Proof of Life: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 4) Read online

  Before Alex could say anything further, there was a light knock on his door. He pushed back from his desk and went to open it.

  Kelsey stood there with a brown paper bag with the deli logo and a tray holding two Styrofoam cups. “Here you go. Need anything else?”

  Alex could see the curiosity on her face, but he wasn’t in any position to answer her questions when he had so many of his own. “No. Thanks, Kelsey.”

  With a quick smile, she closed the door. Alex returned to his seat and set the stuff down on the desk. He looked at the lids to determine which one was the hot chocolate then pulled it free. Leaning across his desk, he held it out to Jordan. The boy hesitated before he took it, finally releasing his grip on the strap of his backpack to wrap both his hands around the cup.

  Alex looked into the bag to see a selection of muffins. He put the bag on the edge of the desk near Jordan. “Help yourself.”

  After pulling his cup free from the tray, Alex sat back down and took the lid off. He inhaled the rich aroma, letting it calm his nerves before he took a sip. And then another. Coffee was definitely his addiction.

  He watched as Jordan poked out the opening in his lid and took a sip of his hot chocolate. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, but eventually, the boy set the cup on the desk and reached for the bag. He took out a muffin without spending much time looking them over.

  Alex waited for Jordan to take a couple of bites before asking his next question. “Does your mother know where you are?”

  Jordan swallowed and lifted his cup to take another sip. “No. I didn’t tell her.”

  “You don’t think maybe she’s worried about you?”

  Jordan shrugged as if he didn’t care. “She thinks I’m staying with a friend for a couple of days.”

  “Are you missing school?” Alex hadn’t been to school in a quite a few years, but he was pretty sure that kids were still in class at the beginning of December.

  “I’m homeschooled. My mom gave me a couple of days off.”

  Alex took another couple sips of coffee, wondering which one of them was going to say the words first. As much as he was confused how—given what he’d been told years ago—the kid could be his, there was really no way to deny what stared him right in the face.

  Jordan Mackenzie was his son.

  CHAPTER TWO

  REBECCA MACKENZIE pushed back from her desk and rotated her neck one way and then the other. Grabbing her phone and mug, she got to her feet and did a few more stretches before making her way into the kitchen.

  It was oddly quiet without Jordan around, but at the same time, it was what she needed in order to make this latest deadline. He’d worked hard since the beginning of the school year, so when he’d asked about staying at a fellow homeschooled friend’s house for a couple of days, she’d been happy to work with the other mom—who just happened to be her best friend—to iron out the details.

  She put her dirty mug into the dishwasher before grabbing a clean one and filling it with a fresh cup of coffee from her Keurig. As she waited for her second cup of the day, Rebecca stared out at the backyard. There was still no snow on the ground even though they were in December, but the forecast was calling for some in the next few days.

  It was hard to think that Christmas was less than a month away. Getting this book published had been her focus for the past two weeks, and once that was done—hopefully within the next twenty-four hours—she could turn her attention to the holiday. Her plan was to put the tree up on Friday with Jordan and then start her Christmas shopping. She was woefully behind on that, but only having to buy for one person made it a bit easier.

  When the Keurig finished its job, Rebecca pulled the mug out and took a sip. Hot and black. Just perfect. She took one more sip before heading back to the office. She’d just settled into her seat when her cell phone rang. Normally, at this point in a deadline, she’d ignore calls from pretty much everyone, but seeing it was Maureen, her friend where Jordan was staying, Rebecca answered it.

  “Hey, Maureen. Are the boys driving you nuts yet?” The beat of silence that followed her greeting had Rebecca frowning. “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m not sure, Bec. Jordan’s not here.”

  “What?” Rebecca straightened in her chair. “He went to your place yesterday.”

  “That’s the thing. Apparently, he and Robby had worked something out.” Maureen sighed. “Last night around seven, Jordan said he wasn’t feeling well and asked if Ed could give him a ride home. Ed and Robby took him home. They watched him go into the house and everything.”

