“We’re going to get her back,” he says, filling the silence. I pray he’s right; I can’t imagine having a life where there’s no Sophie in it.

“The guy who took her has a history of women disappearing,” I choke out, feeling bile crawl up the back of my throat.

“Fuck,” Kenton clips.

“I need you to call Leo and have him go to the second address Justin gave me. Tell him about his history and let him know I want that f**ker dead.”

“If he doesn’t get taken out by one of us tonight, the second he’s in jail, he’s dead,” Kenton mutters.

I know he has that kind of power, has people everywhere who owe him. I want that. Either way, the motherfucker’s gonna die for even looking at Sophie.

I stoop, making my way in front of one window then another until I’m at the back of the house. I can hear arguing from inside, and I signal for Kenton to follow. I take three steps, my back hitting the wall near the back door before I turn the handle. It clicks open, and I lift my Glock, pressing the door open with it. I search both ways while stepping into the kitchen. I hear Kenton behind me as we scope out the first two rooms we come to.

“It’s all clear down here,” he whispers.

I nod then point up the stairs. We make our way to the top, and there are two doors; one has a light penetrating from the bottom of it. I gesture to it with a tilt of my gun, and Kenton signals over his shoulder to the door behind him. He cautiously opens it to find it empty, and then I lean forward, trying to hear anything from inside the lit room. I hear two male voices and a whimper.

I have been moving on autopilot since she was taken, just doing what was necessary to get her home. I know the minute I open the door that I’m going to kill whoever is in that room with her.

Kenton nods to the room he just checked, motioning with his left hand to show me that he’s about to set off a distraction. It takes two seconds for the flash bang to go off. The door to the room I’m covering flies open, and one guy comes out. I shoot him in the head without a second thought. The second guy we heard inside points a gun at Sophie.

“Drop the f**king gun,” I tell him, my gun aimed at his head, ready for the smallest opening.

“You killed my brother,” he says, looking down at the man at my feet.

I hear Sophie whimper and look at her for the first time. Her eyes are full of tears, she has a gag in her mouth, her face is pale, and she is tied to a chair. All I can think about is getting her out of here to somewhere safe.

“I should f**king kill her. You killed my brother!” he yells, and I watch his finger tighten on the trigger.

“Drop the f**king gun, David,” Kenton says this time from behind me.

“Fuck you! I’m not David. I’m Dustin.” He looks at Sophie. “I f**king told him you weren’t worth it. You didn’t even know, did you? He’s my twin. We like to pretend to be the same person. It’s a fun game, and no one ever figured it out until it was too late.”

“Eyes on me, f**ker,” I growl, his eyes coming back to me. “You’re dead. There is nothing you could say or do to get out of this.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. This is all your fault.” He points the gun at me. “You and your brother Cash’s fault. I thought I had chance at something real with Lilly, and then he came along and took her from me—just like you took Sophie from David.”

“Fuck me,” I breathe.

“You’re crazy,” Kenton says calmly.

Before I have a chance to blink, there’s a loud explosion in the hall, and Dustin moves his gun towards us. I take my opening and shoot once, hitting him between the eyes. Blood goes everywhere, including on Sophie, who starts to scream against the gag in her mouth.

I go to her side, carefully pulling the gag out before untying her hands and feet, wrapping her in my arms. She starts sobbing, her fingers digging into me, her face going into my neck. I pull her away, wanting to check her over.

“I got you, baby. You’re safe,” I tell her, cupping her face. I check her over and see nothing until I reach her stomach, where the nightgown she has on is covered in blood across her lower abdomen. If those f**ks weren’t dead, I would kill them all over again. “I’m gonna get you to the hospital, baby.” I put my arm under her knees and pick her up.

“Leo’s here,” Kenton says, coming back into the room. Two seconds later, Leo and two other men I met recently walk in behind him.

“Ambulance is en route,” Leo says, looking at Sophie, who is clinging to me.

“We’ll get this cleaned up. Take care of her,” Kenton says.

I nod, carrying Sophie out of the house and down the stairs, and as soon as I reach the front door, the ambulance pulls up.

“I got you, baby,” I tell her, not sure if I’m reminding her or myself at this point.

“Our girls?” she asks against the skin of my neck.

“They’re at the hospital with Ma and Dad.” I kiss her temple. The ambulance door opens and I don’t even stop; I just carry her right inside, laying her down on the gurney. “She just had a C-section. I think her stitches are torn,” I tell the EMT, watching as they start to pull up her nightgown. “You wanna shut the f**king door and get a blanket to cover her first?”

“I’m okay,” Sophie says, palming my cheek.

I look down at her and shake my head. “You’re not okay.”

“I am. You found me.” Tears start to fall from her eyes again.

“I will always find you,” I tell her, kissing her forehead.

The door to the ambulance closes, and a blanket is laid over Sophie’s lap. I sit back and watch as they lift her nightgown, showing her waist and the incision from the C-section. The wound is open, and I can tell she’s in pain. I grit my teeth, not wanting to flip out and make this harder for her.

The guys clean up her wound as best as they can, and as soon as we reach the hospital, she is rushed back into surgery while I’m forced to wait for her outside. I call my dad and mom to make sure they’re okay with the girls up in the nursery of the hospital. Ma tells me that they are fine and that Kenton called as soon as we were in the ambulance to let them know that we were on our way back to the hospital.

I feel like crying in relief that the situation is finally over, but at the same time, I know going through something like this is going to f**k with Sophie’s head when she just started getting over what had happened to her when she was younger. Hell, I don’t know how I’m going to deal with it. I hate that I wasn’t able to protect her when she needed me. I vow right now that nothing else will ever touch her again. I don’t care how small or big—she will never be worried or scared as long as I walk this earth.