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Chapters (51)
  1. The Family Secret
  2. Copyright
  3. Praise for Tracy Buchanan’s novels
  4. What readers loved about Tracy Buchanan’s last novel, The Lost Sister …
  5. Dedication
  6. Table of Contents
  7. Prologue
  8. Chapter One
  9. Chapter Two
  10. Chapter Three
  11. Chapter Four
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Chapter Six
  14. Chapter Seven
  15. Chapter Eight
  16. Chapter Nine
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Letter to my readers
  43. Acknowledgments
  44. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  45. With the loss of her mother, Becky aches to find her sister. She knows she cannot move forward in her life without answers…
  46. A girl has gone missing. You’ve never met her, but you’re to blame…
  47. You’d kill to protect your child…Wouldn’t you?
  48. Everything you’ve built your life on is a lie. And no one has been telling the truth for a very long time…
  49. How far would you go for the one you love the most?
  50. Also by Tracy Buchanan
  51. About the Publisher

Amber thought about it then shook her head. ‘I want to go outside again and see the snow lady!’

I closed my eyes in frustration. ‘You can not go outside, it’s freezing.’

‘It’s not too bad out there,’ Finn said.

I turned to him. ‘You said it was freezing earlier.’

‘Well, yeah, but look at my coat,’ he said, gesturing towards the thin jacket he’d been wearing.

‘Pleeeeeeeease,’ Amber pleaded. ‘I can go on my own, I’m a big girl now.’

Finn laughed. ‘She’s cute.’

I looked out at the garden. The snow was still thick out there. But what harm could Amber come to? The garden was enclosed, after all, with a small locked gate.

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘But you need to wrap up super warm, all right?’

A few minutes later, I watched Amber march out into the snow with trepidation. Was I doing the right thing? Wasn’t she a bit young to be playing alone in the snow?

‘Now,’ Finn said, taking my hand and leading me to the stairs, ‘where were we?’

I hadn’t planned to lose my virginity that day. But the mixture of alcohol and how bloody handsome Finn looked with his shirt off and yes, the kudos I’d get for losing my virginity to the cutest boy in town … before I knew it, we were yanking each other’s clothes off and he was tearing off the corner of a condom packet he’d brought with him. In the back of my blurry drunken mind, I remember thinking how presumptuous that was, bringing a condom with him. But I wanted it as much as he did and when it did happen, it wasn’t as painful as my friend who’d lost her virginity had said. In fact, it felt nice.

After, the bottle of Bailey’s finished and my body exhausted, I fell asleep in his arms.

It was only when the sound of sirens and the blue throb of lights filled the room that we both woke, confused.

‘Shit,’ I said. ‘What time is it?’

Finn looked at his watch. ‘Nearly four. Damn it, damn it, damn it.’

Panic zigzagged through my body. ‘Amber! Where’s Amber?’

I dragged on my jeans and jumper and ran around the house, shouting Amber’s name. No answer. Then I ran downstairs. And that’s when I saw her through the front window, laid out on a stretcher, paramedics swarming around her as my parents ran down the path, eyes heavy with disappointment and anger as they caught sight of the half-dressed boy behind me.

I let out a sob. What had I done to my little cousin?

Chapter Thirty-Four

Amber

Winterton Chine

24 December 2009