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“What?” My grip tenses around the steering wheel, my knuckles turning stark white.

“There are no bullets in it. It’s—”

Tap… Tap… Tap…

Vin looks at me as we both hear the familiar sound.

“They took the bullets.” Her voice quivers around each word.

My breathing turns shallow.

This is all a fucking game to him.

And they’re playing with her like she’s prey.

They want her to be as scared as a little mouse before trapping her.

“What d-do I do?” she whispers, the fear in her voice breaking my goddamn beating heart.

She’s not going to like my answer, but it’s the only one I have. It’s the only one that will give me a chance to find them. “I need you to put your phone inside your pocket. Keep it out of sight.” I rub my temple. “It’s the only thing I have to track you with.”

A few seconds of silence pass, and a slight rustle sounds before Charlotte speaks. “I love you, sweet girl.”

My heart squeezes as pain stretches across my chest.

“Charlotte?” I snap, urgency overtaking me.

“O-okay.” She sniffles. “I love you,” she breathes, defeat coating her words. “I promise I’ll protect Clara with my life.”

“Fight, baby,” I plead, terror seizing my chest. “I need you to fight just until I make it to you.”

“Alex,” she sobs, her cries imprinting on my soul.

“I’m coming for you.” I take a sharp left, cutting off an approaching car as its horn blares behind me. “And I will find you. Do you hear me? I will find you.”

“Hurry,” she says softly before ending the call.

“Fuckkkkk!” I slam the console as the SUV hits three digits.

“She’s twenty minutes away.” Vin brings up the map on the screen and zooms in on Charlotte’s location.

“That’s too much time.” My fingers shake with rage, my whole body trembling with madness. “He has them! He has my girls! And he’s going to fucking kill them!”

“You don’t know—”

“I fucking do!”

Silence creeps over us; the only sound is the engine being pushed to its limits.

“I need to find them,” I breathe, my lungs burning, my heart racing. How could I have let this happen?

“We’re going to find them,” Vin says, bracing his hand against the ceiling as we hit a slight bump and soar into the air.

Mauro grunts, his fingers gripping his seat belt.

“We can’t save them if we don’t make it there in one piece,” Leo murmurs, grabbing the door handle.

I take the highway exit and gun it down a dirt path that leads to an open field.