Seeking the Kidnapped Child (Missing Person Investigations)
Inspirational Romantic Suspense
1st in Series
Setting – Montana
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Love Inspired Suspense
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 28, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
Mass Market Paperback

Synopsis

When his daughter’s taken,
getting her back is all that matters.

FBI Agent Tristan McAvoy just learned he’s a father—but his little girl’s been abducted by his enemies, and he’s caught in a deadly shoot-out the moment he tries to rescue her. He barely flees unscathed with his ex, Avery Taylor, and his K-9 partner in tow. The criminals have a deadly agenda—if Tristan testifies at an upcoming trial for a major crime boss, he’ll never see his child again. Stranded in the mountain wilderness, Tristan and Avery are trailed by ruthless mercenaries, who are closing in. Can they survive long enough to save their daughter—or will they be silenced forever?

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

Missing Person Investigations

Book 1: Seeking the Kidnapped Child

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Guest Post

Hi, I’m Tristan McAvoy. Thank you for having me. I suppose you want to know a little about my life and my career with the FBI. Unfortunately, at the moment, I’m swamped with a major problem, and more than a little overwhelmed with the change in direction my life has taken, if I’m being honest, but I’ll give you a quick overview.

I grew up in the small town of Timberwood Falls in the Montana mountains. I had a wonderful childhood, met the girl of my dreams early on, and ended up dating her all through high school and college. In my dreams, I married her, raised a family together, then grew old with her on the front porch of a small mountain cabin.

But what do they say? Dreams are made to be broken? Well, mine were shattered into a million pieces. When tragedy struck, in the form of my parents’ murder, I handled everything… Well, poorly would be an understatement. Unable to deal with walking the streets of the small town where I’d spent my entire life, searching for my parents’ killer, who was never apprehended, in every face I came in contact with was more than I could take. Avery, the love of my life, couldn’t leave town because she was her sick grandfather’s only caregiver. So, did I tough it out and stay with her, set aside my own feelings to help her care for the ailing man who’d raised her? Nope. I fled, like a coward, all the way to the East Coast, and vowed never to return.

But when I was offered a position with the FBI in Montana, a promotion to the kind of team I’d worked so hard to join, I was unable to refuse the move back to my home state. I assured myself the chances of catching a case in the small, barely-a-dot-on-the-map town I grew up in were slim to none. So, I’d simply steer clear.

I recently led an investigation into the disappearances of several children in Montana. It took us a while to figure out the cases were related, but once we did, I was tasked with coordinating the investigations and finding proof. And then I went in undercover. Of every agent in the FBI’s Montana Missing Persons Unit, I was chosen to lead the mission into the black-market adoption ring for a reason. In addition to my skills, training and seniority, I had no ties, no family to be threatened. The families of all the other task force members were given protection, because the higher-up members of the adoption ring we took down probably commanded more resources than my own unit did. And because the crime boss, Gianna Rossi, escaped.

That botched raid is how I ended up with my K-9 partner, Storm. So, I guess at least some good came of it. But that’s another story.

A prominent attorney with vast resources at her disposal, Gianna Rossi was the head of a black-market adoption ring…or, I guess, she still is. She managed to disappear when we took down a good portion of her organization. And she’ll stop at nothing to keep her multibillion-dollar network up and running. Unfortunately, that means stopping me from testifying, since not only can I see to it that the thugs we’ve already apprehended go to prison for a very long time, but I’m the only one who can identify her as the leader and the only one willing, or left alive, to testify to the other atrocities I witnessed her commit.

And in the midst of all that, I left my family out on their own, to fend for themselves, because I never even bothered to learn they existed. That’s right. I only found out I was a father when Avery called and left me a frantic message saying our daughter had been kidnapped and was being held until I agreed not to testify. And now, as I race toward a home I vowed never to return to, I’m trying to come to grips with the fact that I abandoned not only the woman I loved, the woman I promised to cherish forever, but my child, as well.

For now, though, it’s enough to know my child is in immediate danger. Everything else can come later. When anger toward Avery tries to surface, I shove it back down. I received her messages pleading with me to call her back during the months after I first left, and I chose to ignore them. I knew I couldn’t return to her, understood she wouldn’t leave her ailing grandfather to follow me, and I assured myself I was doing her a favor by making a clean break. Too bad I didn’t realize sooner I was more concerned with making the breakup easier on myself.

Of course, she could have told me in any one of the messages that I was going to be a father. Would it have changed things? Who knows? But at least I’d have had the chance to decide. Anyway, I need to shake off the roller coaster of emotions I’ve been riding since receiving her call. They won’t do me, Avery, or our little girl a bit of good. If anything, they’ll hinder my ability to do my job. And right now, saving Lily is all that matters.

