Inescapable (Road to Kingdom Book #1) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Nancy Mehl

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136 pages

English

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Page-Turning Romantic Suspense Set Against the Backdrop of a Small Mennonite TownLizzie Engel is used to running away. At eighteen, she left her Mennonite hometown, her family, and her faith with plans never to return. Five years later, Lizzie finds she'll have to run again. False accusations at her job, a stalker, and a string of anonymous threatening letters have left her with no other options. This time, however, her escape is back to Kingdom, her hometown.As Lizzie becomes reacquainted with Kingdom, she realizes she may not have left her Mennonite roots and her faith as firmly in the past as she thought. She draws on the support of Noah Housler, an old friend, as she hides out and attempts to plan her next steps.When it becomes painfully clear that the danger has followed Lizzie to Kingdom, suspicions and tensions run high, and she no longer knows who to trust. With her life and the lives of those she loves at risk, Lizzie will have to run one last time--to a Father whose love is inescapable.

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 juillet 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441271105
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0259€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2012 by Nancy Mehl
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-7110-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Scripture references are from the King James Version of the Bible.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Paul Higdon
Author represented by Benrey Literary, LLC.
To my husband, Norman
Thank you for your strength, your encouragement, and your love. You’re my best friend. I can’t imagine making this journey of life without you. I truly believe that “the best is yet to be.”
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
Discussion Questions
Acknowledgments
Sneak Peek
About the Author
Back Ad
Back Cover
C HAPTER / 1
For the third night in a row the man stood under the streetlight, staring up at our apartment, his face hidden by a red ball cap pulled down to just above his eyes. I closed the curtain, trying to keep my movement slow so he wouldn’t notice me watching him. But I couldn’t keep my fingers from trembling.
“What’s the matter, Mama?”
I turned to smile at Charity. Though only six, she knew when I was worried or afraid. Unfortunately, there’d been a lot of that lately.
“Nothing, honey. Did you finish your carrots?”
She grimaced. “They’re too gooshy tonight.”
I sighed and came back to the table, trying not to let her see my fear. “They’re supposed to be gooshy. I cooked them.”
She wrinkled her button nose. “I like them hard. You know that.”
“You eat those carrots, Charity Lynn Engel. Right now.”
I hadn’t meant to sound harsh, but the strain I was under had frayed my nerves. Her dark eyes grew wide.
“Are you mad at me, Mama?” She sniffed a couple of times, jabbed at her carrots with her fork, and stuck them into her mouth.
I pushed myself up from my chair, intending to put my arms around my small daughter and soothe her hurt feelings. But when I put my hand on the surface of our secondhand kitchen table, it wobbled horribly. Charity’s glass of milk started to slide, and I barely caught it before it tipped over. I looked down and found that the paperback book I’d used to balance the table legs had slipped out again. I kicked it back under the uneven leg and went to hug Charity.
“I’m sorry, Cherry Bear,” I said. “You don’t have to eat the carrots if you don’t want to.”
She held out her soft, chubby little-girl arms. “It’s okay, Mama. They’re not really, really bad. Just kinda bad.”
I stroked her soft black curls while I gazed around our small apartment. It wasn’t fancy, but it had been home. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t last much longer. I let go of Charity and forced a smile. “How about a fudge bar, honey?”
She looked up at me in wonder. “Instead of carrots?”
“Yes, instead of carrots.”
She giggled, any trace of injured feelings gone like smoke in the wind. If only I could dismiss my own concerns so easily. She jumped down from her chair and skipped over to the refrigerator. “Can I have both halves?”
I usually broke the ice cream treat in two, not wanting her to eat too much sugar before bed. But tonight I didn’t care. I reached into the small freezer and pulled a fudge bar out of the box, handing it to her without comment.
“Oh, boy. Thanks, Mama. Can I watch Dora the Explorer for a while before I hafta go to bed?”
I glanced at the clock. “You have thirty minutes, but when I say it’s time to turn off the TV, no arguing. Promise?”
She bobbed her little head up and down with enthusiasm. “Promise.”
I waved her on, and she scurried into the living room before I could change my mind. Not long after we moved in, I purchased a secondhand TV and a DVD player. We couldn’t afford cable, but I’d found a stack of children’s DVDs at a yard sale during the summer. At fifty cents each, they provided my daughter with hours of entertainment. Best ten dollars I’d ever spent. As soon as I heard the TV come on, I grabbed my cell phone out of my purse, which was on the kitchen counter. Meghan answered after the fourth ring.
