voice rough.
"Mr. Beauregard Bodine, please."
"Who's calling?"
"This is Kush Patel, I'm a Children's Protective Services caseworker based in Atlanta, working out of the Buckhead office."
I straightened, my stomach churning. Finally, a response. I'd been waiting for days to get some clarity, for someone from CPS to tell me what the hell had really gone down. I'd asked my lawyers to put the fear of God in everyone so I could get the story about my daughter and her guardian from the horse's mouth.
"Hi, Kush, I'm Beau. Thanks for getting back to me." I took a deep breath. "I've been waiting for someone to explain this CPS report I've seen. The one about Mira Sen and the allegations of her neglecting Pari…my daughter."
There was a long pause on the other end, and I could hear Kush shuffle some papers. "You saw a CPS report? How did you do that?"
I cleared my throat. "Mira's parents gave it to me."
"How did they get the report?"
"They said it was part of their custody documentation."
"Mr. Bodine, I'm going to be honest. I'm shocked to hear what you're saying. I've been out of the country for the last two months because of a family emergency in India, and I'm just getting back into the case files. But the report you're talking about would never be handed over to Mr. and Mrs. Sen. I'm assuming you're talking about Anil and Seema Sen?"
My heart stuttered. "Yes. But…I have the report here."
"Can you email it to me?" Kush rattled off his email address.
I'd already had the reports scanned for my lawyers, so I sent them to Kush. In seconds he told me he had it.
He cleared his throat. "Mr. Bodine—"
"Please call me Beau."
"Well, then Beau, these are not reports from CPS. These are statements from some people Mr. and Mrs. Sen hired. They look like ours—or rather, they have been made to look like ours but are not."
"They're fake?"
"Not exactly. These are statements from private investigators. But I don't think they'd hold out in court because I doubt these psychologists evaluated Mira or Pari. I also know that the content is untrue because I did investigate when Mr. and Mrs. Sen started to send complaints about Mira's handling of Pari."
I could hear him, and I could process what he was saying, which was a surprise because my heart was hammering so loudly I was sure it was about to leap the hell out of my body.
"Beau?"
"Yeah, I'm here," I said hoarsely.
"We've had a case on file regarding Pari, it's confidential, but I can tell you that everything we documented cleared Mira of any wrongdoing. She was never considered a danger to Pari, and in fact, the courts were always clear that Mira was the most appropriate guardian after Asha passed."
My grip tightened on my phone. "Her parents told me that they were fighting for custody because they thought Pari was in danger."
Kush sighed. "Mr. Bodine, I can't discuss details of anyone's file without a judge insisting I do so, but I can tell you this, CPS would never approve custody to Mira's parents, not in any scenario I'm aware of."
Alarm bells began to clang inside me. I'd suspected, hadn't I? But then I'd seen the couple. They seemed so normal, and I'd let my suspicions fall away. Instead, I'd allowed them to prey on my insecurity as a new parent, to go above and beyond to protect my daughter from…Mira, their daughter who they painted as a malicious child.
"Why would they never be granted custody?"
There was a long pause. "I recommend you reach out to Asha's lawyer. She handled everything to do with Pari's guardianship. If you're being shown documents that contradict what's actually in the case files, that's deeply concerning."
I clicked open the files that my lawyers had put together on my computer with regards to Pari's custody filings. I knew that we had the details about Asha's lawyers.
My mind was spinning. Everything I'd thought I knew, everything that had made me believe Mira was a danger to Pari, was unraveling. "So, what you're saying is that Mira's parents sold me some bullshit."
"I'm saying it doesn't match anything we've ever filed," Kush replied, his tone firm.
We ended the conversation, and I sat staring at the phone like it was a loaded gun.
I clenched my jaw, hurt swarming through me. I'd believed Mira's parents. I'd believed that report. I'd thrown her out of my life, out of Pari's life, based on it. And now, this caseworker was telling me it was all fabricated.
From now on I'd verify before I leaped, I decided. So, first things first. I began checking up on Kush Patel. Within minutes, I confirmed he was legit—not only had I sent an email to a .gov address, but a quick database search using the security programs to which my company had access showed proof that Kush Patel was indeed employed by Child Protective Services in Atlanta.
Mira's parents had lied to me. They'd created a report, purporting it to be from the CPS, to get Pari, or to tear Mira down. No, I had torn Mira down.
Fucking hell!
I stepped out of my office, and barked at my executive assistant, "James, can you make an appointment for me, urgently with a lawyer called…," I looked at my phone, where I had the details I'd just fished out, "Suchitra Pillai. She's in a law firm in Atlanta called Mitchell, Sanders & Taylor. If she's not there, I need to speak with anyone who can talk to me about Asha Sen's will and estate."
James didn't ask stupid questions, like spell the lawyer's name or whatever. I knew he'd just figure it out.
"Anything else?"
"Yes, I need a helicopter ready to take me to Atlanta for that meeting you're setting up. It needs to be ASAP, James. Today."
James nodded. "Will do, Beau. And I'll also reschedule your meetings for the rest of the day."
"Thanks, James."
I trusted my EA to get me an audience with a lawyer who could give me the answers I needed.
I had to get to the bottom of this. Fast . Because if I was wrong, which I strongly suspected I was—I'd made the biggest mistake of my life by breaking up my family.