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I exhaled a long, heavy sigh. Crap. I couldn’t get mad at her; she didn’t understand what she was doing when she repeated me. Hopefully, she’d stop saying ‘fuck’ before Jaxson returned home. When would he be back?
Starting the car, I pulled out from the police station parking lot and headed home with Izzie. “I guess it’s just you and me.” At least until Skylar came home, I had a distinct impression that she didn’t like me, but I wasn’t sure why.
We drove back to Jaxson’s home. Every part of me was exhausted. I was ready for bed but still needed to make dinner. I carried Izzie up to the house and put her down on the porch while I fished out my keys. Grabbing my keys from my purse, my gaze landed on the door.
Shit.
The front door was ajar. I hadn’t left it open. I locked it when I left, and there wasn’t any sign of Skylar. The alarm wasn’t on, or at least it hadn’t gone off from what I could surmise. Had I remembered to turn it on when we left?
I hoisted Izzie into my arms and backed up, slamming into a man who had come up around the side of the house. I felt the barrel of his gun nestled in my back.
“Welcome home,” he said, his voice calm and even, almost a little too friendly. Was it because I had Izzie in my arms?
“What do you want?” I guided Izzie down, planting her feet on the ground. I didn’t want her to glance over my shoulder at the man pointing his weapon at me.
“Let’s go inside and have a little chat.”
Izzie stepped inside, and I slowly reached for the light, flipping it on. “Is that really necessary?” I asked, nodding toward the gun. “There’s a child here. Do we absolutely need to give the girl nightmares?”
“Call the Eagle Tactical guy. What’s his name?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, playing dumb.
He stepped into the house behind me and shut the door. “Call your boss. Tell him Nikolai is here and wants a trade.”
I slowly pulled out my phone and dialed Jaxson. “I don’t know that he’ll pick up the phone. He’s out of town.” I didn’t want to elaborate on his flight or the details of the mission.
“Hey, we’re just finishing up here in Chicago.” His voice was cheery, carefree, and at ease. I wanted to ask if everything had gone well, but I couldn’t, not with the stranger in the house.
I spoke slowly and clearly, doing my best not to panic. “Jaxson.” At least the gun wasn’t pointed at me anymore, which gave me the opportunity to fight back. The only problem was Izzie. I didn’t want to risk her life. “You need to come home.”
“What’s wrong? Is Izzie all right?” Jaxson asked.
Nikolai hadn’t laid so much as a hand on her, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t. I’d protect her to the bitter end, but if I wasn’t alive, what good was I to Izzie?
My gaze lifted from Izzie to the man holding us hostage in Jaxson’s home. “It’s Nikolai. He’s here, and he wants a trade.”
There was no answer.
“Jaxson?” I moved my phone from my ear to look at the screen. “Great,” I muttered under my breath.
“What?” Nikolai asked as he stepped closer, brooding.
“The call dropped.” I showed Nikolai my phone. I hadn’t hung up, and I was confident Jaxson wouldn’t have hung up the call either.
“Call him back.”
I had zero bars. “I don’t have a signal.”
Nikolai shoved his cell phone at me. “Call him,” he demanded.
I dialed Jaxson’s phone and breathed a sigh of relief when he picked up. “Ariella?”
“Yes. Nikolai is here. He has a message he wants me to give you.”
Nikolai ripped the phone from my fingers, having lost his patience with me. “I know you have possession of my sister, Hazel.” He stared at me, his eyes raking over my body before glancing at Izzie. “Bring her to me, or you’ll be picking out a coffin for the little girl.”
