Page 17

Sofia gripped the steering wheel. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. I hit a patch of ice and shot off a precipice and into a canyon. But I'm fine."

Some of Sofia's tension eased. "A canyon? Really? And you're fine?"

"Yep. The car isn't, though. But it was crap anyway, so now we can get a new one."

"You won't get to drive it. You're grounded forever. Plus a day." She pulled into the parking lot of a roadside tavern so she could focus on the conversation.

"It's your fault for springing that news on me like that. I'm a fragile teenager."

Sofia started to smile, relieved to hear her daughter's sassy tone. She really was all right. "Where are you? Did you call a tow truck?"

"No, actually. A nice lady and her brother found me. He used a winch to pull me up out of the bottomless crevasse, but the car is still down there."

Oh, God. "Where are you now?"

"In his truck. I think he's giving me a ride. Why? Where are you?"

Sofia's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "You're in a stranger's truck?" Dear God. "Gabby. Have him drop you off at the first store you see. Get out."

"No. He's handsome and nice. I'm going with him. It'll be fine. I'm sure he won't rape and murder me."

"Gabriella!"

"Give me the phone, Gabby." A man's voice drifted over the phone. "Stop torturing her."

"Gabby! Put him on." Sofia was going to make sure he was too scared to harm a hair on her baby's head. "Let me talk to him."

"Fine. Okay. Here."

The man's voice became clearer. "Hello—"

"Who are you? I need your name, address, and license plate. I have a tracking device implanted in my daughter. I will find you and hunt you down if you hurt her—"

"Sascha."

She stopped, frozen, as the deep voice hit a chord inside her that hadn't been alive in almost seventeen years. "What did you just call me?"

"Sascha. It's Keegan Hart. She's with me."

Sofia closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the steering wheel, her heart suddenly pounding out of control. "Keegan?" Her voice was rough and raw, her throat so tight she could barely talk. He remembered her? Dear God. He remembered her. All these years, she'd convinced herself that she'd been nothing more than an immemorable blip in his glorious life…but she'd been wrong.

"Yeah." There was a long pause. "How are you, Sascha?" His voice wrapped around her, pouring into every cell in her body. "You doing all right?"

"I'm good," she whispered. "What about you?"

"Good. I just found out I'm a dad. That's always a big day in a guy's life."

Oh, crap. Gabby hadn't wasted any time, had she? What could Sofia say to that? Apologize? Explain what she couldn’t explain? Thank him for not tossing her daughter out? "First time dad?"

Holy crap. Had she really just said that? Made a freaking joke? There were probably a billion meaningful, emotional, heart-felt things she could have said, that she should have said, but instead, she made a joke?

There was another long pause as he apparently processed her blithe comment. "Yep," he finally said. "I'm guessing she's getting the car keys taken away from her? I want to be on the same page. No divide and conquer."

"Hey!" Gabby protested.

"No keys," Sofia agreed. "Right."