By
NY Times Bestselling Author
Marie Force

Every family has its secrets…

As the first anniversary of her marriage to Vice President Nick Cappuano approaches, Lieutenant Sam Holland is dreaming of Bora Bora—sun, sand and a desperately needed break from the DC grind. But real life has a way of intervening, and Sam soon finds herself taking on one of the most perplexing cases of her career.

Government worker Josh Hamilton begs Sam to investigate his shocking claim that his parents stole him from another family thirty years ago. More complicated still, his “father” is none other than the FBI director. When a member of Josh’s family is brutally murdered, Sam begins to question how deep the cover-up goes. Is it possible the revered director was part of a baby-napping ring and others involved are also targets? With a killer intent on deadly revenge and her team still reeling from a devastating loss, Sam’s plate is full—and when Nick and their son, Scotty, take ill, is her dream of a tropical anniversary celebration in peril, too?

As this book opens we see Sam facing the repercussions of hitting Ramsey and his subsequent tumble down the stairs. While he no doubt deserved that punch, it was still a punishable offense. She’s suspended without pay for four days and required to donate a thousand dollars to the Widow and Children’s fund. The US Attorney Forrester is also contemplating criminal charges.

As she’s heading to her car, she’s approached by a man who introduces himself as Josh Hamilton and says he needs her help. He continues with the fact he had been bored at work and was surfing the web and found a story about a baby who was kidnapped thirty years ago, and his parents have never stopped looking. There was an age progressed photo and that image is him. He insists that only Sam can help him because his father is Troy Hamilton, the FBI director.

As Sam is prone to do, she takes him home with her and arranges for Medical Examiner Dr. Lindsey McNamara to come take a DNA sample. She also arranges for Freddie to hole up with Josh in a hotel for at least the weekend while they wait for the results.

Meanwhile both Nick and Scotty come down with a raging flu. While Scotty rallies Nick’s fever soars and he becomes unresponsive, ending up being transported to the ER with Sam and his Secret Service Agents by his side. Time creeps slowly for Sam as she waits for Dr. Harry to give her news of Nick’s condition. He regains consciousness but falls asleep again before Sam can talk to him. With his fever down, Sam is much relieved and then the calls start. First Terry, from Nick’s staff, needing a statement for the press, then Freddie with complications concerning Josh, and finally Lilia wanting a statement about her suspension from the department.

Nick wakes more fully, and then convinces Sam and Angela to get something to eat, he’s sleeping when they return so Sam heads home to check on Scotty and get him settled for the night.

This is a favorite scene.

“I’m going to grab a quick shower and change before I head back to the hospital. But first, let’s get that big boy up to bed.”

They woke Scotty, who brightened at the sight of Sam. “How’s Dad?”

“He’s cranky about being in the hospital.”

“That’s good. That means he’s fine.”

“I’m going to tuck you in and head back to be with him. Tracy will spend the night, okay?”

“Sure, that’s fine. You should be with him.”

“I should be with both of you.”

“Until we clone you, that’s not possible.”

“Dear God,” Tracy said, shuddering dramatically, “do not clone her. One of her is more than enough.”

“No kidding,” Scotty said.

“Hey, I’m in the room,” Sam said, while hiding her pleasure her son’s teasing. She much preferred that to the tears of the night before.

He was still weak and droopy, so they helped him into pajamas and got him tucked into bed.

“I’ll see you in the morning, buddy.”

“Will Dad get to come home tomorrow?”

“I fear for Harry’s safety if he doesn’t spring him.”

“I hope he gets to come home.”

Sam leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Me too. Get some sleep and don’t worry about anything. He’s fine.”

His eyes closed. “It’s hard.”

“What is?”

“When you care more about someone else than you do about yourself. It’s hard when something happens to them.”

Sam had to swallow the huge lump in her throat before she could reply. “Yes, it is.” She kissed him again and left him to sleep. After a quick shower and a change into yoga pants and a sweatshirt, she was on her way back to GW to spend the night with Nick.

She sent Angela home to Spencer, who’d gotten both kids into bed and raised the white flag on the day. He’d sent a hilarious selfie with a six-pack of beer sitting next to him on the sofa.

“He’s getting so lucky tonight,” Angela said after sharing his comical texts with Sam.

“He got lucky the day you said yes to him.”

“Remember that night when I went to meet him? The night you met Nick for the first time?”

“I remember that night like it was yesterday.”

“Funny how that was such an important night to both of us. I think all the time about how Spence might’ve gotten away while I was busy mourning my relationship with Johnny the douchebag. And you having to put up with all that crap with Peter to get to what you have now with Nick…”

“I don’t like to even think about him.”

“He’s been quiet lately.”

“Ever since his ‘suicide’ attempt you mean?” Sam made air quotes around the word suicide.

“He must’ve been so disappointed when you didn’t come running.”

