Page 142 of Running to You

He stepped back and took her shoulders in his hands.

She was staring at his neck.

“Look at me, sweetheart.”

She did, and there was that fear again.

“I’ve been such a jerk.” He swallowed, tried to keep his voice steady. “We both made bad decisions based on bad information. We both messed up. But one of our mess-ups created that precious…” He looked up, tried to blink the tears back. Decided it didn’t matter and faced her again. “I love you. And I love him. And I will love him even more when I meet him.”

And then, the rest of it slammed into him.

He’d known Keller was holding Levi. He just hadn’t known…

His son. That lunatic had his son.

“I’ll call Grant. He’ll help, and Jon, too. I’ll hire the bodyguards where he used to work. They were all special forces. We’re going to figure this out. I swear to you, Eliza. We’re going to get our son back.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Eliza hurried through her shower and threw on the only clean outfit she had left, berating herself for sleeping so late. It was almost eleven o’clock. She and Sam had talked until dawn, only leaving when the foyer lights came on and the white-haired woman who’d checked them in spied them in the living area.

Sam had kissed her tenderly at her door and told her to rest. And she’d tried, but she hadn’t been able to stop replaying the conversation. She hadn’t fallen asleep until after sunrise.

Even so, how had she slept so late?

She still could hardly believe Sam’s reaction to the news. She’d been sure he’d be angry at her for keeping his son from him. Sad at all he’d missed.

Instead, he’d held her, kissed her, and told her he loved her. And then he’d questioned her about Levi. What is he like? What’s his favorite food? Can he throw a ball? He’d follow crazy tangents. I can put a basketball hoop in the driveway. You think he’d like that?

And a pool. Can he swim? He’d hardly balked when she said no. Good! We’ll teach him next summer.

As if there were no doubt about what the future would bring. As if she and Sam would be together, and Levi would be with them, and they’d live in his big house in Shadow Cove, and everything would be fine. Better than fine.

Perfect.

But the line that reverberated in her memories, what finally allowed her to fall asleep…

We’re going to get our son back.

His absolute confidence.

Please, Lord. Her fear felt more acute this morning. Her future had always felt murky and muddled, but the image Sam painted—the three of them together, like a real family. She could see it, and she wanted it. She wanted it with every cell in her body.

It was so close, and she was terrified something was going to destroy it all. Her friend and her mother and her son were in danger. And so was the life she desperately wanted to build with Sam.

She felt like she was on a bus hanging over the edge of a cliff. One wrong move, and the whole thing would crash and burn.

Sam had slipped a note beneath her door, letting her know where he was. She took the stairs to the lobby, glancing into the living area where a few people sat on the sofas. She rounded the corner in the other direction and passed a gift shop. Inside, a couple of preteens were trying on hats and making faces in a mirror. The hotel had felt empty and lifeless the night before, but now it buzzed with activity.

She reached a door at the end of the hall and pushed it open. She’d barely stepped into the glass-enclosed sunroom when Sam headed her way. She sort of registered that other people were with him, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the man coming toward her.

“Hey.” He greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the forehead, then leaned back to meet her eyes. “Did you sleep?”

“Finally. And too long, obviously. You?”

“I didn’t even try.” He’d showered and trimmed his beard and, though there were dark smudges around his eyes, he looked wide awake and intense as he took her hand and led her across the thin carpet to a round table large enough for eight normal-sized humans. But the men seated there were anything but normal-sized.

Michael stood as she approached and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Morning. Get some rest?”