  “I wasn’t here,” Rebecca said, her stomach knotting as anxiety built inside her. “I had gone out for a standing appointment. He knew I was going to be away.”

  “Yeah, apparently that was part of the plan, that we’d each think Jordan was at the other’s house. When I asked Robby this morning if he’d talked to Jordan to see how he was, I could tell something was up. It didn’t take too many threats to get him to crumble. Jordan told him he needed to do something, but he didn’t want you to know. He was smart enough not to give Robby details, so I’m afraid I can’t help you out with that, but I know you needed to know what had gone on.”

  “Where would he go? I don’t understand.” Rebecca got to her feet and made her way down the hallway to Jordan’s bedroom. She pushed the door open, not sure what she expected to find.

  “I wish I could give you more info, but Robby said Jordan told him he wouldn’t tell him because he knew Robby would never be able to keep the information a secret.” Maureen sighed. “Jordan definitely has Robby’s number.”

  Rebecca pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead and rubbed. “Thanks for calling, Maureen. I’m going to try his cell and see if he answers.”

  As she ended the call with Maureen, Rebecca had no clue what she would do if Jordan didn’t answer his phone.

  God, please be with my boy wherever he is.

  With shaking fingers, she tapped her screen to bring up Jordan’s number then pressed the phone to her ear, listening as it rang.

  After three rings, a connection was made, and relief flooded Rebecca.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Hi, Mom? That’s all you have to say to me, Jordan Alexander Mackenzie?” Rebecca took a deep breath and let it out, trying to quell the anger that rose up inside her. “Where are you?”

  There was silence from Jordan’s side of the call though they still had a connection.

  “Jordan! Where are you?” Anger and concern continued to battle for top spot in her emotions. “You tell me right this minute.”

  “Minneapolis.”

  Minneapolis? Oh no… He couldn’t know. How would he know?

  She swallowed hard and tried to keep her voice firm. “What are you doing there?”

  “You told me he was dead.” Jordan’s anger was clear in his voice. “You lied to me.”

  “Jordan.” A voice in the background grabbed her attention.

  The sound of his voice—still familiar after all these years—took the strength from her legs, and Rebecca sank to the floor of Jordan’s bedroom. This was a day she’d never thought would happen. It shouldn’t have happened. She’d taken steps to make sure that Jordan would never know about the man who hadn’t wanted him to even take his first breath. What had gone wrong?

  Rebecca wrapped an arm around her legs. “Jordan, sweetie, can you come home so we can talk about this?”

  She needed him home—back in Chicago—where she could try to repair her relationship with her son and somehow convince him that he didn’t need Alex Thorpe in his life.

  “No.” Jordan’s answer came quickly and with a firmness Rebecca wasn’t used to hearing from her fourteen-year-old son. Every once in a while lately, she’d begun to see flashes of his father, and, unfortunately, this was one of those moments.

  “Please, Jordan.” Even as she said the words, anger rose within Rebecca. She was his mother. She’d been there for him every step of the way s
ince he’d been born. Why did she have to beg him to come home? She should be able to just tell him to get his behind back where he belonged.

  “No, Mom. I need to do this.”

  Suddenly Rebecca wished she’d told Jordan exactly why she had said his father had died. If he’d known the truth, he wouldn’t have gone looking for him.

  But now what?

  “Let me talk to her.” Alex’s request came through loud and clear.

  No. No. No.

  “Rebecca?”

  Trying to calm the emotions that had welled up in the past few minutes, Rebecca took a deep breath and said, “Alex.”

  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Alex was taking this all in stride. Not much had rattled him as a young man, and apparently that hadn’t changed.

  “You need to come here,” Alex said, his tone making it clear he didn’t expect her to argue.

  Concern for Jordan had bled away, but now Rebecca found that long-buried hurt was seeping to the surface. She couldn’t go there. Wouldn’t go there.

  “Maybe you need to come here,” Rebecca replied, hoping her voice wouldn’t betray her. “Bring him back home.”

  “I can’t. There’s a situation going on here that I can’t leave.”

