Tainted Love Read online

  His daughter was definitely hiding something.

  Obsessed

  Alex bounced Zander as Ariana explained the last stage of her science project. Zander fussed and squirmed, making it hard for Alex to concentrate.

  “Do you think that’ll work?” Ari asked.

  Alex stepped closer and studied her. “Can you say that last part again?”

  “Maybe I should just wait until Zander falls asleep.”

  “I can listen.” Alex lowered his son and rocked him. “Just repeat the last part.”

  Ari looked a little frustrated, but complied.

  “That sounds great,” Alex said when she was done.

  “Really? You’re not just saying that?”

  “No. I mean it. You’re definitely smarter at science than I am.”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “I know you’re just saying that.”

  “Nope. Is Mr. Forbes still at school? You can ask him. I drove him crazy when I was your age. Actually, I think I had that effect on all of my teachers.”

  The corners of Ari’s mouth twitched. “You couldn’t have been that bad.”

  “Ask any teachers who were there thirteen years ago. I know there are a few of them.”

  “The dinosaurs,” she teased.

  “Easy there.” Alex chuckled.

  “I can’t believe I’m almost half your age. Can you?”

  Alex closed his eyes for a moment. “That’s not something you need to worry about. Your mom and I—”

  “I know, I know. I’m not going to follow in your footsteps. I’ll be at least seventeen before I have a baby.”

  Alex’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not what I meant! Not even close.”

  She laughed. “Dad, I’m totally kidding. My plan is grad school before I even think about a family.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “You don’t know how glad that makes me.”

  “I think I do.” She looked at Zander. “He’s asleep.”

  “Finally. I’ll be right back.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Ari sat at her desk. “I just wanted your opinion on the project. I can put it together myself.”

  “You sure?”

  She opened her laptop and nodded. “Yep. I’ll let you know if I need more help.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right up if you do.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Ari smiled at him before turning back to her computer.

  Alex’s heart warmed. He wasn’t sure how he’d ended up so lucky. Especially after being absent so many years. What he deserved was a snarky teen, one who gave him as much trouble as he’d given his poor parents.

  He rocked Zander as he made his way down the stairs and into their apartment.

  Zoey was hunched over Laney’s crib. She turned when the door closed behind him. “Both asleep at the same time again?”

  “Must be a twin thing.” Alex snuggled Zander into his crib before pulling Zoey into his arms and giving her a kiss. “How did I end up so lucky?”

  She kissed him back. “I feel like the lucky one.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Are you kidding? I could be married to Kellen right now. If you hadn’t stepped back into my life at just the right time…” She shuddered.

  So did Alex. “I thought we weren’t going to use his name.”

  She laughed. “He’s actually not that bad. He just isn’t you. Actually, I heard he got engaged. Apparently, Mom’s still friends with him on FaceChat.”

  “People still use that site?” Alex snickered.

  “I think just Mom and Kellen.” Zoey grinned. “I’m going to warm up some leftovers after I get dressed. Want to join me?”

  Alex’s stomach rumbled. “I think that answers that. I’ll warm the food while you change.”

  “Thanks.” She gave him a kiss then headed for the closet.

  In the kitchen, he found a dish of lasagna then warmed a large helping in the microwave. While he waited, he checked his email. Still nothing from the blogger, though the read-receipt showed she’d opened it twice.

  After putting the second plate in the microwave, he scrolled slowly through his inbox to see if she’d sent a separate message that he’d missed. She hadn’t.

  “What’s so interesting?” Zoey asked.

  Alex jumped and turned toward her. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  She chuckled. “Apparently not.”

  He slid his phone into his pocket and handed her a plate. They sat and dug in.

  “So, what was so interesting?” Zoey repeated.

  “I sent a message to that mommy blogger asking for an explanation. She hasn’t replied.”

  Zoey’s expression softened. “You’re really worried about that little boy, aren’t you?”

  He released a slow breath and nodded. “Something’s wrong. It doesn’t add up. I just wish I could prove she’s local, then I could put police resources into this.”

  She put her hand on his. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “You could look through the pictures on her blog and see if you recognize any of the places. If she is in the area, she has to have pictures of other places nearby.”

  “If you think it’d help.”

  “It’d be something. I need to get to the bottom of this.”

  She got some milk from the fridge and poured a couple glasses. “Have you posted on your blog about her?”

  “Not yet, but I probably will. I don’t want to spook her, you know?”

  “Why not? Get the word out there. Your followers will probably feel the same way as you. Then you’ll have a whole army of people looking into it.”

  Alex thought about it. “That’s a good point, but if she knows people are looking into it, she could start taking down her posts—evidence. Or she could alter them, or—”

  “But the Wayback Machine doesn’t lie. She can change her blog, but her posts are indexed there. It may not catch every single thing, but more than enough.”

  “You’re right. Why didn’t I think about that?”

  “Because two heads are better than one.” She squeezed his fingers.

