Divided Souls (Captured Miracle #3) Read Online Free

my own eyes sweep the parking lot before I stepped forward to my sister, taking the satchel and swinging it over my shoulder. “Thanks.” I glanced around the parking lot once again, not seeing anything of any incrimination. “I love the color.”
    “I’m glad.” Jaylah grinned. “Let’s go shopping, yeah?”
    I nodded. “Yeah.”
    Jaylah beamed once again, sliding her arm through mine as she settled herself beside me. “Don’t act too happy. Dad promised me we would be safe on our trip, so I’m pretty sure we have an audience. In the satchel, you have the disposable phone you asked for. Use it in a fitting room only. On our way home, you’ll have to give me the phone. I’ve bedazzled it so it’s identical to mine, so I’ll leave my phone in the car. I’m confident Dad will check us when we get home.”
    “How,”
    “I promised you I’d help. I’m trying to cover all our basis.”
    I nodded, careful to keep my building smile from showing on my face. “Thank you, Jay.”
    She tightened her arm around mine. “We’re going to have a great sister day today.”
    “How about we do some clothes shopping and then go get a manicure and pedicure on Dad’s dime?” I proposed. Nails had always been something I’d done with my sisters, either at home unprofessionally, or at the mall where they were buffed, glossed, and polished by a professional. The night I’d been taken was a night I’d spent doing my nails with my sisters in our living room.
    “I think that’s the best idea you’ve had yet. Except, between the two we’ll need to grab lunch. You’re growing a life in there,” she patted my still flat belly. “And you need to eat, Nova.”
    This time, I was unable to hide my smile. “Sounds like a plan.”
    ***
    My heart raced as I closed the door of the fitting room behind me. I had an admiring number of clothing articles hanging over my arm to try on . I didn’t know how long I’d be on the phone and I didn’t want my time in the room to appear in any way suspicious in case my father had, in fact, employed someone to watch Jaylah and I on our day out of the house.
    Leaning my back against the door, I pulled open the satchel my fingers had been itching to open since I’d come to the knowledge that there was a phone inside. As I found the bedazzled phone, turning it on, I tried to calm the very painful beating of my heart as I dialed the number I knew from memory. Calix had given me a list of numbers to memorize when we’d been in Greece, so that if I did happen to get myself separated from my husband, I could call someone familiar for help. If I had gotten lost in Greece, I probably would have called my mom, but I was more than thankful I had the numbers stored in my memory now.
    As I dialed Gabriella’s number, my fingers shook, feeling heavy and almost numb. My nerves were almost completely shot, I was certain.
    “Hello.” Gabriella’s voice flowed through the phone and as soon as I heard its familiar melody, a sob caught in my throat. It only took that small sound for her to realize who was calling. “Nova? Oh Nova, how are you?”
    “Gabby,” I breathed her name. “Is he...”
    “He’s alive, sweet girl.” She spoke softly into the phone. “I tranq darted the men who were - hurting him. And then I packaged them up and sent them back to your father. They arrived alive and well, I am told.” She sighed a shaky sound. “I’m not looking to continue this vendetta, or to give reason for it to continue. All I want is my son,” she coughed at her correction. “I want my grandson, the man I raised as my own when his parents were taken, to live the remainder of his life safe and happy. You needn’t worry, Nova, he is safe.”
    “Oh God,” I gasped a sob that sounded on a relieved breath. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
    “Nova, what happened?” Her words were nothing more than a whispered breath, and in them, I could hear her pain. “Why didn’t he fight?”
    “He