Page 120 of Cole

“Jill?”

“My birth mom. She’ll be getting her favorite daughter back.”

Cole didn’t know what to say to that. This was a situation that he’d never imagined facing, though he had heard stories of kidnapped children being found years later.

He had to admit that he was very curious about the years Angelica had spent away from her family.

But first and foremost, his focus had to be on Annie.

Hand in hand, they made their way back to the house. In the mudroom, they removed their outerwear in silence.

“Ready?” Cole asked.

“No.” Annie’s blue-green eyes were damp with unshed tears. “But here we go.”

Nyla followed at Annie’s side as they made their way through the mansion to Duncan’s office.

The office door stood slightly ajar, just liked he’d left it, and Annie paused before it, her fingers tightening around Cole’s. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, silently telling her he was right there with her. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Duncan looked up from his computer, his face drawn with a mixture of emotions Cole couldn’t fully read. Relief, anxiety,hope—all seemed to war for dominance in the older man’s expression.

“Annalisa,” Duncan said, standing immediately. “Come in.”

The office was warm and smelled faintly of leather and the expensive cologne Duncan favored. A fire crackled in the ornate fireplace along one wall, casting dancing shadows across the rich mahogany furniture.

“Dad,” Annie’s voice was barely audible. “Cole told me.”

Duncan nodded, gesturing toward the leather chairs positioned in front of his desk. “Please, sit.”

Cole guided Annie to one of the chairs, taking the seat beside her. Nyla settled at Annie’s feet, her head resting protectively on Annie’s shoe.

“I know this is… overwhelming,” Duncan began, his usual commanding tone softened. “But I wanted you to know as soon as we had initial confirmation.”

“How certain are you?” Annie asked, her voice steadier now.

Duncan reached for a folder on his desk. “Fairly, though I still want a DNA test.”

“Did Cole tell you the role he played in all of this?” Duncan asked.

Annie glanced at him as she shook her head. “How did that happen?”

Cole took a couple of minutes to tell her what had transpired earlier that day. Had it just been that afternoon? It seemed like it had happened much longer ago.

“The group I’ve had working on any leads we’ve received jumped right on this,” Duncan said. “And they found out quite a bit about her.”

“Tell me,” Annie said.

“She’s living in a small town in Kentucky,” Duncan said. “She works in a bakery there.”

“How do you know all this about her?”

“Since Cole could give us her name—Angela Reynolds—as well as her phone number, my team was able to search databases for more information.”

“Angela?” Annie repeated. “So they didn’t change her name a lot.”

“No. But it was a common enough version that it wouldn’t stand out. Plus, if they called her Angie, like you kids called her, it wouldn’t be unfamiliar to her.”

“And what about the people who took her? Are they still in her life?”

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