Page 115 of Juniper Hill (The Edens 2)

“It would be better if you stayed here,” Winn said. “In case we need information.”

“You could call me.” My eyes watered. “Please. Please don’t make me sit here and watch. If this was Hudson . . .”

“Okay.” She blew out a deep breath. “All right. Keep your phone close.”

“I will.” I moved to take a step, but before I could walk away, Knox’s hand shot out and clasped around my elbow.

“Wait, honey.”

“What?” I spun. “Are you coming too?”

“We need to tell Winn the whole story.”

“What whole story?” she asked.

It took me a moment to read his face. Then realization hit me and my stomach did a cartwheel.

Oliver. My parents. The woman who’d tried to blackmail them for money.

“Do you think this is related?” I asked Knox.

“I don’t know.” His forehead furrowed. “But if it is, Winn needs the truth.”

All this time, we’d waited for my parents to contact us. We’d endured their silence, hoping for the best possible outcome. Except what if that had been a mistake? What if Drake had been a target for months? What if we could have stopped this from happening?

“Memphis.” Winn placed her hand on my shoulder, pulling me out of my head. “Talk to me.”

“Last month, around Thanksgiving, my parents showed up in Quincy. Our relationship is . . . strained. They came because a woman was blackmailing them. She threatened to expose Drake’s father’s name. To tell people who his father is.”

“Who is his father?” she asked.

I looked to Knox.

Knox was Drake’s father. In all of the important parts of that label, Knox was Drake’s dad.

They just didn’t share the same DNA.

“His name is Oliver MacKay,” I said, then told her the whole story.

> Winn planted her hands on her hips. “Could they have taken Drake? Oliver or his wife or her family?”

“I don’t know.” Maybe they wanted him after all. Or maybe this was Oliver’s wife’s punishment for his infidelity.

“Chances are, Jill has him,” Winn said. “You said she loves him. The daycare owner confirmed that Drake’s her favorite, by far. Given that, my hunch is that she’s probably overstepped. She took him on a walk to a park or downtown or to visit a friend.”

“But . . .” Knox voiced the doubts written on Winn’s face.

“I need to know what happened with the woman in New York,” she said.

“Okay.” With shaking hands, I scrolled through my contacts and found my father’s name. I tapped it and raised the phone to my ear, holding my breath as it rang. My heartbeat was so loud and hard that I felt my pulse blast through my veins.

“Memphis,” he answered.

“What happened with the woman who was blackmailing you?”

“You made it clear that you didn’t care about the outcome. You had your chance—”

“My son is missing.” My voice cracked. “What happened? Please.”