Page 1 of The Captive Missing

Chapter 1

Her heart was going to explode. The way it hammered in her chest she couldn’t hardly breathe. Clutching at her seatbelt with one hand, Val braced herself against the inside of the rear door with the other. The driver’s heavy foot pressed steadily down on the gas pedal, causing the Bentley’s engine to rev and strain.

How long had it been since she felt this type of fear? Four years. Four peaceful years living under the radar in the south of France and in only a moment, it all came flying apart.

“My son?” Val managed to breathe out the question.

“We’re on our way to his school now.” The driver’s hands twisted on the wheel, sending the car careening around a corner. “He should be fine.”

“Should be?”

“Your husband’s attorney already called. Jace is waiting for us.”

Victor’s words were calm, the way he himself always was. He’d been her personal driver for as long as they’d been in the country and Jason trusted him. But this? Val hadn’t even been at the stables an hour when Victor had come for her. Bracing both of his hands on her shoulders, he had steadied her before delivering the news.

Your husband has been placed under arrest.

She had merely blinked at him then. Her brain was so slow to catch up.

But then Victor had led her to the backseat of the shining silver car. With her horse still in the grooming racks and her saddle sitting on a post, they reversed down the brick driveway and out onto the asphalt road.

Her stomach lurched once more. Sweat came to tingle in her palms.

“What are the charges against him?” She asked.

The French police have taken Jason. But why? She had seen him just that morning. They’d been safe in their home with Jace rushing all about. His boyish energy was typical of any five-year-old at the start of a new day. Nothing was amiss. At least nothing on Jason’s end.

Val had been forced to lie to him again, but that couldn’t have anything to do with his arrest. She was certain.

“Some American problem.” Victor answered, then braked hard before swerving to pass a slow moving van.

“What American problem?”

“I don’t know.”

Val exhaled, but the pit in her stomach did not ease. Outside her window, lavender fields whipped by. Row upon row of the romantically purple flower with its intoxicating scent blurred as they passed. They left her feeling slightly woozy.

It was beautiful here. Of course it was. It was beautiful everywhere Jason Riggs tried to blend in. Tilting her head up, Val examined her own reflection in the window. This area was expensive. The town car she was riding in was expensive. Jace’s private school was expensive. In fact, all around her, luxury bloomed.

And she couldn’t fault Jason, not really. Her husband just couldn’t help himself. No matter what identity he used, or where he lived, the man turned everything he touched into mountains of money.

In fact, he had his fingers in half a dozen businesses now, the largest of which was still Riggs Oil. Despite the promise he’d once made to give it all up and disappear, Val’s initial assessment had been correct. After the first few years, Jason’s father had tracked him down. It wasn’t long after that Jason stepped back in as CEO.

Just ahead, Val could see the heavy iron gates of Jace’s school rapidly approaching. The sedan slowed before pulling carefully between the two pillars of stone flanking the entrance. Clinging ivy climbed the building beyond, adding charm to the blend of stone and plaster walls.

When Val twisted to unbuckle her seatbelt, Victor shook his head.

“Wait here,” he instructed, as he put the car in park. “Jace will notice something is wrong if you go to collect him.”

Ducking her head in acceptance, Val stilled her hand. He was right. And she didn’t want to upset her son. But watching Victor move off toward the building alone was a challenge. As a mother, she wanted to run inside, flying down the corridors until she reached her son.

Only when he was with her would she begin to feel okay. Only then would she really be able to breathe again. Because if they could take Jason just like that, what was stopping them from taking Jace? From discovering he was truly a captive born?

Yes, they had done their best to kept his true circumstances a secret. On paper, he was the son of a free born woman named Kelly Martin. Later, that free born woman married Jason Riggs and became Kelly Riggs. And though Jason insisted on legally adopting his own son, Jace’s birth certificate still listed his biological father as “unknown.”

By fleeing the States and staying out of the lime light, their little family had been able to escape any real scrutiny. Tucked away on another continent, Val worked hard to avoid the media’s eye. For all intents and purposes, she lived a good life as Kelly. The only time she even heard her old name was when she was at home with Jason. He just couldn’t seem to kick the habit.

Squeezing her eyes shut a moment, Val inhaled deeply. Agency rhetoric sounded in her head. Unwarranted emotion of any kind is intolerable.

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