had made—private, hold-her-secrets-close Zoey—and nearly died. Rae found and lost love as a result of that investigation. No. Delete that last bubble. It wasn’t relevant.
Zoey disappeared again.
The new resort. The stalker’s brother was an investor.
The books returned.
All these pieces went together somehow. If only she could find one or two more pieces.
Frustrated, she almost closed her laptop when she noticed a new email from Reggie. He said he’d gone through many layers of the shell corporation he believed were linked to E.S.A. Holdings and found an investor—Devon Winters. Rae wasn’t familiar with the name and would run it by Liam when he surfaced.
Disappointment that Reggie’s email hadn’t been more helpful left her deflated.
Last year, she’d been at this same place mentally, when she’d inadvertently learned that important clue from Liam—the man, Malcom Fox—and she’d followed it to find Dina.
Life seemed to have come full circle for her and Liam, but they both knew to avoid the last half of that circle. It could mean injury or death. Except how did they avoid it, exactly?
Regardless, Rae was running on fumes.
To keep going, she needed one thing—inspiration. Encouragement that her mission wasn’t impossible.
She grabbed her cell and found the last story Dad wrote before he died. Whenever she lost hope or needed to feel motivated about keeping her work going, she read his articles.
As she read this particular article he had written from a war zone, interviews of innocent civilians—those who bore the brunt of the battle between governments—all her work up to this point seemed frivolous in comparison.
Tears came to her eyes. She swiped at them. Great way to start a new job, a fake job. But the article motivated her, reminding her who she was and what she was about. She could do this. She would do this. Get to the bottom of Zoey’s mysterious past and her disappearance and, with some digging, Rae would find dirt.
Liam being here at the resort as head of security put him in the best position to ferret out criminal activity. But Rae’s “job” was a waste of her time and skills. She needed to get back with Sam and Ivan. Too many questions floated around about those books.
After reading Dad’s article, she tugged the thriller novel from her handbag and skimmed the pages. Would she find the answer if she read the whole thing? She didn’t have time for that. Then she felt it . . . a perceptible indention, an impression, inside the cover. Her pulse picked up. She ran her forefinger over the spot again. Several imprints could be felt, as though someone had left the impression of a word on the page. Had that been intentional?
She dug through her handbag for paper. But she needed a pencil. Rae rushed over to a desk and opened drawers until she found one. At the table, she placed the paper on top of the impression and rubbed the pencil over the paper as she pressed down—like every elementary school kid learned in art class using leaves gathered in the fall.
Success! She peered at the impression now made visible.
One word.
Ransom.
What could it mean?
Okay, that was it. She had to talk to Sam. Rae called her on her cell but got no answer.
Now she wished she’d grabbed more than one of these stupid novels.
Rae snapped a picture with her cell and forwarded the image to Reggie. She texted the details about the book. If she wasn’t grasping at straws, he would figure it out.
Her cell rang. Sam.
“Sam, hi.” Rae said the words as Natalie Ramirez stepped into the small office.
“Are you ready?” Natalie’s smile was forced.
Um . . .
“I called because we had a cancellation,” Sam said. “Ivan wanted me to ask if you’d like to go heli-skiing.”
Natalie impatiently eyed Rae.
“I’ve learned something, Sam. Will you be there? It’s important that we talk.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Saturday, 11:48 a.m.
Mountain Valley Adventures
Dressed from head to toe in skiwear, Rae stood in the waiting area with a couple from France on their honeymoon. She’d read that people came from around the world for this. The adventure of a lifetime.
She had let Natalie know she would have to come back tomorrow. If she didn’t have Brad behind her hiring, Rae surely would have been fired on the spot.
Then she’d driven out to the lodge where she had expected to meet with Sam, but Kelly had relayed the message that Sam was running late. Honestly, Rae had been surprised to hear from the woman, considering her condition yesterday. Rae was compelled to