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The Searchers
Kay David
The truth is supposed to set you free…After the birth–and death–of her child, Maya fled her hometown and made a new life for herself. Many years later, her lover's brother reveals she was told a lie. Her son is still alive. And now Maya is prepared to do whatever it takes to find him.Shepard Reyes wants to find his brother's child as much as Maya does. Now that the truth about his nephew is known, the boy's life is once again in danger. There are too many people who don't want him to claim what is rightfully his….
“Tell me what you want, then get the hell out of my life.”
“Fine,” Shepard replied. “As I said earlier, I’ve been given some information that I need you to confirm. It involves my brother…and you.”
Maya shrugged. “There’s nothing to confirm or deny. What happened between the two of us took place too many years ago to matter now. What is it you really want?”
“I want the truth.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do,” he said. “When you were a teenager, you took a lover five years your senior. He was my brother, but he was also a criminal who justified his actions in the name of revolution. In the end, he paid for his foolishness with his life.”
“He made his own choices,” she said stubbornly.
“And so did you. But there’s more to the story than that, isn’t there?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “A woman recently came into my office and told me something. A secret, she said.”
Maya’s face slowly became the color of bones.
“You know what she told me, don’t you?”
“Of course not. How could I?” She licked her lips.
“You’re lying.” Shepard leaned across the table. “And this is the time for truth. Tell me, Maya, did you have my brother’s child?”
Dear Reader,
My husband opened a fortune cookie last week and the little paper inside read, “Stop your search. What you seek is already yours.”
I love this message because everyone I know seems to be searching for something—the right relationship, the perfect job, the flawless body…. We’re all constantly looking for more than we already have, and I’m as guilty as the next person. Why do we do this?
My mother would have said we’re cursed with ambition, and in a way, she would have been correct. Most of us are ambitious and we want the best.
There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, because these searches make us better people. Sometimes, though, the treasures we seek are in our grasp and we’re blind to that reality. We don’t recognize what we already have.
There’s a corollary to this. I call it the “unexpected treasure.” This is when we search for one thing and discover another.
In this story, Maya Vega is searching for legitimacy. She wants, once and for all, to be someone others look up to. What she doesn’t realize is that she already has this respect. And Shepard’s looking for a truth that he already knows. He’s been able to deny the reality for some time, but his eyes are about to be opened in a way he can no longer ignore.
Together, Maya and Shepard begin their search, their pasts interwoven as tightly as a braid. Both come to realize the answers they already knew and then they discover something better, something they weren’t even seeking in the first place. They encounter the unexpected treasure.
In all your searches I hope you find the same success. Just remember…be open to unexpected treasures and consider the idea that whatever you’re seeking might already be yours.
Sincerely,
Kay David
The Searchers
Kay David
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
PROLOGUE
Punto Perdido, Colombia
“YOU GO IN THERE and tell her the child is dead or por Dios, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born yourself!”
An inch away from his wife’s face, Segundo Alvarez jerked his thumb toward the room at the rear of their shack, his voice as sharp as the axe he carried every day to the emerald mines. “Tell her it’s dead then get rid of her. ¿Comprendes?”
Renita darted a look past her husband to the bedroom. Her niece was lying in a bloody mess on the bed, the midwife, Amarilla Rodriguez, still working beside her. Bringing her terrified gaze back to Segundo, Renita knew pleading for mercy was useless but she had to try.
“Segundo, por favor… She’s weak, she’s sick, she just gave birth…” Renita shook her head, her eyes filling before she could stop them. “I can’t throw her out, she’s my only family. And I can’t tell her the baby died! It’s not right to—”
Without any warning, Segundo raised his hand and backhanded her. She fell to the dirt floor with an involuntary cry, biting her lip savagely, the sharp sting of blood and pain flooding her mouth. The taste enraged her, and she glared at her husband, her hand against her face.
“How can you do this?” she screamed. “She’s just a teenager! If they find out, they’ll kill us all!”
“They won’t find out,” he said ominously. “I’m going to take care of everything.” Stepping closer, he swung his hand up and she flinched, but instead of hitting her again, he jabbed a finger toward the bedroom. “Go in there and tell her. Then make her disappear. I won’t have a puta like her under my roof! I’m a God-fearing man.”
To punctuate his order, he kicked her hard, the edge of his cheap leather boot catching her squarely in the chest. Red stars exploded in her vision but Segundo gave her no time to think about her agony. Instead, he yanked her to her feet, his grip on her elbow the single thing holding her up. His words were hot against her face, his breath fetid. “I’m warning you, Renita. You get her out of here, or I will.” His jaw tightened. “¡Esto me molesta!”
“But the baby…” she whimpered.
“I will handle the bastard and his father, too.” He squeezed her arm until his thumb met his fingers, then he shook her as a dog would a rag. “When I get back, she’d better be gone. If she isn’t, I’ll take care of her myself and you’ll like that even less.”