  He kissed her hand. “You’re so smart. Plus, I do have screenshots.”

  “See? Everything’s going to be fine.” She gave him a playful smirk. “Tell you what—after we eat, I’ll go through her blog with a fine-toothed comb and you write your post. By the time we’re done with her, she’ll be forced to tell the truth.”

  They quickly finished the food, then returned to the apartment, careful not to wake the babies. Two hours flew by before Alex knew it. Laney woke, followed by Zander.

  Alex picked up Laney and changed her diaper. He glanced over at Zoey, who was feeding Zander. “Did you see anything in the blog?”

  “I think you’re definitely right. It’s beyond strange that she just stopped posting about Connor. If I had a blog like that, I could never stop posting about one of my kids. I don’t get it.”

  “See? Something is definitely going on. Did you notice anything local?”

  Zoey shook her head. “The woman is good at hiding identifying information.”

  “Because she has something to hide.” Alex picked up Laney and snuggled her. “She’s been hiding something since the beginning. It’s the only explanation.”

  “It really is. How’s your blog post coming? Did you post it?”

  “I’ve got it all written out, but I need to proofread it before I publish it.”

  She switched Zander to the other side. “I can look it over if you want.”

  “That’d be great. You’re much better at grammar and stuff than me.”

  “Did you see her latest post?”

  “Which one is that?” Alex asked.

  “It was posted last night.”

  “Last night?”

  “Yeah. Super short entry. She said all her kids have a violent sto
mach virus, so she has no idea when she’ll post next.”

  Alex frowned. “That’s convenient. Especially since she posted it after I sent my email.”

  Zoey nodded.

  They spent the next hour with the babies before taking them upstairs to Valerie and Kenji, who were delighted to watch their grandbabies. Alex checked on Ari, who didn’t want any help with her project, then Zoey read over Alex’s post.

  She handed his laptop back to him. “I just made a few minor tweaks. It’s really good.”

  He looked it over and liked the word choices Zoey had made. His pulse drummed in his ears as he held the cursor over the publish button.

  She squeezed his shoulder. “Press it.”

  Alex held his breath for a moment. Then he published the post.

  Post

  Jess wiped vomit from her face and washed her hands. She’d lost track of how many hours straight the kids had been throwing up. One would ease up, then another would start in again.

  She kept checking online medical advice, most of which said she should have taken them in to see a doctor. But that was impossible since the kids didn’t have insurance. She would have to keep handling it on her own and hope for the best.

  Good thing she didn’t have another baby yet. She couldn’t imagine dealing with the constant feedings and irregular sleep schedule while cleaning up puke nonstop.

  But even with all the distraction, she couldn’t stop thinking about Alexander. He was too close to the truth. Closer even than anyone else who had commented asking about Connor. He’d really done his research. And he’d emailed her, too.

  He wasn’t going to be thrown off the trail very easily. At least she could prevent any of his comments from ever being published on her blog. Every single comment had to be approved by her these days.

  What if he did more than just try to contact her? He could go to the authorities or the news. If he had any kind of platform himself—like if he had a video channel or a lot of followers on social media, he could bring a lot of unwanted attention to her.

  That was why she’d been so careful to keep her posts free of identifying information. It would be impossible to tell where she lived. Where she spent time. She didn’t have friends, so nobody would be able to point her out. They weren’t regulars anywhere, so random waitresses or bank tellers couldn’t identify them. Nobody was likely to recognize the kids.

  She’d taken all those precautions precisely for a time like this. They would be okay. She would need to up her game, that’s all. Get more creative. No big deal.

  If only her kids would stop throwing up.

  “Mom!”

  “Hold on!”

  Barfing sounded from the next room.

  Jess’s stomach lurched, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was more than determined not to let the messes get the best of her. And she certainly wasn’t going to get sick.

  She ran around between the three kids and the bathroom until by some miracle they all fell asleep in clean clothes.

  Jess collapsed on the plush rocking chair and wiped sweat from her forehead. As tempting as it was to close her eyes and sleep, she needed to check her blog and publish the post she started that explained why she hadn’t mentioned Connor. She clicked over to her website.

  A choice she regretted immediately.

  There were over a thousand new comments awaiting moderation. A thousand! On a normal day, she had maybe fifty. And that was when she posted about something fun she and the kids did. Lots of pictures and narrative.

  Not after posting a quick one-liner about the kids retching all over the place.

  Her pulse drummed as she clicked over to look at the new comments.

  They were worse than she thought. Each comment demanded to know what happened to Connor. Some threatened to hunt her down. Others called her a murderer. And it actually got worse from there.

  Jess didn’t recognize any of the names. These were all people new to her blog. How did they find her?

  She clicked away to the blog post and skimmed it over, making a few minor changes before pressing publish. There had been more she’d wanted to add, but there wasn’t time for that. This situation needed to be brought under control right away.

