The Darkest Sunrise (The Darkest Sunrise #1)

“Get off me,” Porter growled, shoving back before righting himself.

Charlie came jogging out of the house, an older woman with a pale, round face following him. She stopped in the doorway, her mouth opening and closing without actually saying anything, panic dancing in her blue eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Charlie said, grabbing Tom’s shoulder. “You cannot arrest him. You have nothing to go on.”

“Bullshit!” Tom snapped back. “I have enough.”

I stepped around the arguing men, my mind reeling, unable to keep up with the chaos. “What the hell are you doing?” I barked, pressing a hand against Tom’s chest while doing my best to separate him from Porter.

“Get out of my way, Charlotte,” Tom demanded.

“Not until you tell me what’s going on!”

His cold, icy gaze swung to mine, and then his whole demeanor gentled as he said, “Lucas isn’t dead, babe.”

My stomach dropped, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I stumbled, my back colliding with Porter’s front, his arms immediately hooking around my middle.

“What?” I gasped.

“Do not do this until you’re sure, Tom,” Charlie demanded.

“I’m sure. It’s him. You know it as well as I do. Same blood type. Medical history. Everything.” Tom’s jaw clenched as his gaze flicked over my shoulder to Porter, a menacing snarl forming on his lips. “We have reason to believe that Lucas could be alive and that your boyfriend back there knows where he is.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Porter thundered.

But not a single, solitary word escaped my throat.

My old archnemesis, Hope, made sure of that.

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.

Lies.

Syllables and letters may not be tangible, but they can still destroy your entire life faster than a bullet from a gun.

One word.

That was all it took to ruin us all.

“Dad?” the little boy called on a broken cry, rushing from around his grandmother and slamming into his father’s side.

Seeing as how Porter was flush against my back, it was my side too.

I moved my arm on instinct, but as I dropped it back down, it brushed against the child’s back.

I stared at Tom as his eyes got wide, and then they got soft.

Soft the way he looked at me. Soft the way he looked at my mom.

Soft the way he would look at my…son.

Chills exploded across my skin, and my nose began to sting.

Slowly, I slid my gaze down to the little boy at my side. He was staring up at his father, fear etched in his face.

I’d seen Travis before, but right then, with hope tinting my vision, I was looking at him for the very first time.

My straight, raven hair.

His father’s dimpled chin.

He wasn’t a baby anymore.

He was standing there.

Air in his lungs.

A pulse in his veins.

Alive.

One word.

“Lucas,” I breathed.





To be continued in…



The Brightest Sunset

July 27, 2017