Barefoot Dreams by Roxanne St. Claire

Author:Roxanne St. Claire [Claire, Roxanne St.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: South Street Publishing
Published: 2017-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

As they drove back to the resort, the skies had opened up to a torrential downpour, blurring the world as if Lila were looking through tears. She wasn’t. She refused to cry. Refused to panic, shake, blame, scream, fight, or cry. She would not cry.

And Gabe, of course, went to work. Driving through the rain, he instantly set Chessie up as the point person working the phones at the house with his parents, Nino, and Poppy. Everyone else in the family, plus Luke and a few of his security team, had gone on an organized search of the grounds and beach.

Oh God. The beach. Would Rafe go there alone? Why would he leave? Everyone was so focused on finding him, they’d yet to get the whole story on why or when or how he left. That was the answer to finding Rafe, Lila knew.

“Get Poppy on the phone,” she said suddenly to Gabe and Chessie, who was on speaker.

Gabe threw her a look, no doubt thinking like she was. “And Nino,” he added.

Chessie didn’t hesitate. “Of course. Hang on.”

While they waited, the phone on the console between them, Gabe reached over and gave Lila’s hand a squeeze. “The Rossis and Angelinos are on this,” he said. “You couldn’t have a better search team.”

She nodded, staring ahead. “Why would he leave, Gabe?”

“Have you met that kid?”

“He doesn’t act out for the fun or attention,” she said. “Yes, he’s a handful. Yes, he’s a risk-taker. Yes, he’s daring and fearless and five years old. But he doesn’t do things to get attention. He does them for a reason. What would be his reason for sneaking out of the house in a thunderstorm?”

“The rings,” Gabe said without hesitation. “He must think he knows where they are.”

“I am here,” Poppy said, her Jamaican accent broken by a hitch in her voice. She was crying, Lila knew. And if she was crying, Nino must be heaving great big Italian sobs and throwing his hands in the air.

“I am, too,” Nino said, surprisingly cool in this situation. “They won’t let me go out and look for my own great-grandson. Gabriel, tell them I can look for my own great-grandson!”

“Calm down, old man. We need you right where you are. I know Chessie said Mom was the last one to see him, but all we know is he went to the bathroom and disappeared. So do you think he sneaked out on the pool deck and left?”

“What do you mean ‘we think’?” Poppy asked. “The boy went to the bathroom, and there’s a door to the pool, and every single person in this family who was here was in the living room. Do you think he was kidnapped?” Her voice rose with a whine.

“And you can see the whole pool deck from the living room,” Gabe said, ignoring the suggestion.

“Which means he intentionally hid from sight,” Lila added. “He wasn’t exploring or curious or trying to freak everyone out. He had a destination. Where? Were you talking about the lost rings before he left?”

“No, sir,” Poppy assured him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.