  Once the post published, a small amount of relief washed through her. Just enough for her eyelids to grow heavy.

  The new post would have to do for now. It answered a lot of the questions. Hopefully well enough to get everyone off her back and focus on someone else. Exhaustion pressed every inch of her body, demanding sleep. And since she had no idea how long it would be until one of the kids woke to start yakking again, she needed to get what rest she could manage.

  After checking on the kids, Jess climbed into bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  When she woke, she felt rested and the house was quiet.

  She bolted upright. With sick kids, she shouldn’t be rested nor should everything be so quiet. Her breath hitched. She glanced at the clock. Eight hours. She’d gotten eight hours of sleep.

  Was it possible the kids had slept that long? That the barfing part of the virus had passed? Or was it more likely that something was wrong? Could someone have figured out where they lived and taken the kids from her?

  Jess slapped herself. It wasn’t the time for ridiculous thoughts. Of course nobody had found them. She’d not only hidden their location and identities, but she’d done plenty of things to throw people off track. To make them think things that weren’t true.

  She jumped out of bed and raced into the living room.

  All three kids were snuggled together on the couch watching a cartoon. Sammy was sucking on a bottle and the girls both had Popsicles.

  Jess looked at Willow. “Did you get those?”

  She nodded. “I thought it’d be okay.”

  “Yeah. Of course.” Jess leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. “You’re all feeling okay?”

  “Hungry.” Daisy frowned.

  “I told her we had to take it easy,” Willow said. “Our tummies aren’t ready, right?”

  “Exactly. I can make some soup or get you some crackers.”

  “Soup,” Daisy said.

  “Crackers,” Willow insisted.

  “We can do both. Just sit tight.” Jess went to the kitchen and emptied the canned soup into a pot. While it heated, she checked her blog stats on her phone. While the views had exploded, the comments had, too. Now there were over two thousand in the queue.

  Jess closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This wasn’t something she could just ignore. Especially since most of the comments on her newest post expressed disbelief in her story about Connor.

  However, luckily for her, a number of her regular commenters believed her. Sympathized with her, even. She approved those comments. Let the haters read those and see how wrong they were for ganging up on a single mom doing the best she could.

  “Mom! I’m hungry!”

  Jess set her phone on the counter, turned to the steaming pot of soup, and yanked it off the burner. “Just a minute!”

  She put some ice cubes into the soup and got a plate of crackers ready for Willow while waiting for the soup to cool down.

  “Crackers!” Sammy reached for Willow’s crackers.

  Willow threw Jess a pleading look.

  “I’ll get some more.”

  “Okay.” Willow gave her brother a cracker. She took one for herself then turned back to the television.

  Jess filled a huge bowl with crackers, gave it to Willow, then went back to the kitchen and started deleting negative comments until her finger hurt. Then she switched to a different finger.

  “More soup!” Daisy called.

  Now the previously scalding soup was cold. She microwaved it, took it out to her, then got back to deleting comments. Twelve hundred more to go.

  Such a waste of her time, but
what other choice did she have? She couldn’t have them cluttering up her dashboard.

  Then she realized what she really needed to do. She needed to amp up her search for the next baby.

  Jess had lucked out with Sammy—snatching him from the park had been a stroke of fortune. The other three had all been meticulously planned out. She would need to do that again.

  There wasn’t any room for error. Not now.

  Argue

  Ava sipped the last of her diet pop and moved the empty foam cup to the tray of empty containers. Under the table, Braylon took her hand and squeezed. She squeezed back and smiled at him, hardly aware of Aiden and Emma across the table.

  “Did you hear me?” Aiden asked.

  Braylon gave her a crooked smile before turning to Aiden. “I was a little distracted. What’d you say?”

  “I’m gonna get some more fries. You want anything?”

  “No. I’m stuffed.” Braylon rubbed his stomach. “Couldn’t eat another bite if I wanted to.”

  Aiden turned to Ava. “How about you?”

  She shook her head. If she really wanted to, she could probably eat more, but she wasn’t hungry. Besides, she wanted to watch the scale.

  “Come with me, anyway.” Aiden rose and waved Braylon to come with him.

  Braylon gave Ava an apologetic glance, let go of her hand, then followed him.

  Emma sighed. “Boys are so lucky. They can eat and eat, and never gain a pound. Or if they do, they don’t care.”

  “Right?” Ava peeked at her phone. More texts from Mason.

  “What’s up with your phone?”

  Ava shoved it back into her purse. “What do you mean?”

  “You know exactly what I mean.” Emma pursed her lips. “Every time you check it, you get that look on your face.”

  “What look?”

  “Like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s up with that?”

  Ava frowned.

  “You don’t have to tell me if it’s too personal, but you can talk to me. I won’t say anything to Braylon.”

  Her stomach twisted. “I’m not trying to keep anything from him… exactly.”

  Emma shrugged. “We all have secrets, and it’s not like you’re married. You don’t have to tell him everything.”