AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jade understood that. When things were at their worst with Lance, she’d almost gone crazy from sleep deprivation. Every time her head touched the pillow, her brain would start spinning with worries that wouldn’t let her drift off.
She hoped Harley’s worries weren’t about the two of them. They’d developed a comfortable, uncomplicated rhythm the last few days and had always ended up in each other’s arms. She didn’t want either of them overthinking that. “Hit a snag in the investigation?” she asked.
Harley looked up at her and frowned. He had been fairly close-lipped about his research so far. Jade tried to be understanding about it, but it was hard knowing he had information that might impact her life. She supposed that if it really mattered, he would tell her. There wasn’t much use in telling her things before he was certain. Still, it was weird that he was going out to track down the truth about what happened to her, then coming home and engaging in idle chatter about the weather.
“You could say that,” he said at last. “I’ve hit a roadblock I wasn’t expecting.”
“You’ve only just started. How can that be?”
“People are stubborn,” Harley explained. “I’ve spent the entire weekend meeting with various people who might have information about what happened.”
“Like who?”
“Like the couples who had daughters at St. Francis around the same time as the Nolans. Hospital staff. Anyone I can get to answer my calls, really.”
Jade swallowed hard, the coffee burning in her throat. One of the people he’d spoken to could be one of her parents. It was hard to believe, but true. “Oh,” was all she could manage to say. “Any luck?”
The lines in his forehead convinced her that he was conflicted about what he’d found. “Yes and no. Have you ever heard of Steele Tools?”
Jade shrugged. “Yeah. I think I have a set of their screwdrivers. Why?”
“My team has been doing a little research on them. They’re a fascinating success story that started here in Charleston, actually.”
He continued talking about what he’d learned so far, but Jade wasn’t really listening. While the history of Steele Tools might seem fascinating to Harley, she wasn’t sure why she should care. Or why it seemed to weigh so heavily on his mind. “That’s all nice, but what does that have to do with the case?”
Harley pressed his lips tightly together as though reluctant to say anymore. That was too damn bad. He’d started this conversation and he was going to finish it.
“Spill, Harley.”
He sighed. “I’ve been able to contact and basically eliminate every family that had a baby girl at St. Francis when you were born except for one. Trevor and Patricia Steele were at the hospital and they delivered a daughter during the storm. They named her Morgan.”
Morgan. Jade had always liked that name. She’d personally never been a huge fan of Jade, but at least it was different. It suited her, she supposed, although she was beginning to wonder if that was the reason she liked Morgan better than her own name. Was that the name she was supposed to have? The one she’d been given the day she was born? Somehow thinking of the name like that made it sound foreign and odd to her ears.
“The problem is I’ve been unable to get in contact with them. I’ve left messages with all their secretaries and assistants, and they haven’t called me back. It’s incredibly frustrating, because I know we’re close to the truth.”
Jade tried to process what he was telling her. If all the other families had been eliminated, that meant the Steele couple’s daughter was the only real candidate to be swapped with the Nolans’. Which would mean that Jade was...
“If I’m right about this, and I think I am, you’re the daughter of billionaires, Jade.”
She hesitated for a moment, staring blankly at Harley. She was waiting for the punch line. The gotcha. The bazinga. Instead, he just looked at her with his large eyes as though awaiting a bigger reaction.
“Billionaires?” she said at last.
“Yes.”
She slumped down into the chair, trying to process what he’d told her. Right now, it was just supposition on h
is part. There was no evidence, no DNA to confirm it. But even if there were, a part of her wouldn’t believe it. That kind of stuff just didn’t happen. “Let me guess, I’m also the crown princess of Genovia, too.”
Harley flinched. “Gen-what? I’m serious, Jade. I think you were switched at birth and deliberately taken away from the Steeles. It all makes sense.”
“Does it?” she said, her voice beginning to sound hysterical to her own ears. “It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense to me.”
“No, listen. Follow this... You’ve been unable to understand why your parents were targeted. I don’t think they were the targets. I think the Steele family was the real target. Your parents and their daughter were convenient.”
“Why?”
Harley sat back in his chair and sighed. “That’s the piece I haven’t figured out yet. A family like that would be a prime target for a kidnapping or something like that.”
