Page 40 of Noel Secrets

Inside, Jayda sat on the bunk, Ginny beside her, one hand wrapped tight around Jayda’s trembling fingers. The twins weren’t there.

Michael froze. “Where are the kids?”

“With Ed in the next car,” Ginny said quickly. Then she patted the bed. “Sit. We’re going to talk.”

Michael blinked. Talk? Now? He’d just fought mobsters, nearly lost Jayda, and Ginny wanted tochitchat?

But his mother’s eyes flashed with that familiar maternal command, and Michael obeyed, sinking to the bunk across from them.

Ginny folded her arms. “I don’t know what game you two are playing, but enough. Jayda, you’ve rejected us over and over, but I just found you kissing my son. So, which is it? What game are you playing here?”

Jayda’s face flushed crimson. Her lips parted to answer, but Michael cut in, leaning forward. “It was my fault. I pushed it. Don’t blame her.”

But Jayda shook her head. “No. Michael, stop. She’s right.” She turned to Ginny, voice breaking. “I owe you the truth. I’msorry. For all the ways I turned my back on your love. I always felt guilty for letting myself forget my birth mother, like it was a betrayal to let you take her place.”

Ginny’s face softened instantly. She clasped Jayda’s hand tighter. “Oh, sweetheart. I never wanted to take her place. I wanted only to give you a home. A place where you were loved.”

Tears filled Jayda’s eyes, spilling down her flushed cheeks.

Ginny looked at Michael then, her eyes sharper than any knife. “But my son. He did everything he could to push you away. So tell me, Michael—what’s changed?”

Michael’s throat closed. He tried to look away, but Ginny’s stare demanded truth.

“Nothing,” he said finally, voice raw. “Nothing’s changed. I wanted Jayda to have a place she could be loved. Except…I think I always loved her in a different way. One that you wouldn’t have been happy about.”

Ginny and Jayda both went still.

Michael turned fully to Jayda, his heart racing, but before he could make sense of his words, a scream shattered the air.

“Help! Someone help me!”

They all bolted upright.

Caroline’s voice ripped down the hall, frantic and raw. “My baby—oh, God, Simon’s dead! He’s dead!”

Michael flew out of the cabin, Jayda and Ginny on his heels. They shoved into Simon’s room to find Caroline crouched over the bed, her hands shaking over his still body.

Simon lay sprawled with a single bullet hole in his forehead.

Michael staggered back. “No…”

“Someone shot him!” Caroline shrieked.

Michael whirled. “Stay here—I’ll get the marshals!”

He sprinted down the train cars, noticing the snow still coming down in the middle of nowhere, the sun rising from the east. The train had stopped, but a conductor could not be found.When he reached the end, it was also empty but a few passengers roaming about wondering why the train had stopped.

No marshals were there to help. If they left with their two prisoners, they left them with a killer on board.

Chapter Eleven

Simon hadn’t been her friend, not really. But he had been an ally. He was a man who carried a burden of secrets he never explained, a man who piqued their curiosities with intriguing, brilliant stories that could have been as fake as his smiles, but now she would never know. Now he was nothing but a body cooling fast in the isolated mountains—and all for a silly train ride reunion.

All because of her.

Jayda’s throat tightened, standing over his bunk, wanting to cover him up. He deserved more than this.

She whispered, “I’m sorry. I tried to keep you out of this mess.” She didn’t understand why he had been killed. He knew nothing. Had the assassin made a terrible mistake?