Woman on the Edge(63)

Oh my God. Oh my God. That site. I hold my hand to my chest and look at Ben, whose eyes are wide. And now it all falls into place. Lost and Confused.

“Yes, I remember now!” I tell Jessica. “We were total strangers, but we had a connection. Still, it wasn’t enough for her to give me custody of Quinn. And it’s supposed to be a forum for women who don’t have children. I didn’t even know she was in Chicago, never mind her name … She must have been so lonely.” So was I. But I pushed her away.

“Well, that’s the weird thing and the reason you’re no longer a person of interest. There’s a message between Nicole and someone who’s supposedly you on August sixth. Nicole wrote that she wanted to give you her child, and M in Chicago agreed. This person said she’d take Quinn and that she’d meet her at Grand/State the next day. But your user name is ‘Morose in Chicago.’ The username on that account is ‘M in Chicago.’ Clever, but not clever enough.”

Nicole wasn’t a complete stranger to me. I’d felt something for her. And I’d failed her.

“Oh my God, she reached out to me. She wanted to know my name. And I got scared and backed off. Maybe if I’d answered her—”

I feel warm fingers on my cheek. “Morgan, stop. You didn’t do anything wrong. Someone hacked Nicole’s account.”

Jessica’s phone rings, and she answers. She listens for a minute, then holds the phone out to me. “Martinez wants to talk to you, Morgan.”

“To me? Why?” I shake my head. “I don’t want to talk to her. She always spins everything to be my fault. She probably still believes I’m involved.”

“Please, Morgan. You want to take the call.”

Ben shifts to the end of his stretcher and leans on his side. “Take the call. I’m right here with you, and I believe you.”

I nod at Jessica, and she hands me the phone. I put it on speaker.

“Morgan, I’m very sorry this has all happened. Do you or Ben have any idea where Tessa might have gone?”

Her apology would be monumental were I not so frightened for Quinn. “I have no idea. All I know is that she’s Nicole’s best friend and works at Breathe. I don’t know why she took Quinn. Please. You have to find them.”

“Wait,” Ben says, his voice scratchy. He motions for me to bring the phone closer to him. “Donna’s the one who told us about the redheaded reporter. Maybe she’s in on this, too. Tessa’s got to be with Donna. They have Quinn.”

“I saw a small redhead leave through the kitchen door at Greg’s right before the fire got bad, and we know it wasn’t Melissa. They could be at Donna’s. In Kenosha,” I say, already sitting up, ready to run.

We give Martinez the address. “Okay, I’m going to head there now. Just stay where you are,” she says, and ends the call.

Jessica pockets her phone. “You two just wait for the doctor. It’s all you can do right now. I’ll keep you posted.”

With a quick pat on my leg, she’s gone.

Ben and I are alone, in a sea of sick and injured people. We’re bruised and battered, but we’re not broken. We’ll only be broken if we can’t find Quinn.

“We need to go, Ben.”

He pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Okay, I’ll get us out of here.”

We are going to get that baby back if it’s the last thing we do.





CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR NICOLE




Before

“ ‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine …’ ” Nicole held a sleeping Quinn in her arms on the couch. The Tiffany lamp on the side table cast a golden glow over her beautiful face. “I love you, my baby girl. So much. You’re going to a safe place where nothing bad will happen to you.”

Giving her baby away was the right thing to do. But it hurt so, so much.

The board had sent her a formal letter asking for her resignation as CEO, offering her a lump-sum payment to buy back her shares. She threw the letter in the trash. She could not and would not have anyone take Breathe from her daughter.

After today, everyone would know that Quinn was a part of Breathe forever. Nicole made sure of it. She looked at the message from Morgan on her phone. She had been overcome with happiness to receive it last night.

M in Chicago: I’ve wanted a child for so long, and I will accept your offer to take yours. Meet me on the northbound Grand/State platform on Monday, August 7 at 5:30 p.m.

In gratitude,

Morgan Kincaid



Nicole smiled to herself. Everything was in place.

She had accomplished something far more important than a clothing-and-wellness empire. She’d become a true mother to her child. It was the best thing she’d ever done in her life. She wasn’t sure where she would go once Quinn was in Morgan’s arms, but she would run. She would hide. She would disappear. That was all that mattered.

She waited, with Quinn laying against her breast, while her daughter peacefully slept. Once Quinn awoke, she bathed her in the small baby tub, careful to wash her neck and little fingers and toes, softly massaging shampoo into the black tufts of hair that always stood up. Her baby slapped gleefully at the water, oblivious to what was about to happen. Her daughter would never remember this, but still, she poured all her love into the tiny person who meant everything to her.