Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            Irina was studying her too closely. “That’s how you became friends? You and Tom?”

            “Yep.” And Liza was finished talking about Tom Hunter. “But back to your original question. Lindsay is the main reason I’m going to nursing school. She sacrificed too much for me not to.” She checked the time on her phone, abruptly realizing that Abigail should have been back with her brush several minutes ago. “Where is Abigail? I hope she’s all right.” She started to get up, but Irina motioned at her to stay put.

            “I’ll go find her. Have some more tea.” Irina pulled a muffin from a basket on the table and plated it for Liza. “Eat. It’s got no raisins. I made the batch especially for you.”

            “Thank you, Irina,” Liza murmured, touched. She thought she’d managed to hide her aversion to raisins from the woman, but she should have known that Irina missed very little.

            “You’re important to us, too, Liza,” Irina told her. “And at some point, when you’re ready to talk about what Tom Hunter did to hurt you, I’ll be ready to listen.”

            Then she was gone, calling Abigail’s name a split second before there was a shout and the thunder of running feet above Liza’s head. Liza ran from the kitchen, ready to do whatever needed to be done to help, but ran into Mercy Callahan as she came down the stairs.

            Mercy’s face was puffy, her eyes red and swollen. Liza took one look at her, then opened her arms. Mercy immediately accepted, huddling close as she shuddered out a harsh breath.

            “Hey,” Liza murmured, stroking Mercy’s sleek hair. “What’s going on?”

            She’d seen this woman under the most stressful of situations for a month, but she’d never seen her cry. Not like this.

            “I scared her,” Mercy sobbed. “Abigail, I mean. I was on a call with my therapist and when I finished, I just sat there and cried. But I heard you come in and knew I needed to hurry to get Abigail to the eye doctor, but then I heard someone else crying. I opened the door and she was sitting on the floor.”

            “Oh no,” Liza breathed. “What did she hear?” Because the horrors that Mercy had experienced were nothing that anyone else should ever hear, especially not a child Abigail’s age.

            “That was what I first thought—that she’d been listening in. I . . .” Mercy’s body shuddered as she sucked in great, gulping breaths. “I yelled at her. Asked her what she was doing there. Accused her of spying on me.”

            “I don’t think she was,” Liza said, trying to think logically. “If you heard me come in after your call was over, she didn’t hear anything. Except maybe you crying.”

            “That was what she heard,” Mercy confessed. “She went sheet white, like I was going to hit her. She ran to her room.”

            “Should we go after her?”

            “Irina already did.” Mercy pulled back, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater. “I’m a mess. I need to apologize to her. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

            “Not intentionally,” Liza reasoned. “But she has to understand that she can’t listen at doors. What if she had heard what you were telling your therapist?”

            Mercy looked sick at the thought. “I’d never forgive myself.”

            Liza cupped Mercy’s cheek in her palm, cooling her heated skin. “You need to stop that. Abigail knows you were hurt in Eden.”

            Eden. The very name was an abomination. It was a cult, its leaders criminals hiding from the law. They’d harbored pedophiles who’d abused Mercy and tried to assault her brother, Gideon. One of the cult leaders had killed their mother for helping them to escape.

            And these evil men still, after thirty years, managed to elude the authorities. Except now the FBI was rigorously searching. And at least one of the agents on the case would not give up until he found them.

            Tom Hunter would never love her, but he was a good man who wouldn’t stop until he’d avenged Mercy and Gideon and saved the remaining innocents who were trapped in the cult.

            “I think she understands more than we give her credit for,” Liza went on. “But at this point she doesn’t understand that it was sexual. She doesn’t understand the concept yet.” I hope. “Her therapist checked, because we were all worried about what Abigail knew.”