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“Do we know he has her? He could just be trying to scare you?” Hunter asked as Cam got to his feet and rounded the sofa, wrapping me in his arms.
“Emilia rang Nico at the same time to say Willow was gone. He grabbed her from the park,” I explained tearfully. “I…I can’t lose her too, guys. I just can’t.”
“You’re not going to, sunshine. We’ll get her back.”
“I heard her on the call. She was so scared,” I whimpered.
“It’s going to be okay, baby. We’ll get her back. I need you to go and get dressed, okay? We need to get back home,” Hunter directed and I was relieved to have a task to focus on. I nodded and stepped out of Cam’s arms, but Hunt stopped me, wrapping his hand around the back of my head and pulling me in for a kiss. “I promise it will be okay,” he told me. I nodded again, knowing every fear coursing through my mind would come out if I dared to speak. Hunter looked into my eyes, nodded, then released me, and I ran back to my room to get dressed, telling myself the whole time to trust in the guys. They’d get Willow back. They had to, because there was no way forward if I lost both of my children. That was something I couldn’t even try to come back from and I knew it.
***
Twenty five hours. That was how long it had been since the call from Edward. That was how many hours my tiny three year old daughter had been at his mercy. She had to be terrified, and worse than that, I was terrified that bastard would have hurt her. Was she in pain? Was she crying out for me and wondering why I wasn’t coming to save her?
The office door opened and I looked up to see Hunter peeking around the door cautiously. We had come to their office building straight from the airport the day before. Nico’s teammates and business partners – Parker, Lincoln, Jax, and Nate had flown in and arrived around the same time as us, and all of them had been working together to try and track Edward down ever since. Nico had asked Mia and Tyler to stay at the house in case Edward thought better of it and returned Willow, but I knew that wouldn’t happen. Edward had been so angry and I knew he’d want to make me pay for whatever crime he had already found me guilty of.
“Baby, you’re supposed to be sleeping,” Hunter sighed as he walked in. He was dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, his hair wild from running his hands through it. He looked as exhausted as I felt. All of the guys had taken this personally. They loved Willow and they were just as terrified for her as I was, and determined to get her back.
“How can I sleep with my daughter missing?” I asked shortly. “What if he’s hurt her, Hunt? What if she’s out there crying for me?”
“We have a lead. That’s what I came to tell you. We found another property in Frank’s name,” he told me as he came closer and pulled me into his arms. “We’re going to get her back, Maddie.”
They had tried to trace Edward’s phone first, but Edward wasn’t stupid. He’d shut it off, or gotten rid of it. Either way it was no help. They tried to trace the GPS locator on his car, but that led them right back to the house in Chicago, where he had left the car. When I left them, forced to lie down for a while by Kai, they had been going through his credit card activity.
“Where?” I asked, clinging to hope that this would be it.
“Right here. That’s why we think we found him. Frank bought up some property on the outskirts of the city. He was probably going to knock down the three houses on it and build some luxury homes. Who knows? Anyway, he bought it a few years ago and it’s just sat empty ever since. Edward has to be hiding out there,” Hunter explained.
“Frank had ambitions of being the D.A. of New York. He probably planned to live there when that happened,” I mused, thinking back to the grand plans Frank liked to brag about. It made sense Edward would know about the property and go there. It wasn’t like he had connections in New York.
“We’re heading out now. I want one of my employees to drive you back to the house. You’ll be safer there,” Hunter went on.
“What? Shouldn’t we call the police?”
“No. The police aren’t as skilled as us. I don’t want them spooking him into doing anything stupid. Trust me, baby. The best chance we have of getting Willow back safely is if the eight of us go in and get her. We’re trained for this. We can do it,” he told me confidently.
“He could have a gun,” I worried.
“Nico’s guys brought everything we need, Maddie. We’ll be prepared for him.”
I nodded. I knew they were all ex-military, and while I didn’t have details of what they had done for the military, I trusted my own guys. I knew they wouldn’t go in for Willow if they didn’t know absolutely it was her best chance.
“I’m coming with you,” I added firmly.
“Maddie…”
“No, Hunt. Willow will be terrified when you find her, and maybe even…”my voice broke, but I took a breath and tried again. “…maybe even hurt. She will need her mom. I’ll stay back and out of the way, but I want to be close when you’ve got her back.”
“Fuck!” Hunter looked up to the ceiling as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He looked back down and found me glaring at him, daring him to argue. “Fine, but you stay back until we say it’s safe.”
“Agreed.” I nodded.
“And you wear a vest.”
“Fine.”
“If anything happens to you I will never ever forgive myself,” he growled as he hooked his arm around me and pulled me into his front. “So you better stay fucking safe, you hear me?”
“I will. Promise,” I agreed as I reached up onto my tip toes and kissed him just once. I hoped it was a promise I could keep, but if I needed to put myself in danger to get Willow back then I wouldn’t hesitate. Hunter knew that though. That’s why he didn’t want me there, and it was why he was holding me so tightly, as though he feared he’d never see me again. He knew nothing could stop me from saving Willow.
