Read Online Betrayals of the Heart by Melissa Ohnoutka - Free Book Online

alarm. The idea Steven would take Nicholas didn’t make sense. He was Ryan’s son. Why take him?
    “Nicholas is missing?” Michael’s features calmed as he assessed the situation. “He’s just hiding from you. Again.”
    “I know. But he’s never continued the game after I’ve said he’s the winner.” Boy, she sounded so pathetic. Telling Michael about the phone call, the real reason for her worries wasn’t an option, so the pathetic act would have to do for now.
    Michael left Makayla’s side, sitting his backpack on the floor before calling for Nicholas. “Nick, where are you? I’m gonna teach you a lesson you won’t forget, you little rugrat. You need to learn when enough is enough. Mom’s lost her mind.”
    When she heard the tone of her son’s voice, the threat coating each and every word, her control snapped back. It was Steven’s voice. But it was coming from her fifteen year old son’s mouth. She’d hoped this time away from his real father would make a difference.
    “No. Michael. No!” She hurried to follow after the sound of his heavy footsteps. He was barreling through the house, slamming doors and searching almost as if he too were desperate. But why?
    “Nicholas, this is your last warning.”
    “Michael, you stop this. Now.” Standing behind him, she was afraid to reach out and touch him. Even his body language had transformed. He stood with his fist clenched, chest and shoulders raised and feet planted ready for an attack.
    “But he has to learn some discipline.”
    “He’s only a little boy.” These familiar words had not been said for over ten years. And Makayla cringed at the sound they made coming from her lips. Again the frightened child within her pleaded for her son’s forgiveness, for his safety. But this time it was the child himself, who she’d shielded from the blows of an angry father with her own body, who she now found herself pleading with.
    “I’ll find him, Mom.”
    “No. He’s not here, Michael.” Her voice was deadly calm now and he turned to glance in her direction when she touched his arm. “I’m calling 911 and then your father.” That last word sent chills down her spine.
    “What happened?” Michael’s facial features softened with the realization his younger brother might be in trouble, but his body remained rigid. “What happened to Nicholas?” One look at his expression, and she knew he knew something bad was coming.
    After relaying the details to both the police and then Ryan, she felt emotionally drained. Ryan’s reaction tore through her like a devastating tornado.
    Motioning for Michael to follow her to the couch she said, “I have to tell you something important, but I don’t even know where to begin.”
    “How about the beginning, Mom.” His tone took her by surprise. It coaxed, but also demanded, like she spoke to Nicholas when she already knew part of the truth and he was trying to keep it from her.
    Knots of denial worked their way up her throat. Did Michael already know?
    She motioned again for him to join her, but he didn’t move. Something in the way he stared at her shocked her to the core. It was at that moment that something clicked inside her.
    How, after all this time, had Steven found them? Her gaze lifted slowly to meet her teenage son’s. “Michael?”
    The skin of her scalp felt as if it were being pulled from her skull, hair and all, the chilling sensation completely shaking her entire body.
    “You?” Could he know the truth? Did he figure out the horrifying details on his own? She swallowed hard. Did he remember? Had he contacted his father?
    When Ryan, finally stormed through the door, Makayla had learned more than she wanted to know.
    Michael, her pride and joy, had come across his original birth certificate while doing a research paper in English about heritage and family trees. He’d seen a different name where it listed birth father. Steven Prichard’s. For months now he had been putting the pieces of