died. But loving her almost killed him once. Losing Tess ripped the soul from him and shredded his heart, leaving him locked in a cage—physically and emotionally. He’d never let it happen again.
But he swore he’d set her free from Beller’s obsession with her if it killed him…and he’d make Beller and Duncan Earldon pay for what they’d done. He owed Tessa that much, at least.
“I’ve been looking for the baby—Emily—for a long time,” he admitted. “But it was harder for me to get anywhere. I couldn’t claim parentage to get the birth certificate. I tried, but they put father unknown on it.”
The torment in her eyes hurt his soul. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for caring about our daughter.”
He couldn’t answer her; he’d spent the past two and a half years hating her for not caring about Emily. What a fool he’d been to believe them! “My family left the city today. So we can look for Emily without worrying about them…but we’d better pray Earldon and Beller don’t already know where she is.”
She sat down abruptly on a chair at the old, rickety dining table he’d picked up at a roadside throw. “You knew before today? You knew I’d want to look for her?”
“No.” He had to be up-front now, or he’d lose her later. She already knew he had a hidden agenda—he had nothing to lose. “I need you to help me find her. You can go where I can’t. You can ask questions at the birth registry, of your dad and brother. You’re far more likely to get answers out of them.”
Her gaze turned cool, challenging. “Only about Emily? Is that all the information you want?”
Darkness filled his heart. “You know that’s not all.”
“You want me to spy on them.” It wasn’t a question; she knew the answer. “You want me to help you get your revenge.”
“Yeah, all right, I do!” he snapped.
She lifted a brow, not letting him off the hook. “And?”
“I need you to see what they’ve done to you, to me, to our child. I want you to believe what I’m saying is the truth,” he replied bluntly. “I want you to want justice like I do.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “You want me to find evidence against my own family. You want me to help you put my brother—maybe even my sixty-eight-year-old father—in prison.”
“I never said that,” he shot back.
“You just thought it,” she said softly.
He turned away from her. “Okay, can we at least find evidence to hold over them, so they don’t start any more plots?”
She looked at him, her golden eyes boring into his, filling him with the old, uncanny feeling that she could see right past his barriers and into his soul. Back then, her love filled him with a happiness so rare and incredible he hadn’t cared that she knew him inside and out. Now it just made him uncomfortable.
Damn her for still seeing into his heart so clearly! Could she see what he couldn’t afford to let her know?
He crossed the room to squat before her. “If they know where Emily is, she’s in constant danger,” he rasped, full of passionate conviction. “If Beller works out we’re together on this—and he probably already has—we’ve got a week at most to find her. He’s got the resources to get to her quicker than we can through the official channels. If he gets to her first—or Duncan,” he added, hating the need to be so ruthless, “they’ll hold her safety over our heads to keep us quiet, and for Beller to take you back.”
The light went out of her eyes so fast he thought she was going to faint. She dropped a white, ravaged face in her hands and whispered, “My God. We have to find her fast.”
“And we have to get ammo on them. It’s the only way,” he went on when she looked up, her eyes dark with pain and denial. “If they’re chasing their tails trying to cover up their little perjuries, they won’t have time to think of getting to Emily. And any evidence of Emily’s whereabouts now is more likely to come through them than the official channels.”
Her face lifted to his, her eyes filled with suffering, with guilt—and complete, pain-filled understanding. “You want me to spy on my father—to get evidence that could put him in prison.”
“It’s the only way,” he said again. God, how he hated pulling her strings when she was already in shock, but he couldn’t afford the luxury of time or compassion when their daughter’s life was at risk. “If he’s innocent, we’ll find nothing.”
“If not, you’ll put my whole family away.”
“But you’ll have Emily,” he reminded her, hoping to God it would be enough to make her agree.
She looked away, chewing her lip. He waited in silence, allowing her time to think it through.
After a long stretch of quiet, she said, “I want my child.”
“So do I.” Watching her carefully, he said, “But I have to protect myself. I need you to come to my lawyer, and to the cops. To back up my story so the cops won’t suspect me for perjury on the death certificates. Then if Beller or Duncan try their tricks, I’ll have an unimpeachable witness to state where I’ve been at all times. As Duncan’s sister and Beller’s supposed wife, you can give me the alibi no one else could—and they couldn’t afford to expose our history.”
She tilted her chin. “Show me Duncan was part of the plot to adopt Emily and put you inside, and I’ll do whatever it takes.”
From his wallet he pulled out another piece of paper, and tossed it into her lap. “Here you go. Put yours down and we have a matching pair of death certificates, three or so years apart.”
She looked at the death certificate, marked September 20, two and a half years before. She shook her head, but didn’t speak.
“Not good enough? Didn’t your brother give you yours?” He sighed. “Go to the cops. Ask who the star witnesses were in my case. Show ’em your ID, and you should get access. You’ll see Duncan knew I was alive when you married Beller.” He threw another piece paper in front of her. “Here’s my parole papers, date marked—same day as my second ‘death.’ I was in the cells at the City of Sydney Police when I supposedly died the first time.”
She licked her lip, then bit down hard. Her fingers gripped the papers hard enough to rip them to shreds.
“Still not enough? What about the adoption papers? The parole papers tell you where I was when you had Emily,” he challenged. “The adoption paper’s dated. I didn’t have the freedom to create it! And if I had, would I give up my own child? You know how I feel about kids.” When she remained silent, he got to his feet and paced the room. “Come on, princess, do the sum!” he flung at her. “Duncan gave you the death certificate. He was there when Emily was born. How could I have got the adoption papers, since I’m not named as Emily’s father? How could I have myself declared dead the day I got out of lockup, a penniless ex-con? It doesn’t make sense—unless you put legal eagles with money and connections in the equation. You know what they’re capable of—”
“All right.”
“—and
