Benjamin Read Free Page A

beautiful words floated on the air, haunting and sweet. Grief and memory of being squeezed in his mother’s arms surrounded him. He dropped to his knees and put his head in his hands. The notes hung in the air, raining over him. He’d never be free of what he lost.
    The Cunninghams had stolen his life, even if his heart still beat.

Chapter Two
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    G race was a planner. She made lists in her head and was meticulous in keeping track of everything she was responsible for. Now that Ben had agreed to help her, she couldn’t help but start making more lists.
    After he ran out like his ass was on fire, she couldn’t help but give in to the urge to plan. If she hadn’t, her mind would drift to all she’d lost. Grace did everything she could to prevent that. She’d spent a solid month in a haze, trying to remember when the last time she’d bathed or cleaned her clothes was.
    Planning saved her life. It was the focus she needed to drag herself out of a pit of grief and find a new reason to live.
    Revenge.
    It put ice in her veins and forced her to become patient. She had pretended to be Duffy for a year, lived as a man and listened to what men said when they thought they were safe. She was a predator, stalking her prey, waiting to pounce until the moment was just right. Gathering information and storing it away as she moved closer to what she needed.
    Then Ben had slammed into her scheme with his hard fists and his uncontrollable rage. Now he would make it right. He had to. There wasn’t any other option, and she refused to abandon Henry. She’d had to dig deep and let her pain bubble to the surface to convince him to help her find the compound.
    To find the last Cunningham. To find her son.
    In her heart, she was afraid he was dead, but she held onto a very slim thread of hope. It was what drove her to keep going on the darkest days when all she wanted to do was hide. No matter what she found, she would know what happened to Henry. Her soul would not be at peace until she did.
    Thoughts of his soft, warm hugs and his little boy body snuggled against hers made a flood of memories assault her. She wrapped her arms around her torso and began to hum his favorite lullaby.
    Soon the words danced from her tongue, hovering on the air as tears slid down her cheeks. It had been a long time since she’d allowed herself the luxury of crying. In the first month after Alfred’s death and Henry’s kidnapping, she’d wept a river. Her eyes were always swollen and scratchy. She’d washed a mountain of handkerchiefs.
    Then she’d turned off the tears, unwilling to allow herself to cry anymore. She’d kept that promise to herself for so long. After a year of blocking her emotions except for the darkest of them, she opened herself back up. Just a little.
    As the notes faded into the small structure’s air, she heard a noise. Grace wiped the moisture from her cheeks and got to her feet. She needed to find Ben and start those plans to find the compound.
    She found him on his knees, shoulders slumped, silent, unmoving. She didn’t know if she should walk away or interrupt this strange scene.
    “Can we, uh, pack your things? We’re burning daylight.”
    He didn’t move. She wasn’t known for her patience.
    “Mr. Graham, Ben, please. Every day that passes—”
    He erupted from the ground with a roar, his face a mask of rage. She reared back in surprise. “Don’t remind me every fucking second. I know .” He moved past her into the rough lean-to and disappeared from sight.
    Grace knew enough to leave him be. The man had demons stronger than hers. She didn’t know what he endured as a child, and frankly, wasn’t sure she was prepared to hear it. Henry was all that was important.
    The afternoon sun began to slip down the horizon as she waited for her reluctant companion. She appreciated his cleverness in concealing the structure he lived in. The bushes and trees concealed it from view until she’d been directly in front of the