Unbreakable Bond & The Missing Twin: Unbreakable Bond / The Missing Twin

Hell, he’d already said too much. And she was looking at him with such compassion that emotions he’d long thought buried pummeled him.

No. He couldn’t, wouldn’t blurt out the rest.

“You don’t want to know.” He cleared his throat. “But think long and hard about this, Nina,” he said gruffly. “What will you do if we investigate and find out that your baby did die in that fire? Are you prepared for that reality?”

* * *

NINA’S CHEST ACHED from trying to maintain control. Slade’s question threatened to shatter that control.

Was she prepared? How would she respond if he discovered that Peyton really had died? All these years she’d lived on the belief that her little girl was out there needing and wanting her.

“How can I not find out the truth?” she finally said. “I need closure, Mr. Blackburn.”

“Slade,” he said automatically. “And are you sure it’s closure you want? She might be gone forever.”

Pain rocked through her, but she cloaked herself in the coat of armor she’d donned years ago. She would survive no matter what. “I realize that, but not knowing is no way to live.”

He studied her with such an intensity that she was tempted to squirm. But she refused to show weakness or he might decide she was the nutcase her father and Dr. Emery thought.

He gave a brisk nod. “All right. But what if someone did kidnap your baby, and she’s been adopted and is now happy? What will you do then?”

She had considered that theory, but somehow in her heart she knew that wasn’t the case. “She needs me,” she said simply. “I’m her mother. I feel it.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You have to consider every scenario, Nina. What if she has loving parents and doesn’t know anything about you? What if she has a family that she loves?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly, honestly. “I guess I’ll cross that bridge when, or if, we come to it. But I am her mother and I deserve to know where she is.”

“Fair enough.” Slade nodded, then released her hand.

Odd how she hadn’t leaned on anyone in years, but for a moment, she’d felt as if she had someone on her side now.

Someone she trusted. And after her father’s and William’s betrayals, she’d never trust anyone again.

* * *

SLADE HAD HIS WORK cut out for him. Even though Nina insisted she could handle the truth, no matter what he discovered, he understood the emotional roller-coaster ride involved in looking for a missing child. The toll it took could be dangerous.

His mother certainly hadn’t survived the ride.

And judging from Nina’s fragile looks, she’d been surviving on hope for years. If he stripped that hope, she might crash and burn just as his mother had.

Then again, beneath that tenderness, she was stubborn. Determined. And he also understood the torture not knowing caused.

She licked her lips, drawing his attention to her mouth, and a foreign feeling bled through him, one he didn’t want. He itched to draw her tiny hand back into his, kiss it and promise her that he would make things right.

His body reacted, hardened, betraying his better sense and reminding him that his libido wasn’t dead after all. Geesh, a fine time for it to burst back to life.

Fortunately she didn’t seem to notice.

“Where do we start?” she asked.

Reining in his sudden bout of lust, he forced his mind back to the case. “I’ll put out some feelers across the States, search the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website, check into adoptions that occurred around the time of the fire. I’ll question nurses, hospital staff and other locals at the scene that night.” He hesitated. “I’ll also have to question your father, and William Hood and his family.”

“They won’t be happy that I’ve opened this up again,” Nina said.

Slade shrugged. He already didn’t like her father or the Hoods. “I don’t give a damn who I piss off, Nina. I’m on the case now, and I will find out exactly what happened to your baby girl.”

He just hoped to hell she could handle the truth when he did.

CHAPTER THREE

FATIGUE FROM DREDGING up the past pulled at Nina, but hope fluttered wildly in her chest. Slade would be opening up old wounds between her and her father, and her and the Hoods, but she’d survived their disdain before and she would again.

At least someone was finally going to ask questions.

“Does your father live in town?” Slade asked.

“No, he’s in Raleigh.” She gave him her father’s contact information, including his work number at the bank. “I’m out of school for the summer and want to accompany you when you talk to him.”

He arched a brow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

No, but she wanted to see her father’s reaction. “I can handle it.”

He gave a clipped nod. “What about William and his family?”

“They’re in Winston-Salem. William took over his father’s law practice there.”

Slade jotted down the name of the firm, then ran his hand through his hair. “What was the name of the doctor who delivered your baby?”

Fresh pain burned her stomach at the mere mention of his name. The delivery had been harrowing enough, but he had been a strong proponent of adoption. “Dr. Don Emery.”

“Does he still live and practice in Sanctuary?”

“Yes, I think so, although I haven’t seen him in months. I tried to talk to him several times, but like everyone else, he encouraged me to move on.”

Slade’s mouth tightened slightly. “I know this is difficult, but think back to the night of the delivery and the day after. Did you notice anything strange, anyone suspicious at the hospital?”

“God, I was so scared that night and was in such a panic, that I don’t remember much. Just that I knew my baby was coming too early, and that I was afraid for her.”

“You were in labor?”

She nodded. “I’d developed complications. They rushed me to the operating room and took her immediately.” Her heart quickened at the memory. “She wasn’t breathing at first, and they had to give her oxygen. She was so tiny and weak that I didn’t know if she’d make it…”

His eyes held compassion as she paused to pull herself together.

“What about the next day? Did you notice someone watching the nursery, looking at the babies?”

Nina massaged her temple as she struggled to force the details of the hospital stay to the surface. “Not that I recall.”