Excerpt

Avery Taylor clutched her sleeping daughter tighter, her fight-or-flight instincts begging her to do anything other than stand there, frozen, staring down the two masked gunmen blocking her from entering her home. “Please, I…”

But what could she say? Had she stumbled upon a home invasion? She couldn’t imagine having anything either of them could possibly want. She lived off the beaten path. The small but cozy two-story bungalow she’d inherited from her grandfather sat alone on a cul-de-sac at the end of a long, winding mountain road. And she worked from home as a medical transcriptionist, supplementing her income with her inheritance to make ends meet. Well, whatever they wanted, they could have it, as long as they left her and her four-year-old, Liliana, alone. She opened her mouth to say as much.

The taller of the two lifted his weapon, his hand rock steady.

She could only assume he’d done this before.

“Where’s Tristan McAvoy?” he demanded.

Her mouth snapped right back closed again. Once she recovered enough to try to answer, her voice shook before she could utter more than a grunt, and she worked to steady it. Although she didn’t know why she bothered. It was clear she was terrified, and even more so now that she knew what they wanted…because she couldn’t give it to them. “I don’t know where Tristan is. I haven’t seen him in almost five years.”

Since he’d walked out on her and never looked back, despite her numerous attempts to get in touch with him and tell him he was going to be a father. He’d been her best friend, her love, her future, and then he’d been gone.

Her arms began to tremble beneath Liliana’s weight, and Avery hefted her up higher so the little girl’s head rested more comfortably on her shoulder. The last thing she needed was Lily waking to this mess. They’d attended a church festival that evening, and her daughter had passed out on the way home. It was a good thing Lily was a heavy sleeper.

The shorter man, who outweighed her by a good hundred pounds of pure muscle, gestured toward the front door with his weapon. “Get inside.”

She hesitated.

“Look, Avery…”

The fact that he knew her name and had associated her with Tristan sent a chill racing up her spine, despite the heat of the summer night. If they knew all that, she had to figure they knew Lily was Tristan’s daughter as well, even if Tristan didn’t know. But how had they found out? True, she’d listed him as Lily’s father on her birth certificate, but why would this stranger have access to that?

“All you have to do is tell us where to find McAvoy.” The man’s easy shrug belied the tension in his posture. “Once we have him, we’ll let you and his kid go. Easy enough?”

It would be if she believed him, and if she had any clue where to find Tristan, but she wasn’t buying it. Then again, they did have on ski masks, which gave her some hope that they planned to let her go. If not, they’d have no reason to conceal their identities. Of course, she couldn’t give them what they wanted. If she knew how to get ahold of Tristan, he’d know about his daughter.

An image of him flashed in her mind—his shaggy brown hair that just brushed his collar and always seemed in need of a trim, a smile that could melt her heart in an instant, his brilliant blue eyes that used to cage hers and fill her with hope for their future together. A hope that died when he walked away with promises to return once he’d gotten his head on straight. An empty promise, as it turned out.

She’d wanted to talk to him after he’d left, to tell him he was going to be a dad instead of imparting the news via voicemail, email or text. She’d wanted to gauge his reaction, so she’d simply asked him to call her back. Time and time again. And he hadn’t. Not once. So, he’d never learned about his daughter. But that wasn’t really fair. He’d left after his parents had been murdered, bitter and grief-stricken and so filled with anger she hadn’t known what to do for him. Still, he could have answered at least one of her messages.

Focus, Avery.

She weighed her options. She could make a run for the car, where she’d left the doors standing open and her bags inside in hopes of retrieving them after she’d gotten Lily into bed, but she’d never outrun a bullet if these men intended to shoot her. Then again, they couldn’t get information from her if she was dead. But they could incapacitate her. How could she risk leaving Liliana alone with these monsters? She couldn’t. Which left her no choice but to do as they’d instructed.

Lily’s weight was becoming a strain on her back and shoulders, and she didn’t want to set her down on the stone walkway and risk waking her. But she did have to put her down. If it came down to it, she couldn’t fight with Liliana in her arms. What did it matter if she went inside with them anyway? It wasn’t like there was any chance of someone driving past to notice what was happening or being close enough to hear her screams. The secluded home she’d grown up in, that she’d always viewed as so peaceful and serene, a safe haven tucked against the side of the mountain, surrounded by fields and wildflowers, now seemed nothing but isolated. She’d never felt so frightened and alone, even after Tristan had left and her grandfather had passed away.

But if she could get inside, if she could get to her grandfather’s hunting rifle hanging above the mantel, maybe she’d stand a chance of defending herself and her daughter.

About the Author

Deena Alexander grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, where she met and married her high school sweetheart. She recently relocated to Florida with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Now she enjoys long walks in nature all year long, despite the occasional alligator or snake she sometimes encounters. Deena’s love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night.

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