  “A situation more important than your son?”

  There was a pause before Alex spoke again. “I’m not altogether sure you want to go there just yet, Rebecca. I think it would be in everyone’s best interest if you came here. Jordan has made it pretty clear he’s not going back to Chicago, and I can’t leave here right now to bring him back.”

  “And yet you seem to think I can just drop everything here to go there,” Rebecca said.

  “Rebecca, please,” Alex said, suddenly sounding weary. “The other alternative is that he stay here with me until you can clear your schedule to come.”

  Rebecca was torn. She had a deadline she needed to meet, but now that she knew he was safe… “You’ll take care of him if I can’t get there right away?”

  “Of course.”

  Rebecca let out a long breath. “Please let me talk to Jordan again.”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Jordan. Why didn’t you talk to me about this before you went?”

  “Because I didn’t think you’d tell me the truth.”

  Rebecca’s eyes slid shut. For so long it had been just the two of them. When he’d been born, she’d worried if she’d be able to be a good parent for a little boy. She’d wondered if a little girl would have been easier. But things had been fine. Her brother, Connor, had stepped in to help when he could. Apparently it hadn’t been enough.

  “I know Alex will take care of you, but I’ll be there sometime tomorrow.”

  “You don’t need to rush.”

  His words might as well have been a knife to her heart. He was in no hurry to see her. He’d found his father, and she might as well be invisible.

  “I’ll be there sometime tomorrow,” she said again.

  “Okay.”

  “Be good, Jordan.” Rebecca hesitated. “I love you, sweetheart. See you tomorrow.”

  Once the call ended, she sat for a bit trying to figure out how her life had managed to implode over the course of just a few minutes.

  ~*~*~

  “She’ll be here tomorrow,” Jordan mumbled as he lowered his phone.

  Alex was kind of surprised at that. For some reason, he’d assumed she was talking about a few days when she’d said she couldn’t come right away.

  “She has a deadline she has to meet and then she’ll come,” Jordan said.

  “A deadline? What does she do?” Alex let himself think back to when they’d been together. Her plan then was to become a teacher. Had that changed?

  “She writes books and publishes them.”

  “She always did love to read,” Alex mused, as much to himself as to Jordan. “What kind of books?”

  “Cozy mysteries. She writes under the name Kenzie Alexander.” Jordan looked at him, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I always thought she’d chosen Alexander because it was my name, but I guess it was yours first.”

  “Your name?”

  “Yeah. Jordan Alexander Mackenzie.”

  So she’d just taken his name and reversed it. “My name is actually Alexander Jordan.”

  Jordan’s eyes widened a bit at that. “Why would she name me after you? I mean, she told me you were dead, so she clearly didn’t want you in my life so why the name?”

  Alex found himself wondering the same thing. “That you’ll have to ask your mom.”

  Jordan nodded as his gaze dropped, and he shifted in his chair again. “Are you mad that I’m here?”

  “No, I’m not mad at all. Surprised and a little confused, to be honest, but not mad. However, I didn’t lie to your mom. I have things going on right now that need my attention. The best I can offer you at the moment is a place for you to hang out until it’s time to go home. I have meetings lined up today that I just can’t get out of.”

  “That’s okay. I understand.”

  Alex pushed back from his desk and grabbed the bag of muffins. “Bring your hot chocolate and backpack.”

  As the kid fell into step beside him, Alex realized that while Jordan wasn’t as tall as he was yet, he would no doubt get there soon. He had a build similar to what Alex had had at that age. His short hair was blond which he could have gotten from either parent, but his blue eyes were definitely from Alex. He wondered how many personality traits they shared.

  Most men got to know their sons as infants, but he had been handed a teenager. He had no idea what he was supposed to do with him.

  Kelsey spotted them as they approached the foyer area. “Hey, Alex.”

  Alex introduced Jordan to Kelsey without identifying who he was. “Jordan, I’m going to have you wait in the lunchroom. If you need anything, though, you can come back here and ask Kelsey. She’ll help you out.”

