"Daddy, can I go see Mel today?" Esme waltzed into my room when the sun had barely crested above the horizon a few days after her runaway incident. I could barely pry my eyes open. I’d only managed to get to sleep a couple of hours before.

Esme asked this same question every day, multiple times a day since it happened. So much for hoping she’d forget. The orange glow cast long shadows over the city as I glanced out the floor-to-ceiling windows that ringed our fiftieth-floor apartment. I stretched my arms overhead and yawned.

“You didn’t get to spend enough time with her before?" I patted the bed beside me.

“No, I want to see her again,” she said, bouncing in place.

“Why, Esme?”

"I like her. She’s pretty, she’s nice, she gave me hot chocolate and I got to help fix her. She hurt herself and I gave her one of my hankies and I made it better. And then she took care of me." She flopped back on the bed and bounced her feet up and down.

I gathered her up in my arms. Every day, I marveled at how lucky I was to have her. When I looked at her, I saw the best of her mother. The things that were the first to go when her addiction took hold. Her kindness and openness.

Esme didn’t ask for much, so when she did, it meant it was serious. It didn't make sense. I couldn't understand what it was about Melanie that Esme couldn’t let go of. There were plenty of things about her that stood out to me, her eyes, her ass, her feisty attitude, but these were clearly not the same things that my daughter admired. I needed to figure this out before I moved forward with my plan, to ensure there wasn't something I missed.

"You've had plenty of people take care of you, Esme. Why do you want to see Melanie?"

"I want to see if her owie is better. She was bleeding and I saw her and it made me sad. I wanted to help her. I wanted to make her happy,” Esme said, beaming and bouncing on my bed. I couldn’t help but smile. I love this little girl. I love her more than I ever thought possible. And it looked like my do-gooder ways were rubbing off on her. “Maybe she could come here. I could show her my room.”

“I think it’s a great plan, Esme. I think that could be arranged.” I needed something from Melanie and I’m sure we could come to an agreement. One way or another she would help us. She’d been able to crack through Esme’s shell and I wasn’t going to let her shrink back inside, not when there was so much at stake—for both of us.

* * *

My afternoon plans were thrown off by an urgent call from Rachel. Documents had arrived from all the foundations of which I'm a board member. These were notifications of previously unannounced elections taking place at the end of the year. This didn’t happen. It never happened. It was every organization I belonged to, which set off the warning bells in my head. Something was going on.

“Rachel, I need you to get to the bottom of this. Figure out what’s going on and report back to me. I need to know who’s behind this.” I ended the call and stared out over the city, my hands shoved deep in my pockets. It was the place I’d called home for the past ten years. Home. The clouds on the horizon churned and brewed with something ominous and I needed to know what it was so I could put a stop to it. There was so much more at stake than money.

The massive amounts of money I threw at these organizations meant my seats had always been secure, until now. I closed myself up in my office, the familiar smells of wood and leather calmed me as I slid behind the desk I hated, and poured over the documents myself, looking for some indication of what might have pushed everyone to call these elections all at once. I knew who was behind it, but I still didn’t understand why. Losing a seat would completely screw over the plans I had for Esme and myself.

The door swung open and Esme came barreling in with her coloring books and crayons in hand.

“Can I color, daddy?” The pages of her coloring book rustled as she laid down in front of the large windows, everything fanned out in front of her.

“Of course.” Maybe I should just walk away from everything. Take her and go. No, I’d sacrificed so much already, I was at least going to make sure my little girl came out on the other end of this without a care in the world. She sat in the corner coloring as I flipped through folder after folder. She was perfectly content.

I needed to get out of this office, this building. In the breaks from worrying about what the loss of these seats might do, my mind drifted to Melanie.

“Hey Es, do you want to go see if Melanie is working right now?” I asked, standing up from my chair. Esme immediately perked up and ran to put on her coat. I grabbed the folders Rachel had delivered earlier off the desk. Now was the perfect time to let Melanie Bright know she would be working for me by the end of the day.