Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Ian shifted and stood up, expertly holding their baby boy. “He’s strong. I’m pretty sure the kid gave me a couple of hickeys already. You want to hold him?”
She nodded, and then she had her arms full. Her last baby. She kissed his forehead. The kid was a true Taggart, with a mop of blonde hair and big blue eyes. He yawned and immediately started rooting.
She placed the baby to her breast, and he was a champ.
Ian settled the blanket around them and reached for his shirt. “You sure you trust me with the kids? I was not the one who got Kenz out of the vending machine.”
“Hey, it takes a village,” she pointed out. “Or a really big extended family.”
It had been Chelsea who’d calmed her down, Faith and Ten who’d picked her up and gotten her safely to the hospital, Erin and Theo who’d taken their other kids in.
She could remember when it had only been her and Chelsea, and the world had seemed so cold. Then she’d walked into a dungeon on a mission and found the other half of her soul waiting for her.
Ian’s expression was soft as he brushed a tear from her cheek. “He’s perfect, and so are you. I love you, baby.”
They were the only words she needed. “I love you, too.”
There was a knock on the door and the nurse came in. “I hope you’re ready for some visitors.”
Her girls rushed in and started cooing over the new baby while Theo handed over Seth to Ian.
Her world was full.
But there might be room for one more.
7
Homecoming
Homecoming takes place around the time of part one of No Love Lost.
Ian Taggart’s cell phone rang and he glanced down at the number. He didn’t recognize it, but hey, if it was someone offering him a car warranty extension, he could always hang up. Sometimes his employees called from burner phones, and if he didn’t answer, someone got left in the middle of a firefight with no backup.
He was getting too old for this shit.
“This is Taggart.”
“Mr. Taggart, my name is Kelsey Owens. I’m a private investigator your wife hired,” the voice said over the line.
That made him stop. “My wife hired a private investigator? Is there something I should know?”
He couldn’t think of why she would hire an investigator when they literally employed like fifteen of them. If Charlie thought he was cheating, she wouldn’t hire someone to follow him. She would take him out on her own and hard. It would not be a pretty death. It would be ugly and likely involve his entrails.
God, he loved that woman.
“She doesn’t know it yet, but yes. Though I won’t be sending her a bill because I was told I couldn’t. Which is rude when you think about it. Anyway, I couldn’t get her on the line so I tried you.”
Now he was intrigued. This was probably a play to get a job, but it was a new one. And he could use more estrogen in the office. He also liked a bold move, and this was definitely bold. “I think you should explain yourself, Ms. Owens.”
“I get that a lot, but I’m kind of a no-explanations chick,” the woman on the other end of the line explained in a flat, no-nonsense tone. “So I found the girl you’re looking for. I can do one of two things. I can sit back and let you figure this out on your own, because your wife is good and she probably will. She’s on the right track, but probably still a couple of months away from cutting through all the red tape. Or I can send you the information and you can get that child out of the orphanage.”
He sat up straighter because now he thought he knew what she was saying. “Are we talking about Natasha Federova?”
Natasha Federova. Oleg Federov’s daughter, the one he’d been taken from when his intelligence agency sold him to Hope McDonald and her memory experiments. She’d renamed the man Sasha and tortured him until he became one of her supersoldiers. He’d forgotten his former life, but before he’d died he’d held one memory, one thing she couldn’t take. He’d been able to see a child in his hands, a baby he’d thought was a girl.
Sasha had died saving one of his “brothers,” and the whole group was dedicated to finding that child, to making sure she had everything she needed. They’d hoped she was with her mother, but Charlie had information that Sasha’s wife was likely dead.
“Yes, I’ve tracked her down,” Kelsey explained. “Now I have some questions before I send you the information.”
He had some questions, too. “How did you get this number? And what do you know about the girl?”
“I know she’s alone in the world,” Kelsey said quietly. “I know that SVR killed her parents and shipped her off, and if no one helps her, she’ll grow up in a system that will eat her up and spit her out.”