Kay David: Disappear

For reasons she couldn’t explain, the shadows seemed thicker than they had before, closer somehow, pressing down against her and making it tough to breathe. She wanted to call out, but she knew no one would answer, so she didn’t bother. Her fingers found the light switch a second later and she flipped it up. Nothing happened. Her mouth went dry as she tried once more. The darkness remained and seemed to increase.

She took a step into the living room, then stopped.

A man dressed completely in black sat in her father’s chair. Alexis stared at him in shock, a sense of dread coming over her with such intensity, she felt her entire body go hot. In the span of a heartbeat she was more scared than she’d ever been in her life. She couldn’t talk, couldn’t do anything but stare at the stranger.

He looked at her through the gloom and spoke in a low voice. “You’re Alexis.”

Wishing she could answer another way, she nodded.

“I’m Gabriel O’Rourke. I’m here to explain.”

Dear Reader,

Losing what you care about most is everyone’s biggest nightmare. For me and, I suspect, a lot of you as well, that’s family. My husband, my parents, my siblings and their children…all these people are part of who I am. Their influence has made me the woman I am, and because of that, much of what I do is a reflection of them.

In this book, my heroine suffers the loss of her family. At a young age, even as she wants to become independent and cast off those family ties, sudden circumstances take away her mother, her father and even her baby brother.

When the man behind their disappearance reenters her life, Alexis Mission wants nothing to do with him. Gabriel O’Rourke is someone she’s never trusted and never will. He took from her everything that was important. How can she ever forgive him, much less trust him? The answer, as always, lies in love. Through it, all things are possible, including pardon and understanding.

Families are curious things. Most of us have a love/hate relationship with those closest to us. Their foibles drive us crazy, and they never act the way we really think they should. But when things don’t go right, they’re usually the first people we call for sympathy and support. And they give it—because they love us.

If it’s been a while since you talked to your mother, your father, that crazy cousin who still lives back home, give them a call when you finish reading this book. Connect with them and let them know they’re in your thoughts. In the end, families are what matter.

Sincerely,

Kay David

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to anyone who has lost someone important. Be it by bad luck or choice, long expected or a surprise, the void left behind is one that can never be filled. Once you love, a part of you always loves—whether those you love are present in your life or far, far away. I hope all of you know that time and love helps heal the wound.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EPILOGUE

ALEXIS MISSION HADN’T driven a car in more than a year.

She hadn’t gone to McDonald’s for a hamburger, she hadn’t stopped at a mall to shop, she hadn’t put on lipstick or worn a pair of panty hose or done any of the countless things Americans did every day without thought.

Coming home was a shock.

She walked out of the Albuquerque airport and into the chilly New Mexican sunshine. Everywhere she looked, people were rushing. The confusion was even more overwhelming on the sidewalk than it had been inside, the cacophony of horns, engines and movement too much for her to absorb. All at once, she felt as if she’d been living on a different planet instead of a tiny village in Peru.

Despite her anxiousness, Alexis threaded her way through the chaos with determination. She had to get accustomed to civilization again. Her family didn’t know it yet, but she had returned and not just for a visit. She was back home to stay. Her mother’s Thanksgiving invitation had provided Alexis the excuse she’d been looking for for the past six months.

She crossed the walkway to the rental-car buses and located the proper van. Five minutes later, it stopped in front of a low-rise building and everyone jumped out. Moving with the crowd, Alexis found herself in front of a neatly uniformed agent who had her stamped and ready to go with an efficiency she hadn’t seen in quite some time. In the lot behind the building, she located the small red Mazda he’d assigned her.

She threw her duffel bag into the spotless trunk, then climbed into the front seat and fumbled with the keys. After a second’s study, she started the compact vehicle, but didn’t put it in gear. With the motor purring quietly and the jets rumbling overhead, she simply sat in the car and thought, just as she had a thousand times, about the last time she’d seen her family.

Her baby brother had been too young to do anything but cry, his big eyes filled with confusion. A late surprise for her parents, Toby had been more like Alexis’s own child than a brother. But she’d kissed his plump cheek and turned away. The pain of that moment had carved a hole in her chest, but it was the anger—the disappointment—in her parents’ gazes that had haunted her.

When she was nineteen, however, nothing had meant more to Alexis than Esteban Garza. He was the only person she could think about. She’d met the handsome young social worker through a volunteer program in Peru. He was a teacher, doing incredible work high in the Andes, helping his people. She wanted to be his partner—his soul mate—and toil beside him forever. Everyone had been horrified at the thought of her moving so far from home to live with a virtual stranger, but Alexis had felt she was old enough to make such decisions on her own.

Her mother couldn’t say too much about Alexis’s plans because for years Selena Mission had filled her daughter’s head with romantic stories about Lima, Selena’s birthplace. The men were all handsome, the women gorgeous, the beauty of the country unparalleled. Alexis’s father, Robert, had had plenty to say, though.

“You’re too young. You don’t know what you’re doing… You’re throwing away your life, for God’s sake…” He’d followed Alexis out of the house the day she’d left, begging her to change her mind, then threatening her when she didn’t. “I swear to God, Alexis, if you get in that car, don’t bother to ever come back! No daughter of mine would do something this stupid!”

They’d always been close, so the fight with her father had been shocking to Alexis. Angry and ugly. She’d said things she hadn’t meant, and so, she hoped, had he.

One way or the other, she was about to find out, and then it’d be her time to beg…for forgiveness and understanding. Her throat tightened in anticipation. What if he ignored her pleas as she had his? Her mother was the one who’d written to Alexis. Come home for Thanksgiving, Alexis, she’d scribbled. We miss you terribly.

Knowing it would be easier to explain once she was there, Alexis had never replied. She’d simply packed her things and left. Controlling and critical, Esteban had been impossible to live with and impossible to please, his Latin machismo ingrained so deeply their relationship had been doomed from the very start. Her parents had realized that as soon as they’d met him; it’d taken Alexis a year to understand then another six months to admit it.