LITMIR.BIZ

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his business colleagues. I stayed in the house until after Peyton was born, then Daddy wanted me to come back and live with him, but I…couldn’t.”

      Slade’s thick, dark brows furrowed. “Let me get this straight. He moved you to a different town and left you alone when you were pregnant and just a teenager?”

      Nina shrugged at the censure in his voice. “It was better that way. We weren’t exactly getting along back then.” She stroked the sides of her arms with her hands, shaking off the memories. “What about you? Where are you from?”

      Slade’s jaw tightened. “All around. My dad was in the military. He died in combat.”

      Nina wanted to soothe the anguish she heard beneath his calm veneer but sensed he wouldn’t welcome her touch, so she held herself back. “I’m sorry, Slade. How old were you?”

      He maneuvered around an eighteen-wheeler. “Thirteen.”

      “I’m sure that was difficult on everyone.”

      He made a grunting sound. “Yeah. Two years later my sister disappeared, and my mother totally lost it.”

      Just as she had when Peyton first went missing.

      But she hadn’t abandoned a second child who needed her. “And they left you to fend for yourself,” Nina said softly.

      Slade stiffened. “I was the man of the family,” he said. “I was supposed to take care of them and I failed.”

      “Slade…”

      “Drop it, Nina.” His expression warned her not to push. “Where does William live?”

      “Downtown. He bought a half-million-dollar condo directly across the street from his law office.”

      “He must be doing well.”

      “Yes. Losing Peyton wasn’t even a blip on the radar for him,” she said, fighting bitterness.

      He found a parking spot, parked and they climbed out and walked over to the condo complex. People clogged the sidewalk, walking to work; the coffee shop was overflowing with early-morning patrons and horns and traffic noises filled the air.

      They stepped into the entryway of the high-rise building, then stopped at the front desk to speak to security. “We’re here to see William Hood.”

      A middle-aged dark-haired woman greeted them. “Is Mr. Hood expecting you?”

      “No,” Slade said. “But it’s important.”

      Nina cleared her throat. “Just tell him that Nina Nash needs to see him.”

      The woman buzzed his condo, announced their arrival then spoke quietly into the headset. A second later, she turned back to them with a frown. “I’m sorry, but he says he doesn’t want to see you.”

      Slade slapped his hand on the counter. “Tell him he can talk to us now or we’ll be waiting at his office.”

      The woman’s brows rose, then she spoke into the headset again. This time curiosity lined her face when she glanced back up. “He’s in the penthouse.”

      Slade harrumphed. “Of course.”

      The woman frowned again as they made their way to the elevator. Nina’s stomach thrashed as the elevator carried them up, her ears popping as they climbed to the twenty-ninth floor. The doors finally swished open, and she swayed slightly. Silently Slade took her elbow and guided her to the door, then punched the doorbell.

      A snarling William opened the door dressed in a three-piece suit, his sandy-blond hair combed back from his forehead and set with gel, his blue eyes like ice chips. Looking at him compared to Slade made her wonder why she’d been stupid enough to give him her virginity.

      “Nina, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?” William barked. “Didn’t you understand my warning last night?”

      “Warning?” Slade asked in a lethal tone.

      Nina shifted. “William threatened to tell my coworkers at school that I’m crazy.”

      “Is that so?” Slade glared at William. “Well, I’m working for Nina now, Hood, and I don’t like bullies.”

      A vein throbbed in William’s forehead. “And I don’t like smarmy P.I.’s nosing into my business.”

      A nasty grin slid onto Slade’s face. “You don’t, huh? Well, you’d better get used to it, because I’m just getting started.” He shouldered his way past William into the foyer of the condo. “And no one, especially some skinny-assed lawyer, is going to stop me.”

      * * *

      SLADE GROUND HIS TEETH in an attempt to rein in his temper. He couldn’t tolerate any man who’d abandon his own child, and this man had rejected his before his baby had even been born.

      To think that Hood would use his money, status and weight to intimidate Nina infuriated him.

      If it were his own child and he were in Nina’s situation, he’d move hell and high water to find out the truth, just as she was.

      “Mister—”

      “Blackburn,” Slade cut in.

      “Either leave or I’m going to call security.”

      “William, please,” Nina interjected. “All we want is a few minutes.”

      William gave her a seething look. “There’s nothing to talk about, Nina. We’ve been over this a thousand times.”

      “You never wanted to have a child, did you?” Slade asked.

      William glared at him but drew a breath, adopting a professional mask that Slade was sure he used in court. Probably to free any lowlife slimeball who paid his salary.

      And judging from the condo and the pricey modern furnishings, he either had a lot of clients or his fees were enormous.

      Hood checked his Rolex. “Excuse me now, I have work to do.”

      Slade caught his arm. “First you’re going to answer some questions.”

      Hood jerked free of Slade, his suit jacket crinkling as he squared his shoulders. Finally he gave a labored sigh. “Five minutes.”

      The temptation to hit the bastard was so strong, Slade rolled his hands into fists. “What makes you so sure that your baby died in the fire in Sanctuary?”

      A cold look settled in Hood’s eyes. “If you’d seen that explosion, the chaos, the debris…you’d know there’s no way that anyone left inside survived.” He paused. “And Nina and the sheriff certainly questioned everyone at the hospital.”

      “Maybe not,” Slade said. “You’re a lawyer. Kidnappings happen in hospitals all the time. Can you honestly say that it wasn’t possible for someone to have carried your baby outside and disappeared with her?”

      For the briefest of moments, Slade saw Hood’s mind working, saw the hesitation in his eyes, a moment where he actually considered the possibility. But it quickly disappeared, and the uncaring façade returned, his skepticism firmly tucked in place.

      “Even if it were possible, it didn’t happen,” Hood said. “According to the police, every other baby was accounted for. The unit exploded before the rescue workers could save Nina’s child.”

      “She was your child, too,” Slade pointed out.

      Beside him, he felt Nina’s wave of pain as if it had washed through him. But she didn’t react. In fact, he admired the way she maintained her composure.

      “Nina and I came to an agreement before the child was born,” Hood said sharply.

      Slade gave a sarcastic laugh. “You came to an agreement? You mean you acted like a spoiled, selfish prick and declared that you didn’t want the child.”

      “I

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