Page 96 of One Kind Soul

But telling me my parents aren’t my parents must have been a real blast.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Nicole recalled her father’s voice on the phone. He hadn’t denied Lynda’s big reveal. For over thirty years, she’d believed she was a Travers. All this time, she hadn’t been. Who were her real parents? Why had they abandoned her? Had they specifically chosen the Travers to be her parents? What if the Travers hadn’t wanted her either? She could have ended up dead before her first birthday if they hadn’t taken her in.

Apparently that would have pleased Lynda greatly. Nicole could never figure out why Lynda had hated her so much, but gaining a little sister who wasn’t really family when you had no desire for a sibling could piss off a person. Especially a person like Lynda who had been a little . . . off to begin with.

Now Nicole wondered if the Travers had more to tell her about this big secret. Did they ever find out who her real parents were? Could she contact them? Should she?

Who the hell am I?

Well, that was a stupid question. She was Nicole Travers whether she shared DNA with Aidan and Colleen Travers or not. They’d raised her. They’d provided for her. They’d loved her. And if either of them had known what Lynda had been doing to Nicole all those years, they would have taken action for her too.

Perhaps this was good news. It meant she had no blood ties to Lynda. Clearly Nicole needed a conversation with her parents, which meant she needed out of this situation. She scanned the room. Aside from the bed, the only other furniture was a chest of drawers along the far wall. Only the window and a door served as exits from the space, but Nicole couldn’t reach either of those from her tied position on the bed.

Unless . . .

She slid off the twin bed. When rough wood met her feet, she looked down, noting her shoes were gone.

Making sure I can’t get too far if I do manage to get out of here?

Which meant that perhaps a way out of there existed.

The rope tether was long enough for Nicole to lift the bed and test its weight. She could definitely slide the bed to any location in the room, but it was going to make a lot of noise. She had no way of knowing where Lynda and Marty were. It seemed quiet outside the bedroom, but they could still be out there.

She yanked at the ropes again, but they were pretty secure. She’d bet money Marty was a real genius with knots. After spending a few more minutes seeing if she could free herself, she let out a frustrated breath.

Goddammit. She needed a multi-tool to get free. A hot cowboy farmer probably had a multi-tool. In fact, she was sure Christian did because she’d moved two of them from the barn loft to the farmhouse.

As she contemplated her next course of action, the door suddenly swung open, causing Nicole to yelp in alarm.

“Good.” Lynda strolled in. “You’re awake.”

“Yeah, and I slept real well too.”

Lynda laughed, the sound grating on Nicole’s ears. “You’re about to have the best sleep of your life, Nicki.”

“Then why allow me to wake up now?” Whatever Lynda had pumped into her neck hadn’t killed her. Why have these extra steps?

“I’ve waited a long time for this, Princess Uggers.” Lynda walked deeper into the room. “The only reason I didn’t hurt you beyond repair when we were kids was because it would have killed Mom and Dad to have lost you.” She narrowed her eyes at Nicole. “But I’d made plans in case I changed my mind. Tamper with your bicycle. Poison your food. Set fire to your bed while you were in it.” Lynda gestured to the bed in the room. “I almost went with that one today, but it’s rather messy and this isn’t my home.”

“Ah, yes. It’s Marty’s.” Nicole sat on the bed, hoping Lynda would come closer. “Where is he now?”

“Out doing a sweep for police.”

So it’s just the two of us in the apartment? Excellent.

“How did you get him and those people in Maplehaven to help you with all this?” Nicole asked.

“Money, of course. People will do anything for the right price.”

“Where did you get money?” Nicole asked. “You’ve been in jail for years and the police confiscated all your assets.”

“Not all of them.” Lynda smiled. “My dear husband is a genius. Tim has several stashes of money in secret places here and there. I dipped into that to hire people.”

“Hope you got bargain prices.”

“I hadn’t planned on spending so much. I’d hoped that van in Boston would take care of you.” Lynda waved a hand at her. “We can see that plan was a bust.”

Nicole reeled from Lynda’s admission that the van had been her doing. Christian could have been killed simply because he’d offered to give her a ride. She tamped down on her emotions though. She refused to give Lynda any type of satisfaction.