  “I sure will,” Kelsey said with a smile.

  Alex led him the short distance from Kelsey’s desk to where the lunchroom was. The one on this floor was smaller than the other floors since fewer people used it, but it still had lots of natural light spilling through the windows and in addition to the tables, it had a couple of comfortable couches and a television.

  “Do you have a tablet or laptop?” Alex asked as he picked up the remote from beside the television and handed it to Jordan.

  “Yeah. A tablet.” He slid his backpack down onto the couch but held onto his hot chocolate.

  “Okay. I’ll have someone come help you get connected to the network.” Alex set the bag of muffins on the table, reluctant to leave him alone, but there was no choice. He desperately needed some time to process all of this and what it meant and how he was going to deal with seeing Rebecca for the first time in so many years. But before he could do anything like that, he had to deal with his day’s schedule. “I’ll be back as soon as I have a break in my appointments, okay?”

  Jordan nodded as he looked around. “Sorry if I’ve kind of messed up your day.”

  Alex rested his hand on Jordan’s shoulder and waited for him to look up and meet his gaze. “Don’t apologize. I just need a little time to sort a few things out and then we’ll figure this out. But don’t worry about anything. You’ve got a place to stay tonight, and then we’ll see what your mom wants to do.”

  Jordan stared at him with eyes identical in shape and color to his own. My son. It hadn’t really sunk in until that moment. This was his son. A son he knew absolutely nothing about. Nothing. Anger burned white hot through him, but Alex squelched it as quickly as it flared to life. In its place came a soul-wrenching sadness. In the end, however, it was guilt that obliterated every other emotion as he acknowledged that he had no one but himself to blame for Jordan’s absence from his life.

  “I’ll be back in a bit. Okay?”

  Jordan nodded but didn’t say anything as he sank down onto the couch next to his backpack.

  Alex too
k a deep breath and let it out. The sooner he got through the meetings he had scheduled that day, the sooner he could get back here to Jordan. When he returned to his office, he stopped to talk to his secretary.

  “Do I have a free hour in my schedule today?”

  Lynne nodded. “Eleven-thirty to twelve-thirty and then you’re completely free after four.”

  “Okay. Call Adrianne and Melanie and ask them to meet me here at eleven-thirty, please.”

  “If they ask why?” Lynne prompted and even though she was the epitome of discretion, Alex didn’t give her any details. He just told her to inform them it was personal and urgent.

  Before she could ask any more questions, Alex saw the agent from the FBI who had been assigned to Alana’s case walking toward them. Given that they’d pretty much confirmed that her kidnapper was her ex from Florida, they were thinking it was likely he’d crossed state lines with her at this point.

  Not far behind the agent was Marcus, looking intently focused as usual. As he greeted them, Alex remembered his promise to Jordan to have someone help him with the wi-fi.

  “I just have to make a quick phone call,” Alex said as he pulled his phone out. “I’ll be right there.”

  Alex waited until Marcus had led the agent into his office before placing a call to Trent Hause, who was BlackThorpe’s computer network guy.

  “Hey, Trent. You got a few minutes to spare?”

  “For you, Alex, sure. What’s up?”

  Not wanting to go into too many details, Alex said, “There’s someone in the lunchroom on the exec floor that needs access to the wi-fi. Could you hook him up?”

  “Sure thing. I’ll take care of that right away.”

  “Thanks, Trent. He’s a relative of mine, and his name is Jordan.”

  After ending the call, Alex stood for a moment gathering his thoughts before going into the office with Marcus and the FBI agent for what was likely to be a meeting where there was no good news.

  CHAPTER THREE

  REBECCA STARED at the computer screen. It had been nearly impossible to focus on the file that she needed to format. The words kept blurring, replaced instead by images of her son with his father. How had it gotten to this point? She’d worked so hard to hide Alex’s identity from Jordan—even though she’d had a weak moment when filling out the birth certificate and named him after Alex. After all, the man had made it pretty clear that a child was not what he wanted. She had never wanted her son to know that his father had rejected him before he’d even been born.