“Let her go.” Rylan demands. His voice is more dangerous than I’ve ever heard it. “Now.”
“No!” the man holding me retorts. “I won’t!”
Then.
He fires.
I’m so close, I can feel the heat from the muzzle.
The sound of the gun going off is slightly muffled, but it’s loud enough to hurt my ears.
A second later, Rylan jerks back and clutches his arm.
Then I’m yanked in front of my captor, and he shoves the gun against my head.
“Drop your weapons!” he orders. “Now!Or I’ll kill her.”
Rylan stares at the man for a long moment. His expression is sheer torment.
I can understand why.
He’s a protector. It’s in his blood to do it. He would never leave me alone with this man.
But upstairs, Charlie and Sam are waiting. And he’s desperate to protect them, too.
The man—who is he? Why is he here?—cocks the trigger.
I squeeze my eyes shut as my life flashes before me. As all the things I wished for—a long, happy life with Leo, watching my precious Lily grow up, having another baby—teeter on the precipice, a breath from disappearing.
“Get over here,” my captor orders Rylan. “Now. Or I will kill her. Then I’ll kill you. And anyone else I find in here.”
Rylan flinches.
His shoulders sag.
Then, on a heavy sigh, he tosses his switchblade to the ground.“Fine.”
CHAPTER 3
HANNA
“Stop talking.”
In emphasis, the man who’s holding us hostage—who I’ve nicknamedBad Breath Needs a Shave, because in dire circumstances like this, any amount of levity helps—kicks one of the empty chairs and sends it spinning across the room. “Stop talking,” he repeats. “Or I’ll shut you up myself.”
Georgia flinches. Her chin wobbles. Her cheeks are wet with tears. “Please,” she whispers. “Just let me be with my baby.”
“Shut. Up!” he shouts. Then he aims his gun at Georgia. “I’ve had just about enough of you already.”
“She’s scared,” I interrupt, flashing him an angry glare. “You took her little girl away from her. And—” I tilt my chin at Charlie. “She has a little boy in the other room, too. You can’t possibly expect them just to sit here and not ask to see them.”
Bad Breath Needs a Shave jerks his head in my direction. He looks surprised that I have the nerve to talk back to him. Honestly, I’m a little surprised, myself, given the wholehe’s holding a loaded gun and the rest of us are tied uppart of the situation.
But.
He took Charlie and Georgia from their babies. And of all the shitty things he’s done so far, that’s right up there with the worst of them.
Actually, shooting Rylan was pretty terrible, too.
