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Chapter Fifty-three
Alia arrived back at the house and sat in her car for a short while, reliving those earlier precious moments with Sloan. He’d been everything a woman could wish for in a lover, thoughtful of her comfort and caring about her being satisfied before reaching his own climax.
She had no idea how she was going to explain their new relationship to Kean, who was probably more observant than most boys his age. She’d lied and told him Sloan was her brother. Actually, she’d said stepbrother but even still, that left a sour taste in her mouth when it came to explaining things to an eight-year-old.
Maybe she’d leave it up to Sloan. He had a way of getting through to her son that she’d never had. The enormous love she had for the boy didn’t change the difficulties she experienced every time she had to show her emotions. For her, talking to him was excruciating because she kept thinking she’d screw up. And he’d push her away. God! What a baby she was.
Suddenly, she had the overwhelming urge to go see him and tuck him under the covers he’d often kick off during sleep.
She went into the house, directly to his room and couldn’t believe her eyes when she found it empty. Heart pounding, she looked everywhere, under the bed, in all the other rooms. Screams rang inside her head, wanting to burst out but she maintained the control that she’d been trained for. Sobbing under her breath, she finally pulled Don into the search.
“He’s gone? What the fuck? I had the door open to the house so I could hear him call if he woke up. He knew I was in here. I went and told him so he wouldn’t be scared after you guys and Les left. Maybe the cat wandered off and he’s chasing her. I’ll go outside and look.”
While he checked the yards nearby, she combed the house again, calling Kean’s name, this time going through closets and every nook and cranny she’d missed earlier.
There was no sign of the boy.
The kitten.
She searched again for the tiny animal, calling, “Kitty, Kitty, here Kitty,” all to no avail. The cat was missing too. Collapsing into a kitchen chair, she pushed her hands through her messy hair.
How the hell could anyone have come into the house and taken Kean without Don hearing them? When they’d first moved here, she’d wondered at Sloan’s lack of security but hadn’t worried overly because she’d argued with herself that there would normally be two agents in the house, both with firearms if necessary. And yet, Kean was gone.
Paul!The bastard had threatened, said he’d take Kean away from her, and she hadn’t fully believed he’d be able to pull it off.
Libby’s image popped into her mind. She fitted into the slot as the perfect suspect. The woman had been here earlier. She knew the layout of the house. All she’d had to do was wait until Sloan and Alia had gone to the hospital. In her mind, that would have left Les to get past. But she could bide her time waiting for him to doze off and if she came in through the back door, she’d be home free.
And to make things even easier, Sloan had told Don to relieve Les, so Les would have left after Don had arrived. Not having to deal with Les would have made taking Kean even easier. No doubt Don was concentrating on his surveillance in the sunroom, or snoozing, and the PI would have had an easy time breaking in.
Hell, with her boy being small for his age, and Libby being so strong, she could have simply carried him if he was asleep. Since Kean knew her voice, he probably wouldn’t make any fuss.
Deciding she had it all worked out, there was only one other person Alia needed to contact.
Sloan.
