Stop at Nothing Read Online Free Page B

where he’d claimed he was going, but she wasn’t about to out him to the boy. She’d let the bastard do that himself after she told him what she’d found and turned the info over to the feds.
    â€œNo,” she told Tyler. “I haven’t heard from him. But he’s traveling today, and it’s a long flight from Bogotá, Ty. I’m sure he’d call you if he could.”
    He caught her eye in the mirror, giving her a wry look. “He has a phone in the jet, Aunt Abby. It’s not like he can’t call. He just cares more about his business than he does about me.”
    â€œWell, he said he’d be home tonight, right?” Abby reminded him, forcing excitement into her voice. “He probably just figures he’ll talk to you when he gets in.” When her words didn’t lift Tyler’s spirits—probably because she was a lousy actress and couldn’t lie worth a damn—she tried a different tack. “Okay, I tell you what. Since it’s a Friday night, I’ll let you stay up until your parents get home.”
    Tyler’s eyes lit up at the idea, which only served to break Abby’s heart all over again. No matter how her nephew pouted or pretended he didn’t care about his parents’ continued disinterest, the boy desperately longed for their attention and affection.
    She forced a smile that was at odds with the furious words she was going to have for her sister and brother-in-law when she saw them again. “Sound like a plan?”
    Tyler’s smile grew. “Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter 3
    Kyle had called her.
    Abby sat on the deck overlooking the private lake on her sister’s property, listening to the water gently lap against the boats moored at the dock. She stared at his phone number, her heart pounding as her stomach performed an acrobatic act that would’ve put Cirque du Soleil to shame.
    She’d been so rattled by the call from Hamilton that she hadn’t even bothered checking to see whose call she’d missed until now. And there his name was, like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to have called out of the blue after three years.
    At the sight of his name her stomach had dropped at warp speed, bringing a flush of heat to her skin. Which pissed her off. She wasn’t some silly little schoolgirl with a crush. She was a grown woman, for crying out loud!
    So why was calling him back so freaking hard ? After three years, she should be able to handle talking to Kyle Dawson. What had happened between them was amazing, incredible. But it was over. Had been over for some time now.
    And now, suddenly, he’d called her . If she’d been a person who believed in fate, she would’ve considered it a sign that the universe was trying to tell her something. Even so, she couldn’t overlook the fact that the cosmos seemed to be giving her a giant smack upside the head.
    She knew Kyle wasn’t married, didn’t even have a serious girlfriend. Working with his three older brothers at the Sheriff’s Department made it impossible not to hear the latest Dawson family gossip. So what was the harm in an old friend calling another old friend to say hi? Right? Just a friend. It’d be fine. She could be aloof, indifferent. No problem. No problem whatsoever.
    She blew out a harsh breath, then before she could talk herself out of it yet again, she pressed the screen over his number. But just as the line connected, a text message notification popped onto the screen, disconnecting the call.
    With a groan at her thwarted attempt at forced nonchalance, Abby glanced at the message, expecting to see yet another message from her sister, another excuse for her late arrival. But it was from a blocked number. Frowning, she opened the message.
    Enjoying your wine?
    Attached to the message was a picture of her as she sat now on the deck in an Adirondack chair, a glass of Chardonnay in hand.
    Her