Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“So what if they do?” Angelina raised her chin. She tried and failed to sound imperious. “That doesn’t mean anything. Just because you’re Nathan’s biological mother. It doesn’t mean your story is true. Maybe the state had to take him from you, and now you think you can con us into getting him back.”
“How dare—?!”
“Please,” River cut in. “I know this is hard to believe, but we didn’t come here to upset you. We came to tell you the truth. Marie lost her home, her family, her friends, her freedom, and her son. You’re a mother, Mrs. Forbis. I think that you”—River flicked to those photographs—“understand the pain of losing a child.
“Can you really look into another mother’s eyes and tell her to give up? To walk away from her son after she thought he was lost forever? I can tell that you’re not cruel people. You’d never ask Marie to live another second with that pain.”
Angelina tried to hold our gaze, her eyes welling. Bursting into tears, she ran from the room.
I thought Mr. Forbis would go after her, but he didn’t move. I wasn’t certain if he was breathing.
“What about our pain?” he croaked. “What about what you’re asking us to do? You’re strangers who came into our home to tell us our life is a lie.”
“We didn’t invade your lives with a lie,” I said. “Luca Adams did that. You’re a victim of him just like Jake, Marie, and all those women and children.”
He shook his head and a tear flew off his nose. “We don’t know a Luca. No one by that name had anything to do with Nathan’s adoption. Why can’t you see that you have the wrong family?”
“I know my son,” Marie cried, motioning to a photograph. “He is Jake.”
Mr. Forbis didn’t seem to have heard her.
“Just because Adams was smart enough not to let anyone see his face, doesn’t mean he isn’t behind this,” I said. “Can you tell us more about the adoption agency? How did he make it look real?”
“It is real,” Maurice insisted. “It’s called Sunflower Adoption Agency. It’s a real office with a waiting room, a receptionist, and a kind, young woman who helped us adopt Nathan. Nothing about it was suspicious.”
“Sunshine Adoption Agency,” River repeated. “Do you have a card or a number?”
“Yes! Yes, I do.” Maurice rushed to the end table and riffled through the drawer. He came away with a white and yellow business card that he thrust in River’s face. “Do you see? Our son was not kidnapped.”
River looked to me. “Sienna?”
I already had my phone out and dialing. “We’re sorry. The number you have reached has been disconnected. Please hang up and—”
“The number is disconnected.”
“No, that can’t be,” Maurice said. “You dialed it wrong.”
We sat silently while Maurice called the Sunshine Agency again. And again. And again.
On the fifth try and fail, he collapsed on the chair—bloodless lips shaking.
“What about the young woman who placed Jake with you?” River gently pushed. “She can clear this all up for us. If she has the connections to Child Protective Services and willing birth mothers that she should have, they’ll vouch for her.”
Maurice raised his head. Hope returned to his eyes, and it smashed my heart to pieces. I had to remember River wasn’t doing this because he wanted to. He was trying to return a child to his mother. It killed me two loving people would be hurt in the process.
Digger did this. I only hope there’s fire in the spiritual plane that got dumped with his soul.
“Of course. Katherine— No, Kathleen,” Maurice said. “Kathleen was amazing. We loved her and so did Nathan. She even kept in touch for a few months after the adoption was finalized to make sure he was settling in okay. Does that sound like a kidnapper to you?”
Yep. It sounds like a smart one that got away with selling twenty-three kids.
“Look. I’ll show you.” Maurice got up and left the room.
Marie deflated. She held so tight to my hand, she cut off the blood to my fingers. “This is hopeless. They were never going to let Jake go without a fight. We have to call the police.”
“It might come to that,” River said. “We—”
“See here.” Maurice returned holding a frame. “Kathleen was a friend to us and a godsend to many children—including our son. Does that look like the face of a child-trafficking monster?”
Maurice showed us the picture. I took one look and my slack fingers slipped out of Marie’s hand.
“Oh, no...” The words stole off my tongue.
“Sienna?” River asked. “What’s wrong?”
Staring back at us were Mr. Forbis, Mrs. Forbis, little Jake, and the beaming woman hugging his shoulders.
“I know exactly who that woman is,” I rasped. “And her name is not Kathleen.”
MACKENZIE
I was moving. A steady thump, thump, thump assaulted my ears, forcing me from a peaceful, dreamless sleep.