LITMIR.BIZ

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a man.

      Tucked against him, she could only hold on as they turned over and over against the ground. Pain stabbed across her back and she yelled, even as she felt the heat of the flames on her face. Smoke choked the clean air from her lungs. The night sky flashed orange and they came to a stop.

      Emergency sirens filled the air and people yelled. Boots pounded the ground to where they lay. Elise lifted her chin until she could see Jonah’s face. He didn’t say anything. He just stared down at her, a mix of disbelief and some of the warmth she remembered.

      “Hi, Jonah.”

      The warmth dissipated. “Now you’re going to acknowledge me?”

      It was like being doused with ice water. “There was a bomb.” Hadn’t that been more important than their reunion? It’d been more important than the pain on her back.

      Elise pushed away from him. She’d thought they were having a moment, but apparently not. The movement took her breath away.

      He got up. “Are you okay?”

      She shut her eyes and lay back, sucking air through her nose. How hard had that guy hit her? The world rotated and she put her hand to her forehead. She didn’t want Jonah feeling sorry for her out of guilt, but he already knew she was hurt. What was the point in pretending?

      “What happened, Elise? Why were you on the floor? What are you even doing here?”

      Elise opened her eyes. “Someone in the office. Hit in the back. Job.”

      He frowned. “You’re the new zookeeper?”

      Two EMTs ran up, setting bulky bags beside her. Elise tried to answer their questions. It was hard to find a single thought, let alone string two together. All the while Jonah stood there.

      People walked up and spoke to him, uniformed cops and stern-faced men—and one woman—with silver star-shaped badges on their hips.

      Jonah nodded to them. “Yes. Get on that.”

      The badge people all strode off.

      From the look of things, Jonah was someone important. His blond hair was still military short, highlighting his high-set cheekbones and steel-gray eyes. That much remained of the guy she’d known, his features so much like his brother’s. The same features bequeathed to her son, so that she’d had to see them every single day of Nathan’s life, forced to remember everything she’d lost.

      Jonah’s T-shirt was overlaid with a black bulletproof vest. The gun on his hip and the badge on his belt only solidified the air of authority he’d always carried. Even in high school, years before he joined the marines, he’d been that way.

      She lifted her eyes to his face, to where the man who had once been her best friend, her husband’s brother, now stared angrily down at her.

      Nathan’s uncle.

      Why had she thought she could escape the reckoning that was only inevitable when Jonah found out he had a nephew? Maybe it was the real reason she was here—more than just Nathan’s college tuition. Her son did need to know his relatives.

      Or Jonah, at least. His mom—Nathan’s grandma—was a different story. As was Elise’s mom, and her brother.

      Jonah shook his head. “What on earth is going on, Elise? I was chasing Fix—”

      “My brother?”

      Jonah sighed. “He ran into the zoo and disappeared, and then I found you on the floor.” He swiped his hands down his face.

      Fix had always been wild. Quick to break any rule imposed upon him. But he’d still been her brother, and being estranged from both him and her mother all these years didn’t stop Elise from feeling the pang of grief knowing he was a criminal.

      Fix had to be in big trouble if cops were after him.

      If it wasn’t for the influence of the Rivers brothers—Jonah and his brother, her husband, Martin—Elise might very well have ended up walking the same path as Fix.

       But for the grace of God.

      Every single part of her past had intruded today. She half expected Jonah’s mother to walk in the zoo any moment now, just so she could look disapprovingly at Elise one more time.

      Elise shook off the bizarre thought and said, “There was a man in the office, but it wasn’t Fix. He stole my keys and some files.” It made no sense. “The gate doesn’t even lock, and he took my keys.”

      Jonah crouched beside her. “Did the man you saw plant this bomb?”

      The EMT jerked, as though hearing the word spoken aloud was entirely different from witnessing an explosion.

      “If he did, it was before he searched the place.” She waited a moment for her brain to catch up. “I’m surprised there was even anything in the office to find, given how much of a mess this place is in. Nathan went...” The breath left her lungs in a rush.

      Jonah frowned. He looked like he was waiting for her to finish.

      Elise looked around. Where was Nathan? He must have seen the explosion. And there were cops everywhere.

      A man called out, “Hey, Jonah. I think your radio is busted. We found this kid hanging around.”

      Elise craned her neck to look while Jonah strode toward two marshals walking Nathan between them. Her son’s hands were pulled behind his back.

      She grabbed the EMT’s arm. “Help me up.” He looked at her like she was crazy, but Elise ignored it as she pulled on his shoulder. He raised her to her feet. Trying not to breathe so much that it hurt, she strode over to the marshals holding her son. “Let him go.”

      “Elise—” Jonah held out a hand, halting her when she would have gone to Nathan. “Stay out of this. Unless you’re going to tell me it has something to do with your brother.”

      Eyes on Jonah, Elise pointed a finger at her son, showing Jonah the stern mom face that made Nathan listen even when he didn’t want to clean his room. “You let him go.”

      Jonah said, “Elise—”

      “Mom, they think I planted a bomb.” Her son’s voice wavered.

      Jonah’s eyes flashed wide. “Mom?”

      Who else did Jonah think the kid belonged to? It shouldn’t have been that much of a stretch. They both had the same build, the same steel-gray eyes.

      “Nathan and I don’t have anything to do with your search for my brother.” There was no way she would let this new cop version of Jonah tie them up in his business. “We arrived in town this morning. The fact we’re here tonight is only a coincidence. We have nothing to do with my brother, or what happened here. Let. Him. Go.”

      * * *

      Jonah looked from Elise, to the teen and back. Steeling himself for the answer, he said, “Is this your son?”

      She nodded.

      “Is he my nephew?”

      The team as a whole shifted in reaction to his question, though Jonah didn’t think anyone but someone who worked with them day in and day out would have noticed their reaction.

      No one moved. Surrounded by his coworkers, cops and emergency services personnel he knew and who knew him, Jonah waited for Elise to finally tell him the whole truth.

      It seemed like an eternity of agony before Elise said, “Yes.”

      Tears filled her eyes. Jonah couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had a nephew he hadn’t even known about? First, Elise had walked out days after Martin’s funeral—before Jonah had even managed to get home. Now he was finding out she’d been pregnant?

      Why hadn’t she ever bothered to tell him she’d had Martin’s baby? Never told his mom she was a grandma?

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