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“Ok so, help me out here. How does this tie to Allison Davis?” My eyes go back to the folder and I pull out her picture and study it. Her beautiful eyes, creamy skin. I can hear her laugh and her soft snores when she laid next to me at night. I feel that sharp pain again where my heart should be.
“That’s where this gets ugly. I need to do more digging but I think I got a twofer here.”
“Twofer?” I tilt my head to the side. He can’t see my puzzled look.
“We have been trying to close in on an underground adoption ring that has been going on for quite a few decades. But we can’t get close. Every single time we think we get close to ending it, the ring goes dark. Honestly, I think your girl is the key.” He sighs into the phone.
“How is she the key?” I lean back in my chair.
“Well, Mitch fucked up when he changed her information from Nicole back to Allison. This Evanston didn’t cover his tracks very well. It led me straight to him. When I looked at Evanston’s background, we unlocked so much that it gave it all away.” Fuller pauses. “She is Allison Davis. Stolen at birth. Birth mother, apparent suicide. No listed father on the birth certificate.”
“Okay, so where’s this leading?” I know he’s going somewhere with it. I sit up straighter, on pins and needles.
“Nicole Moore, stillborn. Parents: Richard and Lisa Moore. They didn’t want to do an adoption legally. Seems they had to come home with a baby. Elites and all. I think something else happened, to cause the baby to be still born.”
“Like what? He beat her, pushed her down the stairs or something?” I furrow my brows in question.
“Something like that. They did some shady ass shit to cover up at the hospital. Looks like some doctors got some of their debt cleared out that night. Pushed her, kicked her, whatever it was, the baby didn’t make it.”
“So they needed a coverup. They needed a baby.”
“Exactly. And they were far enough along in the pregnancy that they could buy a baby and no one would think anything of it. Death certificates were hidden, birth certificates falsified—“
I cut him off. “They stole Allison and renamed her Nicole. After the baby that didn’t make it.”
“Yeah. So she holds the key to unlocking this thing and breaking the adoption ring wide open. We can finally get to the people we have been trying to identify for years.” I can hear him typing on the keyboard.
I ask a question I’m not sure I want to know the answer to. “Who?” I stand from my desk, my body tense as I wait for the other shoe to drop. “Who’s behind all this, Fuller?”Please don’t be who I think it is.
“The Wakefields. More specifically, now that he has taken over daddy’s company, Mitchell Wakefield.”
Motherfucker.
Chapter 20
Zoey
After a restless night,I pull myself out of bed and head to the dingy bathroom. I flip on the light and stare at my red eyes and pale face. I turn on the faucet and let the water get hot. My hands rest on the counter, and I mentally will myself to try to get through today.
“Okay, you can do this. New day. New life. Find a new place to live.” I close my eyes tightly and shake my head. Just one day at a time. Yesterday was awful. The hurt in Ryker’s eyes … But today, I start new. Fresh. Or fake it till I make it at this point.
Once the water is hot enough, I throw some on my face. I pat my face dry, I pick up my toothbrush and brush my teeth. I look at the person staring back at me and wonder why this is all happening to me. No. No pity party. I can do this.
“Focus. Strong. I will get through all this bullshit.” I repeat that to myself in the mirror, over and over, willing it to be true. I close my eyes and exhale. I open them a second later and hope the pep talk is enough.
After I’m done in the bathroom, I head back over to the bed and sit on the lumpy mattress. I pick up my phone and check for any messages. Nothing. No calls, no messages. Just silence.
Sighing, I pull up the internet search engine and see if I can find a diner nearby. Castle Diner is just a block away, so I slip on my shoes and grab my purse. Once I’m outside, I turn and lock the door behind me.
When I turn around, I take a look at the town I came to yesterday. The leaves are falling off the trees that are in the parking lot of the motel. A slight breeze whips through my hair. I love fall, and it’s honestly my favorite time of the year. I take a deep breath and take in the fresh air, then head down the stairs and over to the sidewalk towards the diner.
As I get closer to the diner, I notice the same small-town busy street like in Weston. People stopping to greet each other and small storefronts that are mom-and-pop shops. They’re a little busier here on the main street, so this town must be a little bigger than Weston.
While I walk around, people grin at me and say hello. I give them all a small smile back out of politeness. When I make it up to the door, a gentleman coming out holds it open for me.
I nod. “Thank you.”
“Have a good day, ma’am,” he says.