Read Online ChasingShadows by Erin Richards - Free Book Online Page A

Andrea’s eyes caused his heart to sink. She hung onto a conviction that
Juliana was their savior. Any disappointment, however small, would devastate
her.
    Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she stroked Juliana’s arm
as if she was stroking a beloved child’s head. “Tell me where you are,
Lisette.”
    “Andrea, don’t.” He hated to see his sister caught up in too
much psychic paranoia.
    “Alex, she has a link to Lisette. James said—”
    “James isn’t a doctor!” His exasperation exploded in his
words. “Juliana has a connection to the kidnapper, not Lisette.” What did James
know? Why had he filled Andrea with potentially empty hope? Just because James
worked with psychics didn’t make him an expert.
    Andrea ignored him and continued whispering reassuring words
to Lisette.
    Yet Alex couldn’t deny what he’d witnessed himself. If the
innocent sentiments brought comfort to his grieving sister, he wouldn’t refuse
her. He tightened his grip on Juliana’s cold hands, transferring heat from his
body to hers.
    “Alex, she came back for a reason,” Andrea said with undeniable
certainty. “To find Lisette. To make us whole.”
    He felt the truth in Andrea’s words deep in his soul. Could
he stow away the past when he had no clue about Juliana’s life over the last
decade? Or why she’d deserted him—them—in the first place? Did he even want to
know?
    Juliana twitched, jerking his mind to the present and to the
beautiful woman causing his thoughts to wander. First things first—he had a
niece to find. Juliana wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He’d make damn
certain on that score.
    * * * * *
    He unlocked the bedroom door. The pastel lamp on the
otherwise bare dresser contributed a faint glow. The light barely penetrated
into the corners, but it was all he needed. The scent of vanilla lotion wafted
to him, overshadowing the faint odor of fear in the airless room.
    Lisette bolted upright on the bottom bunk bed. Alarm
darkened her face, fresh tears shimmering in her eyes.
    Revulsion crashed over him in waves. She no longer
listened to him, and it angered him more than the tears revolted him. Nothing
had prepared him to deal with such childish behavior. Her sobbing sounded like
the wail of sirens.
    “Where’s…my…mommy?” Lisette formed the question through
her blubbering.
    “Don’t ask me that again!” He couldn’t bar the anger from
his voice. When he’d failed to produce her mother as promised, he’d destroyed
her flagging trust. But the lie had served its purpose admirably.
    Lisette’s tears streamed faster, and she clutched her toy
animal to her stomach.
    Fury replaced the disgust inside him. He would lose
control if he didn’t leave the room soon. “Do you have to use the bathroom?” He
forced restraint into his tone.
    As she shook her head, the cell phone clipped to his
pants sang a welcome song. Finally!
    He jerked the phone off his belt loop and stabbed it on
with his index finger.
    “What?” he shouted, pressing the phone to his ear.
    “What do you want me to get for lunch? Has Lisette
eaten?”
    “I don’t care what you get! You know what she’ll eat. She
won’t touch anything I’ve prepared.” He punched the phone off and backed out of
the stifling room.
    “You’ll eat if I have to cram it down your throat,” he
muttered, before his mind moved to tempting thoughts of revenge.
    * * * * *
    Juliana awakened on her back. Unfamiliar crushed velour rubbed
the backs of her legs, and the air smelled faintly of fear, as if Lisette’s
fear was a palpable thing in the room. Or was it Alex’s and Andrea’s fear? Everything
blurred as she tried to focus her eyes. When she finally recognized Alex and
Andrea crowding around her, the day’s events snowed her.
    “What happened? The last thing I remember, I was sitting on
the bed with a horrible headache.” Shock suffused her as she realized she had
fainted. She’d never fainted before!
    Thinking back, she remembered that