Unbreakable Bond & The Missing Twin. Rita Herron
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Unbreakable Bond & The Missing Twin - Rita Herron страница 18
Название: Unbreakable Bond & The Missing Twin
Автор: Rita Herron
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon M&B
isbn: 9781474033329
isbn:
Grief swelled inside her at the realization that she and her father would never get along. Never be close.
She had disappointed him.
But he had disappointed her, too.
He was the one person she’d thought would have had faith in her. But he hadn’t trusted in her when she’d needed him most.
She spun around and walked out of the office, knowing she’d never be back.
* * *
REBECCA DANGLED HER FEET below the swing, pumping her legs hard to make the swing move back and forth. She was too short to touch the ground, and her legs were weak so it took a bunch of tries, but finally the swing moved.
She didn’t care if the kids laughed at her.
She would learn to pump herself even if they teased her until school was out. When her mommy came to get her, she was going to show her everything she’d learned.
A black car drove by the fence near the parking lot, and someone rolled down the window. The sun nearly blinded her, and she scrunched her nose, her glasses slipping down.
But someone in the car pushed a camera out the window and began to snap pictures.
Her stomach spasmed. Why were strangers watching the school? She’d heard other foster kids talk about the news and how kids went missing every day.
That men stole them and did mean things to them, and the kids never came back.
She jumped from the swing to go tell the teacher, but she stumbled again and her knee hit the ground. A big boy with a ball cap on laughed, and she frowned at him as she tried to get up.
Then the flash of the camera blinded her once more. When she finally could see again, the boy had run off and she was alone on the playground.
Alone except for the man in the car watching her… Was he one of the bad men the other fosters talked about?
CHAPTER SEVEN
QUESTIONS AND DOUBTS assailed Slade as they left Raleigh and headed back toward Sanctuary. Nash had seemed sincere in his concern for Nina.
But his condescending attitude had irritated the hell out of him.
Even though Nina had put on a brave face, hurt had laced her voice when she’d stood up to her father.
If anyone should have believed her, her own father should have. So why hadn’t he?
Nina might be slightly obsessed over finding the truth about her daughter, but she didn’t seem irrational or delusional. She also didn’t appear to be taking drugs as her father had suggested.
And dammit, he understood her single-minded focus and the reason she’d asked questions. Obsession had driven him to keep looking for his sister until he’d located her. And although he hadn’t liked the outcome, at least he had closure. And his sister had received a decent burial.
Nina deserved to have closure, too.
Considering the fact that Nina was the only one who’d wanted the child, that left plenty of suspects. All who had means, motive and opportunity.
Her father. William Hood. Hood’s mother.
Any one of them could have paid someone to kidnap the baby.
But they couldn’t have predicted that the fire would break out the night Nina had delivered. Still, Nina’s father and Hood might have come to the hospital when the baby was born, and jumped on the opportunity.
He frowned and maneuvered around traffic. And Hood’s wife, Mitzi, topped his suspect list. Mitzi was upset about Nina’s pregnancy. What if she’d been afraid William would change his mind after the baby was born and decide he wanted Nina and his daughter in his life?
Would she have been desperate enough to steal the baby?
Hood’s mother was an even bigger question mark in his mind. She’d tried to bribe Nina to have an abortion. Had she kidnapped the baby so she wouldn’t have to live with the stigma of an illegitimate child in the family? Or maybe she’d been worried that Nina might demand money. The baby would have had legal rights to the Hood fortune….
* * *
NINA STARED AT THE passing scenery, desperately trying to wrestle control over her ping-ponging emotions. She would not behave like the delusional psychotic her father and William had described.
“Nina?
She braced herself for Slade to announce he was dropping the case. “What?”
Slade slanted her a sideways look as he changed lanes. “Did your father come to the hospital when the baby was born?”
Fresh pain squeezed her heart. “The doctor called him. He was on his way when I went in to have the C-section.”
“Did he see the baby?”
Emotions threatened to choke her as she remembered the harrowing birth. “No.” She rubbed her temple in thought. “He didn’t arrive until later, after the fire had broken out.”
Slade twisted his mouth sideways. “What about Hood or any of his family members? Did they come to the hospital?”
She heaved a breath. “It may sound crazy after the way William treated me, but I did call him when I went into labor. I thought he had a right to know that his daughter was about to be born, that he might change his mind when he saw her.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “But he didn’t?”
“No. He ordered me to sign the papers and give her away, and not to ever bother him again.”
“Cold son of a bitch,” Slade muttered.
His comment eased some of the tension knotting her shoulders. “I remember thinking that myself. How could anyone be so unfeeling about their own child?”
A heartbeat of silence passed between them. “I don’t know either,” he said in a gruff voice. “But that apathy gives him motive.”
“Does that mean that you’re not dropping the investigation?”
The air vibrated with uncertainty and questions. “No, I’m not dropping it,” he said. “I may not find the answers you want, but I am a man of my word, and I will get you answers.”
* * *
SLADE REQUIRED VERY little sleep, but food was a different story. He pulled into the diner in town for a late lunch before heading to the hospital. He wanted to question the nurse on duty the night Nina had given birth.
It was way past the lunch hour, and the diner was nearly deserted, so they slid into СКАЧАТЬ