Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (novels to improve english txt) 📗

After the recent complications from her annual physical, her doctor diagnosed her with polycystic ovary syndrome and said her chances of bearing children were remote. She couldn’t give a husband a child. Additionally, her trust in men had wavered ever since she’d discovered her college boyfriend, Colt Fredericks, was the serial rapist targeting women in her campus. Even after all these years, her nightmares from his attack proved she needed to guard her heart. Those nights she’d read her Bible until dawn trying to curb the monsters rolling through her brain. Her favorite passage in Psalms spoke about hovering under God’s wings. A place she’d spent many hours.

But the news from her doctor had shattered her world…once again.

Could she trust in His wings when she felt betrayed? When she no longer knew her purpose in life? God, help me past this. Show me who I am in You.

“No new developments on the dark web. Martha has been monitoring it,” Corporal Bakker said, interrupting her thoughts. “Call me Elias, please.”

“Will do.” Layke pulled his notebook from a pocket. “Shall we find out some information from Gabe?”

Hannah bit her lip. “Elias, is it okay if Layke and I talk to the boy alone? He’s very nervous and we haven’t built his trust yet. I think too many people will scare him.”

“Understood. I’ll be in my office if you need me. Send my wife back. I need her to work on our books.” He disappeared into a room to the right.

Moments later, Layke and Hannah took their coats off in the heated lunchroom. Hannah sat beside Gabe on the couch.

The boy stuffed another Twizzler in his mouth.

Layke sat in a chair opposite them. “Slow down, sport. We’ll get you a real supper after we talk. Can you tell us why you were wandering in the woods without a coat? Where did you come from?”

The boy dropped his treat as a tremor shook his limbs.

Hannah pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around him. “It’s okay, Gabe. You’re safe. You can tell us what happened.”

Should they press him right now? Maybe he needed more rest.

“Layke, perhaps we should do this tomorrow after he’s had a good night sleep.” She needed to protect the boy.

The constable pursed his lips before taking her arm, tugging her off the couch. “We need to get to the bottom of this ring. They have Noel.” Layke’s whispered words spoke urgency.

“But Gabe is scared.”

“I know, but he’s safe here.”

“He doesn’t trust us yet,” Hannah said.

Layke positioned his fists on his hips. “We need—”

“I’m okay now.” Gabe had come up behind them.

Hannah’s heart skipped a beat. The boy made her go to mush. She bent down and hugged him. “You’re so brave, Gabe. Are you sure?” She pulled back.

He nodded as his brown eyes filled with tears. “I want to help the other boys.”

Hannah stood and glanced at Layke, catching his gaze. Had he heard it, too?

Boys? Did that mean the gang didn’t want girls in their operation?

Layke lifted Gabe up and put him back on the couch. “There were no girls there?”

He shook his head.

“Do you know why?” Hannah sat beside him.

He shrugged.

Layke squatted in front of him. “Gabe, tell us what you know.”

Gabe’s eyes widened. “The bad men will kill the boys at the ranch.”

A chill skittered across Hannah’s arms despite the warmth in the room.

They needed to find these boys…and fast.

* * *

Layke blinked, his breath catching. Had he heard right? He had to find Noel. Now. Maybe Gabe exaggerated. Boys tended to do that, didn’t they? Layke examined the look on Gabe’s face. The eight-year-old’s expression told him he believed what he said. If that was the case, Layke had to locate the rest of the children and stop this gang before more were abducted. To do that, he needed information.

He squeezed Gabe’s arm. “It’s gonna be okay. We will protect the others. Can you tell us how the bad men took you?”

“Me and my friends were at a campout.”

“Wait,” Layke said. “In the winter?”

Hannah tilted her head. “Happens all the time here. You can stay warm when you know what you’re doing.”

“In the snow?”

“Yes, it acts as insulation if you do it correctly.”

Something he may have learned as a child if his mother had let him join a boy’s club. However, she refused to let him have friends and made him stay outside in the cold for hours on end so she could have her boyfriends over. It was then his disdain for winter had erupted. However, he had learned by the age of six not to argue with his mother or she’d teach him a lesson by beating him. Her blows still haunted him today. Why was he thinking so much about his mother lately? He shrugged off his childhood thoughts and focused on Gabe. “How many of your friends went?”

“Three.”

“Your parents were okay with that?”

Gabe averted his gaze but not before Layke caught the sadness in his wet eyes. This boy had a story to tell.

“I don’t have a mommy or daddy. I live at the Frontier Group Home.”

Hannah sighed as her shoulders slumped. She fiddled with the bag of licorice.

It was clear to Layke she’d grown attached to this boy. Already. Or was it something else that had her agitated? “Were your buddies from there, too?”

“Yes,” Gabe said.

Hannah grabbed his hand. “How long have you lived there?”

“Not sure. Sister Daphne told me I was left on the doorstep of a different group home when I was a baby. They moved me to Frontier after no one wanted me.”

She winced and stared at her hands, twiddling the ring on her right finger. “Do you know anything about your parents?”

Layke noted Hannah’s reaction to the news of Gabe being an orphan. What had caused that subtle change in her demeanor?

“They didn’t love me enough to keep me,” the boy said.

Layke wrote the group home’s and Sister Daphne’s names down. He would call her later for more details. Again, his own