Page 46 of Herding Cat

“You just hold on to that thought, hotshot,” she said. And then she turned to Mae. “Are you hungry? Shall we find that bakery before we take you back home?”

The little girl slurped her lips. “Yes!”

Cat laughed. “All right. Let’s go.”

When they left the cement confines of the Jade Market and entered the busy surrounding streets, the cacophony hit them hard. It was a beautiful day to be out and half of Hong Kong seemed to be celebrating. Cat led the way. Apparently she knew where the desired baker was. Garrett followed in silence, trying not to fret about the money he’d spent on fake trinkets.

They would be souvenirs of his greatest love affair, treasured long after he and Catherine had parted. A reminder of the time they’d shared here in Hong Kong. A touchstone for his regret of what they could have been.

Though the thought made him grumpy.

They turned a corner and he followed blindly, suffused with plans for this evening, of the ways he might seduce her to stay with him.

He wasn’t on point. Wasn’t ready.

So when two men emerged from the crowd and one grabbed Cat, and the other grabbed Mae, and they bolted out of sight, it took a second for him to realize that, contrary to her assumption, they had not vanquished all the threats.

But by then it was too late.

By then, Cat was gone.

Chapter Eleven

Catherine didn’t see it coming, and her brain seized for a second when a strange and smelly man grabbed her and hauled her away. But when she regained her senses, she fought with all her might. He laughed when she kicked and bit—which was infuriating—and then he told her to shut up when she screamed.

She did not obey. She’d never been good at obeying.

His retribution was swift and hard and stunned her as his elbow made contact with her head. Her vision went dim and stars danced before her eyes.

She still heard screams wafting through the ether, but she was pretty sure they weren’t hers.

When she realized whose cries they were, her blood went cold.

Apparently, these bastards had grabbed Mae as well.

Horror clogged her throat. That girl. That poor sweet girl was in danger...all because of her.

She renewed her struggles, but her captor merely grunted and hit her again, this time so hard, her ears rang.

Before she could recover, he opened the back door of a black sedan and shoved her inside. Then Mae fell on top of her with an oof. The men slammed the door, quickly jumped in the front seat and gunned the engine.

Catherine tried the handle, but the locks had engaged. She pushed herself up so she could look out the back window and saw Tate, Luke and Garrett in hot pursuit. But they were not as fast as a speeding car, and they quickly receded in the distance.

Her heart lurched at the sight. Because without them, she and Mae were at the mercy of these men. Judging from how roughly they’d treated her, they didn’t care about her well-being in the least.

In fact, they were undoubtedly here to assassinate her.

God only knew what they would do with Mae. Or why they had grabbed her too, unless to use the child as leverage to assure her compliance.

“Shut that girl up,” one of them snarled over his shoulder. “Or I’ll shut her up.”

“Please,” Catherine cried. “Let her go. She’s done nothing wrong.”

They only laughed.

Catherine pulled Mae into her arms and wiped the tears off her cheek and kissed her forehead. “I am so sorry,” she whispered. “So very sorry.”

To which Mae responded, and not to Catherine, “You are bad. Very, very bad.”