The Mommy Mystery by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online

drove over there to talk to Salvador Franks, the head of the clinic. He didn’t want to tell me who’d gotten the embryo, but I said if he didn’t I’d sue him into bankruptcy. That’s when I learned Gabrielle here was the one who got it.”
    Houston groaned and pushed his hands against the sides of his head. “You knew? All this time you knew?”
    He took the words right out of her mouth. But she already knew the answer. Mack had indeed known, practically since the moment she’d become pregnant.
    But the question was, what had he done about it?
    “Why the hell didn’t you tell Gabrielle or me?” Houston demanded.
    “I couldn’t tell you because you would have gone to her and spilled everything.” Mack got to his feet. “I knew she hated you. I thought she might do something to end the pregnancy.”
    “Never,” Gabrielle snapped.
    And she wouldn’t have. But she would have liked the time to come to terms with what had happened. She’d planned the entire pregnancy around a donor embryo and figured she would never know the identity of the couple who had given her such a precious gift. And that was exactly the way Gabrielle had wanted it.
    Mack aimed his index finger at her. “You say that now, but you would have been riled to the core to learn about the screwup at Cryogen.”
    Riled, yes. But not riled enough to end the pregnancy. She’d planned this pregnancy for years.
    “Salvador Franks and I worked out a deal,” Mack added. “He agreed not to tell anyone about Gabrielle getting the wrong embryo. Now SAPD is investigating the whole damn thing, and Franks is trying to cover his butt. I figure he’s putting the blame on Gabrielle.”
    She looked at Houston, and his gaze slowly came to hers. There. She saw it: the shock and the hurt. He wasn’t faking that, and that meant he probably hadn’t known about any of this before now.
    That didn’t help.
    It only meant Houston was another wounded party in all of this, but it didn’t change the fact that she had indeed given birth to his and his late wife’s son.
    “You planned to buy off Gabrielle,” Houston stated, turning a glare to his father. “You thought you could buy the baby from her.”
    “Well, after she defended her worthless brother the way she did, I didn’t think she was a woman of principle,” Mack answered. “I figured I could offer her enough money to hand over the baby to us.”
    Houston was as obviously stunned as she was, because they both just stood there and listened.
    “That’s why I’ve been following her,” Mack continued. “Or trying to, anyway. That woman’s like a cat with nine lives. She kept getting away from me. But I learned that SAPD had done DNA tests on the babies after that hostage mess, and I figured it was a matter of time beforethe cops figured out the boy was yours. Then, I knew I could bargain with Gabrielle.”
    So it hadn’t been her imagination, as Houston had suggested. Someone had followed her since she’d left the hospital. That twisted the knot in Gabrielle’s stomach even more.
    “There’s not enough money in the world to make me give up my baby to you or anyone else,” Gabrielle told him.
    She blinked back the tears, turned and hurried toward the door. She had to get out of there and back to Lucas.
    “The boy belongs to Houston,” Mack shouted out to her. “He’s a Sadler and should be here with us.”
    Mack added something else, but Gabrielle couldn’t make out his words. However, she could hear the footsteps behind her. It was no doubt Houston. But she didn’t care to speak to him, either.
    She started to sprint toward the front door. Her car was seriously damaged, but somehow it’d have to get her away from the ranch and back to San Antonio.
    Gabrielle made it all the way to the foyer before Houston latched on to her arm and whirled her around to face him. The tears were blurring her vision but not enough that she couldn’t see his stunned expression. It was identical to the one