Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
She glanced around and her gaze came to rest on one of the few magazines on the endcap rack. The cover photo was a punch to her already painful emotions. A photo of Harrison Dare and his siblings at the Cannes Film Festival for a movie premiere stared back at her. The entire Dare family was in the shot, including Zach, and Hadley’s knees went weak at the sight of him for the first time in years.
Since being forced to leave the first time, she hadn’t looked him up online because she knew it would be too painful to see him on social media. Not that she’d allowed herself to have a profile of her own. She’d taken every word the feds said to heart. She had no intention of exposing her family, even by mistake. There were people who’d recognize Hadley so she remained as hidden as she could. No one from the past would know Dani, enabling her sister to have all the social media apps along with her friends.
The line ahead of her moved slowly and her gaze drifted back to Zach’s handsome face. No longer a boy, he was all man, and mouth-wateringly handsome. She skimmed the article and discovered that like his siblings, Zach was wealthy and recently famous, thanks to a news article about him that had gone viral. He’d been the person who found the stalker terrorizing Harrison’s then-pregnant girlfriend and turning her whereabouts over to the police.
Since Winter Capwell was a reporter, she’d published a story about her ordeal that every news outlet had picked up. A second article followed, this one about Zach and all the people who’d contacted Winter to rave about how he’d helped reunite them with missing family members.
He also owned two bars, one in Manhattan, another in East Hampton. But his side business was finding people who had disappeared, and until the viral news story, he’d done it quietly and under the radar. She blinked as the solution to her own problems came to her. Zach was the perfect person to help her keep Dani safe and though he might not want to see Hadley ever again, she needed him.
And based on what she read about him, Zach Dare would never turn away someone in danger. Especially a young teen and Hadley was more worried about her sister than herself.
“Next!” The cashier called out.
Hadley had been slowly shuffling forward, her focus on the magazine and learning about Zach, and she hadn’t realized it was her turn. Dani was still bopping her head to the music, making Hadley grin despite their circumstances.
She unloaded the food from the basket and waited as the woman behind the counter rang up the total and bagged the items.
At the last second, Hadley cleared her throat. “Can you add this please?” She handed over the magazine. If she was lucky, there would be information about Zach inside. Regardless, she now had a photo of him to look at later and prepare herself to see him again.
She paid and they walked back to the car. Dani pulled her earbuds out. “I saw you buy that magazine. Why?”
God, the teenager missed nothing. “There’s an article in it I want to read. And I decided where we’re headed.” She might as well tell her sister the new plan. “We’re going to New York City.
“Really? What’s in the city?”
“Someone I think can help us,” she said as they reached the car and together put the bags into the back seat.
Once they were resettled in the front, Dani buckled her seatbelt and Hadley did the same.
“So, who’s this person? Old boyfriend?” Dani asked.
Hadley choked on her own saliva and began to cough. She wiped her tears and turned to her sister with a narrowed gaze. “What makes you say that?”
“Oops. Mom slipped and told me she met Dad in Manhattan. That we used to live in a town nearby but we had to move to Illinois when I was a baby.”
Hadley couldn’t believe Patrice could be so careless. Then again… yes, she could. “That doesn’t explain the boyfriend comment.”
Dani shrugged. “Just a guess.”
A too lucky one, Hadley thought. Before she could press her sister, Dani shoved the earbuds back into her ears and cranked up the volume.
Happy for the opportunity to put some quiet music on so she could think as she drove, Hadley decided not to yell about the decibel level. Her new plan involved finding a decent motel that took cash and wouldn’t insist on seeing her license. No small feat.
She would also have to stop at a public library in Illinois so she could look up the name of Zach’s bars. That way nobody could trace her. Once she had the phone number, she’d call and ask to speak to Zach, hoping that would tell her which bar she should go to first.