Unbreakable Bond by Rita Herron Read Free Book Online

wives and families…three wives left alone now because of him.
    His sister dead.
    His mother gone.
    He’d failed them all.
    He would not fail Nina Nash.
    Her story echoed in his head as he punched and slammed his fists into the bag, over and over, venting his anger over his own past and the anguish he’d heard in her voice.
    But you might fail her, a voice taunted. You might because she wants you to find her daughter alive.
    And you might discover she really is dead.
    He slammed the bag so hard it swung back wildly, then came toward him and he punched it again. Again and again and again until sweat poured down his back and face, until his body ached and blood oozed from beneath the gloves.
    Finally, when he’d purged his anger, he ripped off the gloves, went to the bathroom, showered then booted up his computer. He nuked a slice of leftover pizza and wolfed it down with a bottle of vitamin water while he searched news reports regarding infants’ and children’s deaths reported during the past eight years.
    He specifically searched for any cases regarding premature births or babies found dead following the hospital fire.
    Three different cases caught his eye, one baby who’d been found in a Dumpster two weeks to the day after Peyton had gone missing.
    Â 
    N INA JERKED AWAKE , the sound of the little girl’s singing echoing in her head.
    The angelic voice… A song from Mary Poppins…
    It had to belong to her daughter.
    Or was she imagining it as the therapist had said? Creating a voice that she thought her daughter might sound like and playing it in her head because she couldn’t bear to let her go?
    She closed her eyes and burrowed beneath the quilt, willing herself to fall back asleep so she could hear the voice again. Sometimes, the little voice sounded so close that it seemed the child was in the room with her.Sometimes, she knew that if she slept long enough, she would see her face in her dreams, that maybe Peyton could tell her where she was so she could find her.
    Instead of the beautiful little girl’s song though, William’s threat reverberated in her head. Dr. Emery had wasted no time in calling him. He’d probably phoned her father, as well.
    They’d probably all sighed and made sympathetic noises and lamented over her mental state. For all she knew, they were planning another intervention to convince her to check herself back into the loony bin.
    She would not go back there. She wasn’t crazy or demented.
    She was simply a mother who needed to find her child.
    A noise startled her, and she clenched the covers, certain she’d heard someone outside. The wind whistled, a tree limb scraped her window and an animal howled somewhere in the distance.
    She sighed, willing herself to calm down.
    She couldn’t lapse into paranoia again, not the way she had after she’d lost Peyton.
    But another noise, a creaking sound on the front porch, sent her vaulting up from bed. Outside, thunder rumbled, and the trees shook violently, the sound of rain splattering the windowpanes, making a staticky sound like drums beating in the night.
    She grabbed her robe, tied it around her waist and tiptoed to the den, shivering as the air conditioner kicked on. Darkness bathed the room, but a streak of lightning flashed in a jagged line and she froze, her heart pounding.
    Had she seen someone on her porch? The silhouette of a shadow?
    Fear surged through her, and she reached for the phone.
    But the times when she’d called the sheriff flashed back. The way he’d dismissed her fears and ordered her to get some help, then claimed she was inventing shadows in the night.
    His calls to her father…the never-ending cycle of his disdainful looks…
    She dropped the phone in its cradle, grabbed the umbrella from the stand by the door then slipped the edge of the curtain sheer aside and searched the darkness.
    Rain pounded the roof and porch, running in rivulets