Too Lost

T O O L O S T (A Morgan Stark Mystery—Book 4) R y l i e D a r k Rylie Dark Bestselling author Rylie Dark is author of the SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); of the CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); of the HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); and of the TARA STRONG MYSTERY series, comprising five books (and counting).An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Rylie loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.ryliedark.com to learn more and stay in touch. Copyright © 2023 by Rylie Dark. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Raggedstone, used under license from Shutterstock.com. BOOKS BY RYLIE DARK TARA STRONG MYSTERYGIRL WITHOUT A CHANCE (Book #1)GIRL WITHOUT A HOME (Book #2)GIRL WITHOUT A TRACE (Book #3)GIRL WITHOUT A NAME (Book #4)GIRL WITHOUT A PRAYER (Book #5) HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLERBEHIND YOU (Book #1)BESIDE YOU (Book #2)AFTER YOU (Book #3)WATCHING YOU (Book #4)JUDGING YOU (Book #5) SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLERONLY MURDER (Book #1)ONLY RAGE (Book #2)ONLY HIS (Book #3)ONLY ONCE (Book #4)ONLY SPITE (Book #5)ONLY MADNESS (Book #6) MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLERSEE HER RUN (Book #1)SEE HER HIDE (Book #2)SEE HER SCREAM (Book #3)SEE HER VANISH (Book #4)SEE HER GONE (Book #5)SEE HER DEAD (Book #6) CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLERNO WAY OUT (Book #1)NO WAY BACK (Book #2)NO WAY HOME (Book #3)NO WAY LEFT (Book #4)NO WAY UP (Book #5)NO WAY TO DIE (Book #6) MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLERTOO LATE (Book #1)TOO CLOSE (Book #2)TOO FAR GONE (Book #3)TOO LOST (Book #4)TOO BROKEN (Book #5) CONTENTSPROLOGUECHAPTER ONECHAPTER TWOCHAPTER THREECHAPTER FOURCHAPTER FIVECHAPTER SIXCHAPTER SEVENCHAPTER EIGHTCHAPTER NINECHAPTER TENCHAPTER ELEVENCHAPTER TWELVECHAPTER THIRTEENCHAPTER FOURTEENCHAPTER FIFTEENCHAPTER SIXTEENCHAPTER SEVENTEENCHAPTER EIGHTEENCHAPTER NINETEENCHAPTER TWENTYCHAPTER TWENTY ONECHAPTER TWENTY TWOCHAPTER TWENTY THREECHAPTER TWENTY FOURCHAPTER TWENTY FIVECHAPTER TWENTY SIXCHAPTER TWENTY SEVENCHAPTER TWENTY EIGHTCHAPTER TWENTY NINECHAPTER THIRTYEPILOGUE PROLOGUE Diane Siegel drained the last few drops of champagne from the flute she was holding, savoring the tiny bubbles that disappeared in seconds on her tongue. With the exaggerated care of a person who had drained a few too many flutes that evening, she set the flute down on the granite-topped counter. She rarely overindulged, but this time she had. The room swam around her a bit.That was okay. She deserved it. She’d earned it. She looked out over the railing at her sunken living room. The kitchen and dining room were on her level. Home offices were the next level up, and their bedroom was at the tippy top of the house, making her feel like she was going to sleep in a treehouse every night. Down in the living room, her colleagues were all there celebrating. Everyone from her lab techs to the CEO of Medtheon, Inc. was there. Honestly, they were celebrating her as much as her accomplishments. There’d been round after round of toasts earlier, extolling her vision and intellectual curiosity and the patience with which she ran her lab. She smiled. She deserved that too. She’d worked so hard for this moment. For fifteen years, starting with the research she’d done for her doctoral dissertation and continuing until the present day, she’d been working on a vaccine to prevent spondylococcal varicella. Today, the FDA had announced its approval of the vaccine that she’d developed. It would take a little while for manufacturing to ramp up and for distribution lines to be established, but within a year, Diane’s work might be able to eradicate spondylococcal varicella completely. It could go the way of smallpox within a decade, relegated to a sample or two kept in a secure lab. It wasn’t the most common disease in the world. There were only around 800,000 cases per year. Of those cases, however, one in five would have complications that could plague them for the rest of their lives. One in ten would die. Those were not good odds. From down in the living room, her husband caught her eye and lifted his glass of champagne to her, a smile spreading across his handsome face and pride glowing from his hazel eyes. Damn. He still looked good to her. She blew him a kiss, swaying a little as she did. This was his celebration too. A lot of female scientists didn’t have the kind of home support system that she’d had. Paul had truly been a partner to her, each of them helping the other as their careers progressed. Him in law, her in medical research. They were far from done too. They had years ahead of themselves. How many more diseases would she be able to eradicate? How many more people’s rights would Paul be able to protect in his work? They weren’t crusaders. You’d never find them up on soapboxes or screaming over someone else as a talking head