“Whatever. Those days are long over.”

“Better be,” Nick said.

“He is such an eavesdropper,” Angela said, laughing.

Sam gave her a hug and sent her on her way. “You’re a terrible eavesdropper,” Sam said to Nick when they were alone.

“Come here.”

“I’m here.”

“All the way.”

Without opening his eyes, he held out his arms to her, and she crawled into bed with him.

“There. Much better.”

“You do seem much better.”

“I’m outta here in the morning. I don’t care what Harry says.”

“You’ll do what you’re told, which is what you always say to me when I’m in this place.”

“Hate when my own words come back to haunt me. How about you tell me about that guy who was in my living room when I got home yesterday. It was only yesterday, right?”

“Yeah, it was. Feels like a lifetime ago, though.” She told him about Josh Hamilton and what he’d uncovered on the internet.

“So he happened to see an age-progression photo that was of him? What’re the odds of that?”

“Astronomical.”

“Imagine seeing one of those photos, and it’s you. Jesus.”

“You haven’t even heard the real kicker yet. Guess who his father is?”

“Who?”

“Troy Hamilton.”

“As in the FBI director Troy Hamilton?”

“One and the same.”

“Holy shit. Sam, seriously… Are you kidding me right now?”

“Would I do that?”

“What’s your plan?”

“To keep him alive while we wait for DNA proof that he’s Taylor Rollings.”

“So you think he is?”

“I think he could be. The resemblance to the age-progressed photo is uncanny. It’s like someone drew a picture of him and posted it. And according to Freddie, who I’ve got babysitting him, his father has been calling every fifteen minutes, which is more than he’s called his son in the last five years.”

“So Hamilton knows about the photo—and he knows that Josh knows.”

“Yeah, that’s the theory. How well do you know Hamilton?”

“Not very well. From what I’ve seen at hearings on the Hill and in a few meetings at the White House, he’s a cool customer with an ego the size of Texas.”

“It’s well earned. He’s a legend in law enforcement circles.”

“And in his own mind.”

“So you don’t like him.”

“I don’t know him well enough not to like him, but something about him is off-putting. Can’t put my finger on it.”

“You think he’d be capable of kidnapping someone’s child and taking him home to raise as his own?”

“Hell if I know. I can’t imagine how anyone would be capable of such a thing. Those poor people. They’ve been through hell for thirty years. It sure would be something if you could give them some peace.”

“If Josh turns out to be Taylor, I fear that peace will be the least of what I’m giving them, and the frustrating part is that there’s not a damned thing we can do from an investigative perspective until the DNA comes back.”

“You could look into where Hamilton and his wife were the day Taylor went missing.”

“How do I do that without bringing down the wrath of Hamilton on me and the department?”

“Carefully.”

Sam could hear how tired he was in the way he said that one word. “You need to sleep now. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.”

He didn’t protest, which was unlike him, especially since he had such a complicated relationship with sleep. His insomnia had been awful since he became vice president, which was one of many challenges they’d faced since he accepted the president’s offer to replace the ailing Joe Gooding.

“Thanks for waking up earlier,” she whispered.

His hand moved in small circles on her back. “Sorry I scared you.”

“You really did. Sorry for all the times I’ve scared you.”

“Love you, baby.”

“Love you, too. So much.” If anything ever happened to him… No, she couldn’t think about that or she’d go mad. There were two agents stationed right outside the door to ensure that nothing happened to him. But they hadn’t been able to prevent severe dehydration. Her stomach ached from the fear of all the many things that could happen to someone she loved that no one could prevent.

“Stop,” he whispered. “I can feel you spinning. Everything is fine. I promise.”

Sam took a deep breath, closed her eyes and took his assurances to sleep with her.
Force, Marie. Fatal Identity (Fatal Series Book 10). Kindle Locations (951-1012). HTJB, Inc. Kindle Edition.

With Nick home from the hospital, Sam hopes to have some time with just him and Scotty, but fate has other ideas. Freddie calls because Josh is having a meltdown and won’t be calmed.

Sam knows what she has to do but before she can convince Josh of that he takes off and Sam does what she should have done much sooner. Tell Chief Farnsworth.

From here everything starts heating up, more information, the involvement of Avery Hill and plenty of twists. Not to mention the meeting with US Attorney Forrester to determine if he’s charging her.

I love this series so much, I am already reading the next one.

5 Contented Purrs for Marie!

Marie Force

Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 100 contemporary romance, romantic suspense and erotic romance novels. Her series include Fatal, First Family, Gansett Island, Butler Vermont, Quantum, Treading Water, Miami Nights and Wild Widows. She has also written 11 single titles, with more coming.

Her books have sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list more than 30 times. She is also a USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller, as well as a Spiegel bestseller in Germany.

Her goals in life are simple—to spend as much time as possible with her young adult children, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news.