Chapter One
Sam awakened suddenly, unsure of where she was or whether her disturbing thoughts were reality or dreams. She blinked several times, ensuring she was fully awake. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t recall what it was.
Ethan… He was missing.
She needed to find him before it was too late. As she started to get up, Nick’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“What’s wrong, babe?”
“Ethan…”
“Is home safe with Tracy.”
His words brought comfort, but the feeling of impending doom didn’t go away. “Mike.”
“Is with Angela.” Sam’s other sister had invited Mike to stay with her while things were tense between him and Tracy.
“He got arrested.”
“Yes, but he’s home now. Everyone is safe, sweetheart. You can stand down.”
Whenever she was on full alert like this, something was wrong. That was almost always true, and she couldn’t be convinced it wasn’t true now.
“I need to check the kids.”
“Okay…”
Sam never did that in the middle of the night, as they were great sleepers and rarely woke before morning. After grabbing the robe she’d left across the end of the bed, she put it on and went to look in on them.
Scotty, who was fourteen and turning into a young man before their very eyes, had kicked off his covers, so she tucked him back in, kissed his forehead and then went to see the twins. Their six-year-old “Littles,” Aubrey and Alden, were sleeping wrapped up in each other as usual, two angels sent straight from heaven to make their lives complete.
She kissed them both and stroked their soft blond hair, delighted that their adoption was now official. What a relief that was after their maternal grandparents had made numerous plays for the money their wealthy parents had left them, without once asking after the children’s welfare or trying to see them. That ordeal was in the past now, and she, Nick and Scotty could enjoy their family without the threat of the twins being ripped away from them.
Thank God for that, because none of them would’ve survived losing those sweet babies after having spent months loving and caring for them. She returned to the suite she shared with Nick in the White House residence and sat on the sofa, still unsettled.
Nick joined her, wearing only flannel pajama pants and looking sexier than any man or president had a right to look with his hair mussed and whiskers on his jaw. After tossing a blanket over them, he drew her into his embrace.
She rested her head on her favorite chest in the world. “You should go back to bed and get some sleep while you can.” His insomnia was horrible at the best of times, and the last few months had been a long way from that.
“Not while my love is upset about something.”
“Did you check in? Is anything going on?”
“I checked both our phones, and all is quiet for once.”
Hearing that, she relaxed ever so slightly, but the anxious feeling remained. “I’m not sure what has me so wound up.”
“I have a theory.”
“Are you planning to share it with me?”
“You might not like it.”
“Try me anyway.”
“If you ask me, your entire nervous system is in hyperdrive because of Ethan’s kidnapping, Mike’s arrest and the uproar between him and Tracy.” Her beloved sister and brother-in-law had fallen out over Mike allowing Ethan the freedom that had led to his abduction. Tracy had objected to their eleven-year-old being allowed to move freely about the capital city and blamed Mike for what’d happened to their son.
“I can’t believe Mike got into a bar fight,” Sam said.
