Hold on to Me by Elisabeth Naughton Read Free Book Online

She pressed shaky fingers to her temples and told herself to stay calm. Focus on the most important things. Like where the hell she and Shannon were going to go. Maybe they should head north, to Washington, or perhaps northeast, toward Montana. Shannon probably wouldn’t mind seeing snow again.
    God, Simone hated snow.
    Thoughts spun out of control as she forced her feet up the stairs. She wasn’t going to sleep again tonight, she could already tell. Every second she stayed here was one more second they were closer to finding her. And she wasn’t about to let that happen.
    She stopped at Shannon’s bedroom door, cracked it open an inch, and gently pushed. The heavy wood creaked, and she peaked inside. Her daughter lay curled under a pile of blankets, so many Simone couldn’t even see that telltale red hair that was just like her father’s.
    A sigh escaped her lips. Shannon was still so mad at her. They hadn’t talked much since she’d picked Shannon up from Ryan and Kate’s, and she knew her daughter was hurting over the fact Mitch had cut and run, but Simone couldn’t do anything about that now. Someday, though, hopefully, Shannon would understand why she’d done everything. Someday maybe Mitch would too.
    She pushed thoughts of the man who’d distracted her way too much over the last few months from her mind and crossed soundlessly to Shannon’s queen-size bed. The mattress sagged when she sat, and love for a daughter she’d never even wanted warmed the cold space in her chest.
    “I love you, Nannon,” she said softly, using the nickname Steve had given Shannon because she hadn’t been able to say her own name until she was three. “Even if you don’t think I do. We have to stick together, baby. Everything always turns out okay when we do.”
    She ran her hand over the lump beneath the covers. But instead of the hard shoulder she expected to touch, her hand sank into softness.
    “What the…?” She tugged the blanket back and stared down at a lump of pillows.
    A gasp ripped from her chest, and Simone pushed to her feet. Scenarios—mostly bad—filled her mind.
    They'd been here. They'd taken her daughter. Panic dragged the air from her chest. She'd wasted valuable time at the office when she should have just grabbed Shannon and run.
    A shimmer of white on the floor caught her attention, and she stopped feet from the door. Leaning forward, she picked up the folded sheet of paper and opened it.
    Her daughter’s curvy handwriting was scrawled across the page. A sixteen-digit number was separated into four groups. A credit card number, she realized. Followed by an expiration date. And below that, times. One next to the word “out.” The other beside “fairy.”
    Her chest rose and fell with her quick breaths while she tried to make sense of what she was reading. Fairy…fairy… Shannon was a terrible speller. Had she meant to write ferry?
    Oh holy God…
    She was running away? Because she was so miserable? Because Simone was such a horrible mother? No, that couldn’t be. Simone stared at the number again. She didn’t recognize it, which meant it wasn’t hers. And Shannon didn’t even know how to use a credit card. Besides, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to run off by herself right now when they were packing to move, not without…
    Everything inside Simone went cold. And in her mind, links clicked into place.
    Not without help.

    “D id you hear that?” Kate lifted her head from the pillow and looked toward the door.
    Beside her, Ryan tossed a leg over her thigh and wrapped his hand around her waist. “I don’t hear anything. But since you woke me at this hour…”
    He nuzzled her neck and pressed his rapidly growing erection against her hip. Tingles spread through Kate’s entire body, but the banging from somewhere downstairs overrode her simmering desire. She pushed against his shoulder. “That. You heard it that time, didn’t you?”
    He stilled, lifted his head. When it happened again,