Amelia kicked over the chair beside her. “Did I do anything to you? Can you honestly say you had nothing to do with Ruby’s disappearance yesterday?”
Mogan’s face was unreadable. “Got any proof? Yesterday, I just happened to find a lost kid. Didn’t know she was your daughter. I was being decent—bought her something to eat, took her back into town. If you don’t want to thank me, fine, but don’t turn around and blame me.”
Violet looked surprised, her big, glistening eyes lifting to Amelia with concern. “What happened to Ruby? Is she alright?”
Amelia’s fury shot straight to her head. She couldn’t hold back her explosive temper and kicked Daniel hard in the shin. “Still haven’t found anything? What do you pay all those men under you for—twiddling their thumbs?”
Daniel didn’t dodge, just took the blow.
He deserved it. Two kidnappers had vanished into the woods without a trace, and he hadn’t managed to find a single lead.
Ruby’s statement could prove she’d run into Mogan, but it couldn’t tie him to the kidnappers.
Mogan was already prepared with a flawless excuse. “Made plans with some friends to go hunting out in the woods. Didn’t expect to stumble on a lost kid. If I’d known she’d bring me this much trouble, I would’ve just left her there.”
Amelia spun on her heel, stomped into the kitchen, and reemerged gripping a kitchen knife. Daniel’s temple gave a sharp twitch; he quickly snatched the knife from her hand and tossed it in the trash. “For God’s sake, Amelia, don’t scare me like that.”
Amelia, like an angry little wildcat, lunged for Mogan, but Daniel wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her back. “Let me do it. I’ll beat him up for you, okay?”
In her twenty years, Amelia had rarely been this unhinged. She shouted, “Mogan, you do things and won’t own up? What kind of man are you? If you’re so tough, come at me, not a child. What kind of monster hurts a little girl? Are you Violet’s lapdog? No, calling you a dog is an insult to dogs. You’re lower than an animal!”
Mogan had never been spoken to like this before; his face shifted from pale to livid. “Amelia, don’t think I won’t do something about you!”
“Enough!” Daniel’s voice was cold, aimed at Mogan. “None of us have kids—we can’t begin to imagine what she felt when Ruby went missing. Her reaction is understandable. You’re a grown man, why stoop to bickering with her?”
He pulled Amelia into his arms, his large hand pressing gently on her head, trying to calm her. “Take it easy. You need to breathe.”
Amelia slowly calmed down, surrounded by the cool scent of cedar.
She’d lost control.
When it came to Ruby, she could never keep her composure.


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The readers' comments on the novel: Love Me Back (Amelia and Daniel)
How come in every novel I read on here the women don’t tell the men they are the father of their child? I find this ridiculous....