“It’s me,” I said.
“Oh, Lizzie. I tried to call you earlier, but I guess you weren’t home.”
“I guess not,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. Not easy to do when you’re lying. I’d been too upset to talk on the phone. It wasn’t easy now, but I knew I’d have to face Meghan eventually.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said. “You’ve been such an asset at Harbor House. If Sylvia was still here ”
“But she’s not. Reba’s been almost impossible to work with from day one, but her attitude got really bad after her boyfriend showed a little too much interest in me.”
Sylvia Martinez had been the director of Harbor House, a shelter for abused women, for twenty years. But after her second heart attack, she finally took her doctor’s advice and resigned. Reba, her temporary replacement, didn’t get along with anyone at the shelter, but she’d been treating me particularly bad ever since her city council boyfriend, James Webb, picked her up from work one night. There had been rumors about his ethics and under-the-table deals for as long as I’d been at Harbor House, and Meghan and I were pretty sure he was responsible for getting Reba the interim director’s position. The evening Reba reluctantly introduced him to me, his eyes had lingered on me a little too long, traveling slowly up and down my body. By the next morning, Reba’s already rancorous attitude toward me had turned toxic. Today, she’d finally taken revenge.
“If it helps, everyone knows you didn’t steal that money, Lizzie.”
“Well, I’m glad, but if she presses charges . . .”
Meghan gasped. “But she can’t. There isn’t any proof.”
“The money’s gone, Meghan. Over a thousand dollars out of petty cash. And Reba and I are the only ones with access. She showed me the books. They reveal months of bogus withdrawals with my initials by each and every transaction. Whoever copied my writing did a pretty good job. At first, even I thought it was genuine.”
Meghan snorted. “I suppose the fact that Reba used to be an accountant and knows exactly how to doctor the records doesn’t enter into this at all.”
I sighed. “No, it doesn’t, because I can’t prove I didn’t take the money, and she can prove I did. If she calls the authorities, I could lose Charity, and I won’t take that chance. Besides, without a job, I can’t pay for this apartment.”
“You know that Jim and I would be happy to help you.”
“Thank you, Meghan, but that won’t solve my problems. I’ve got to get away from here in case Reba pushes this further. Besides, that man is still following me.”
“No! Did you call the police?”
I sighed and glanced toward the kitchen window. Should I risk another look? “I’ve given up on them. They’ve been out here on four different occasions. The man is always gone by the time they get here. Besides, all they ever do is explain why they can’t help me. It’s not a crime to stand outside on a public street.”
“But what about the threatening notes?”
“They barely looked at them. Not enough to go on, they said. If I find out who wrote them, then I’m supposed to give them a call.”
Meghan grunted. “Our tax dollars at work.” She paused a moment. “You’re certain you have no clue who this guy is or why he’s sending these notes?”
“I’ve racked my brain, and I can’t figure it out. He can’t be the husband of a client, because I don’t work directly with the clients.”
“I know you’re not dating right now, but what about someone in the past? A man you don’t see anymore?”
“No one who would be doing something like this.” I took a deep breath and let the air out slowly. “I’ve got to get away from here, Meghan. I have no choice.”
“But . . . but where will you go?”
I bit my lower lip, not wanting to say the words out loud. Meghan noticed my hesitation.
“Oh, Lizzie. No. You can’t go back to . . . to Kingdom.”
“There’s no other option open to me. At least no one can find us there. Listen, you can’t tell Reba where I am, Meghan. I mean it.”
She laughed. “I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. I have no idea where Kingdom is. Besides, didn’t you say that its location is so remote even people who live in the area have a hard time finding it?”
My mind was spinning, trying to find another way out. Kingdom, Kansas, was the last place in the world I wanted to be. I’d grown used to living in Kansas City. Going back to a town of barely three hundred people would certainly cause severe culture shock. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any other answer. We had to find someplace safe, away from Reba and from the man in the red cap who had been stalking us for the past few weeks.
The man had never approached us. But right after he first appeared, the notes had started coming. Although I couldn’t prove he was sending them, it just made sense. What I couldn’t figure out was what he wanted beyond trying to frighten me. The police informed me that his behavior wasn’t all that unusual for a stalker and cautioned me to stay away from him. Grea