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“I love you both, too,” Devon said, sniffling. “Thank you for… Just thank you. For coming for me. Finding me. Putting yourselves in danger for me. I-I thought I’d never see you again.”
Catching her chin between his thumb and forefinger, he lifted her face and brushed his lips across hers. “We would do anything for you. Anything.”
“Cannon,” she whispered, sinking closer to him and wrapping an arm around his neck. Reaching to the side, she hooked her other arm around Hawk’s shoulders and drew him into the circle.
For a long time, the three of them stayed that way, cuddled together, sharing kisses, murmuring assurances, or just absorbing comfort from each other.
Before they knew it, the pilot announced their approach to the airport in Wyoming. When Cannon checked his watch, he saw it had been just over two hours after leaving Chicago, but time had ceased to exist. It seemed like moments, not hours.
With obvious reluctance, Hawk moved over a seat, and Cannon helped Dev sink into the one between them. Reaching over, Hawk wrapped the tux coat tighter around her then secured the lap belt.
“I’m sorry we don’t have clothes for you,” he said, dragging a knuckle along her bare thigh.
She shuddered, and the men’s eyes met over the top of her head. Dread sank through Cannon, her reaction tormenting him. Would she be repelled by their touch? He knew they had to be careful, but were things worse than he’d thought? He saw the same thoughts in Hawk’s expression while the man swallowed hard and pulled back his hand.
Dev’s lips drew back on one side, twisting into a chagrined grimace, and she lifted a weary shoulder. “I’m basically swimming in your tux jacket. It covers me.”
“We’ll be home soon,” Cannon assured her. “We’ll get you tucked in bed, safe and sound.”
He head dropped forward as she stared at her hands.
“I don’t know if I’ll feel safe for a long time,” she admitted, her whispered words tearing at his heart. It pained him to know what she’d endured, not just since she’d been kidnapped, but in the years before then, too. He hated that he and Hawk had failed to protect her.
Hoping it would be alright, he threaded his fingers through hers and offered himself as a lifeline. To his relief, she squeezed his hand tight, grasping Hawk’s with her other one.
“If you want, one of us will stay with you at all times,” Cannon offered.
“Safe to come back?” Jax interrupted before she could reply. Cannon nodded and waved a hand at the vacated seat.
“You didn’t have to leave in the first place,” Hawk told their friend.
“That’s a matter of opinion. My wife would take offense to me being a voyeur. Especially to friends.”
Hawk glared at him. “Jerk. We weren’t doing anything.”
Unrepentant and chuckling, Jax sank into one of the seats across from them. “I have news. Just got off the phone with Zoran.”
“That’s his Bratva friend,” Cannon told Dev, in case she didn’t know or remember.
She nodded, and they all focused on Jax.
“It’s all over. All of the top Baranovs are gone. Dead. Most of those lower on the food chain, too,” he reported. “Any remaining foot soldiers have scattered to the wind, and Zoran assures me they wouldn’t know about you—or care who you are, either. They just want to cover their tracks, because if Zoran’s men find them, they’re finished. The one who grabbed you—Zoran dealt personally with him.”
“Really?” Dev breathed.
Jax nodded. “Your stepfather—”
“Zoran killed him,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact and revealing none of her emotions. “We saw that.”
“Busy night for him,” their friend commented.
Cannon had to agree, and as much as his feelings should horrify him, he was just fine with Zoran’s justice to the Baranovs and Devon’s stepfather. What had happened to Dev shouldn’t happen to any woman. He was glad judgment had been doled out to the group who’d terrorized Dev’s life for the past five years.
“The other girls they had there?” Hawk asked.
“There were others?” Dev gasped.
“Zoran’s people got them out. They’ll help the victims get back on their feet or absorb them into the organization, if that’s what the women want. They’ll have choices and protection.”
