088:

Tracy sat back and held her hand to her head.

Nightmare.

That's what this was.

A nightmare.

How could this possibly be happening?

Melia was depressed. Why didn't I see it sooner? Why didn't I reach out to her? Too much had happened... too many toxic experiences for one little twenty year old to handle!

Even a stubborn and willful one--- or more especially this one!

Who had been able to talk sense to Melia in the last two years?

She was a chameleon! She seemed okay on the outside, her colors blended... she seemed like she was dealing--- but inside---

Think, Tracy! It's up to you! Keep a cool head.

'Cause obviously Richard has lost his!

What, what???

These girls! These willful, deceptive, ridiculous, know it all, girls!!!! Whose girls were these anyway? How could she have raised such headstrong, obstinate---

Think!

Berating them, and yourself doesn't help!

Pray! Help, Father! Help me!

What did Melia have of value that no one else had?

She owned no jewels--- no one would bother to kidnap her for jewels. Melia had gone to the drop off point with money, not jewels. But the word Robert had told them was jewels.

Why Melia, and not say--- any of her other children? If money was the issue, it could have been any one of them. If her family was the actual target...

What was different about Melia?

What???

She'd married... she'd had Jared.... No, they were all married---

Her father---

Her father was Raine Maverick, not Richard Mann.

Only Megan shared those genes with her--- shared that legacy.

What did Raine offer his daughters that the rest of Tracy's children didn't have? Not money--- certainly not jewels. The family heritage was similar--- normal upbringing--- normal parentage---

She had Raine Maverick's genes.

Raine's genes.

Tracy felt a shiver of fear touch her heart. What if--- what if Melia and Megan weren't the only ones with Raine's genes?

What had Raine once told her? Before his engagement to Tiffany, there had been a girl.... A girl in Cartagena.

She felt a cold wire clamp down on her lungs. For a halting second, she couldn't breathe.

If Raine had been involved with this girl.... Intimately.... There could be a child. And that child would be older than Megan and Melia but---- would share their blood.

*****