He released her abruptly and she fell to the floor, tiny puffs of dirt rising from his angry footsteps as he stomped out of the house. Stunned with pain and guilt, Renita wrapped her arms around her waist and struggled to recover her breath. Then she lifted her eyes and met the midwife’s gaze. Amarilla’s blank expression reflected none of Renita’s anger and helplessness. She’d seen too much in her lifetime; she knew she couldn’t change what was about to happen.
Renita buried her face in her hands and began to sob. The blood-soaked midwife turned to the bed and gently took the young girl’s hand. Compared to the women whose children she delivered, Amarilla was old, but the week before, for the very first time, she’d given birth herself and had a new daughter. She didn’t have to imagine the pain her words were about to inflict. Her rough voice held sympathy as she leaned over the bed and spoke.
They heard the scream all the way to the square.
CHAPTER ONE
Muzo, Colombia
Eighteen years later
THE EMERALD WEIGHED at least fifty carats, probably more.
Hefting the uncut stone in his hand, Shepard Reyes turned to the window as his helicopter rose into the air. A cloud of fine, black dust, stirred by the spinning rotors, enveloped them, then the chopper gained altitude and escaped the choking darkness. Shepard put his hand against the bulletproof glass and stared into the open pit a hundred feet below.
The Muzo mine was the oldest, largest and most productive emerald mine in the world. And the Reyes family had owned it since the conquistadores had come to Colombia.
He’d seen the cuts across the mountain’s top thousands of times but Shepard always had to look. He’d spent years learning the Muzo’s secrets and no one else in the family knew the mine as he did, including his brother, Javier, who was in charge of the family business.
The pilot set his headings for Bogota and seconds later the mine was gone, lost in the mountain mist. Dropping the stone into his briefcase, Shepard wished the problem he’d learned of this morning would be as easy to leave behind, but his gut told him it wasn’t going to go away. At least not until he made it do so.
The peasant woman had come to his office early, before the miners changed shifts. Her name had meant nothing to him, but he’d politely shaken her hand and directed her to sit. He was frequently approached by the wives or mothers of the men who worked in the mine to settle some kind of dispute or fix some problem they’d gotten into. They knew who the real jefe was; they expected Shepard to help and he did. That’s how things were done in Colombia.
She’d perched on the edge of the chair and refused his offer of coffee. Waiting for her to speak, he’d put her age somewhere between thirty and fifty—she wore the exhausted look of someone who worked hard…and never stopped. But her clothes were clean, and she had an appealing way about her even though she was clearly uncomfortable sitting before him.
“What can I do for you, señora?” he’d finally prompted.
She looked down at the floor and spoke softly. “You have already done more than I could ever ask for,” she answered. “I came here today to do something for you.”
“I’m sure you owe me nothing, but please tell me how I’ve helped you. I’d like to hear your story.”
“I have a son who is five,” she said. “He couldn’t run like the other children and he’d get tired very quickly.” With an expression of distress, she put her hand on her chest. “I took him to one of the clinics you opened, and the doctors in Bogota, they operated on his córazon…” Her smile transformed her face. “You saved my child’s life, so I wanted to thank you.”
“I’m glad the doctors could help.”
And he was. For years, the miners had suffered conditions no one should have to endure. Neither Javier nor their father, Eduard, had thought their workers needed anything more so Shepard had put up his own money to build and staff the small hospital.
“I want to pay you back, señor.”
“You owe me nothing.” Shepard looked at the files on his desk. Javier’s name was on the letterhead, but it was Shepard who did all the work, and it was piling up, even as they spoke. “The clinic is free. No one pays for anything.”
“I don’t have money to give you.”
“And that’s fine—”
“I have something else, though.”
“It isn’t necessary—”
“I have a secret.” She ignored his attempt to stop her. “You should have been told about this years ago, but…” She dropped her eyes to her lap and knit her fingers together then looked up at him again. “But I didn’t have the courage. Now I must tell you.”
Her words intrigued him, despite the work he had calling to him. “Go on.”
“Something happened in my village a long time ago and you need to know about it.”
With a sudden uneasiness, Shepard stood and came closer to where she sat, taking the other chair in front of his desk.
“My niece had a child.” She studied Shepard’s face. “He had your look about the eyes, but that’s it. He resembled his father more.”
“His father?” Shepard’s gut tightened. “And that would be…?”
“Your brother, of course.”
Shepard closed his expression and rose. He’d been fooled, but she’d seemed sincere, unlike the others who’d approached him in the past. “I don’t handle Señor Javier’s affairs,” he said coldly. “If you want help for the boy, go to him, not me.”
“You don’t understand—”
“I understand perfectly, señora.” Shepard returned to the other side of his desk. “You are not the first to come here and ask for money, believe me.”
She stood up, as well. “I’m not asking for money and I’m not talking about Señor Javier. The boy’s father was Señor Renaldo.”
His hand on the back of his leather chair, Shepard froze. “Renaldo is dead.”
“I know that. But he wasn’t dead eighteen years ago. He and my niece were lovers and they had a child. He was born the day his father died.”
“Your niece…?”
“Was Maya Vega.”
