Page 113 of Forged in Steele

Holloway shook his head.

“Reya has stated that you were behind the kidnapping. With her testimony, you’ll go away for a very long time.” Bristol smiled with satisfaction though she knew Reya couldn’t testify in her mental state.

Holloway’s face paled.

“And if that’s not enough,” Bristol continued while she had him uneasy. “The women you had stashed in your house can pin you to other illegal adoptions. As can Olive Wallace.”

He smirked.

“Oh, right,” Bristol said. “I should say Pam Vogel.”

His smirk evaporated.

“Not to mention Melissa.” Jared sat back and draped his arm on Bristol’s chair. “Nelson Osborne has identified her as the woman who paid him off to take Aaron King hostage and impersonate him at the hospital. She was more than happy to tell our associates that you were the one who gave her the money for his payoff.”

Holloway shrugged, but his eyes held unease. “Her word against mine.”

Bristol ignored his comment. “Add it with the other testimonies, and you’re going to go away for a long time.”

“Go easy on yourself, Holloway,” Jared said. “Time to cop to your role and maybe the DA will take that into consideration.”

That revolting smirk was back on Holloway’s face. “You really don’t have enough on me.”

“Glenn Bates could tell a different story.”If he was alive.“You didn’t think we’d find Luna’s biological father, did you? But we did, and he admitted to being Luna’s father and to you arranging to kidnap her.”

“He’s lying.”

“But you know him?”

Holloway let his gaze wander the room. “No. Of course not. I just know any man who says I had a child abducted is lying.”

“The video at Reya Isaacs’s house doesn’t lie though,” Jared said. “The doorbell camera caught you quite clearly as you carried a woman who was at death’s door. You could go down for murder too.”

“Nah,” he said. “If I was there, which I’m not saying I was, I wouldn’t show my face, and I would never have anything to do with killing someone.”

“Don’t need to see your face these days,” Jared said. “Our forensics staff can use photogrammetry and image comparison to prove it was you. So you see, we’ve got you.”

“Not yet or you wouldn’t be begging me to confess.” His snide smile returned. “I’ll take my chances.”

Bristol resisted growling at Holloway. As an attorney, he knew what to say and what not to say. Didn’t matter. Bristol wouldn’t give up on this investigation, and she knew Jared wouldn’t either until Holloway was charged and convicted of kidnapping Luna and as many other children as they could prove.

24

Four weeks later. Labor Day.

Jared listened to the tires of his vehicle crunch down the driveway of the Steeles’ farm. Her grandad was hosting his famous end-of-the-summer barbecue. Surprisingly not fish, but burgers and chicken.

Jared’s nervous stomach would likely stop him from eating a bite until he talked to Bristol’s dad. Maybe to her grandad too. Today he would ask for her hand in marriage. He’d never done anything like that, and it was far too important to screw up. He and Bristol had been inseparable since Luna’s investigation concluded. Even though Bristol had left her deputy job, they’d worked tirelessly to bring together enough evidence to charge Holloway with kidnapping and an accessory to murder. Now the man awaited trial.

And they also interviewed Sonya Pratt, who confessed to having a one-night stand with Glenn Bates. Her husband insisted on a DNA test, which proved he wasn’t the biological father. He chose to stay with Sonya, but for how long, Jared didn’t know as the huge rift between them seemed almost insurmountable.

Jared had been praying for them and offered another one now as he slowed in the drive. A lineup of cars stretched toward the barn, and he pulled in behind the blue VW Bug at the rear. Not only were family invited to this event but friends too, and Bristol warned fifty or more people could attend.

He got out, and the eighty-degree heat of the summer day hit him in the face. The blazing sun baked into his body, but he didn’t care. It was a perfect day to ask the woman he loved to marry him. Perfect if her dad approved, and if she said yes, that was.

His breakfast churning in his stomach, he strolled down the drive counting the cars to keep his brain occupied. He laid eyes on Amelia in a tree swing holding her baby girl. Her contented expression said it all. She’d moved into a hired hand’s house on the property along with Fae and her son. Amelia and Fae shared a job as a housekeeper for a local vintner. They alternated caring for each other’s child when they didn’t work. A perfect short-term solution until they could figure out how to move forward. Katana did indeed give up her child and moved back home.

He waved at Amelia. “Beautiful day.”

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