Single Dad's Spring Break: A Billionaire's Second Chance Romance

“Don’t leave me,” Sydney said.

“You’re not putting your hands on this girl.”

“Then this is how it’s going to go,” the man said with a growl. “You’re going to make the fucking call or I’m going to start with your toes. My friend here will break them one by one while Sydney listens to you scream. And when you pass out from pain, we’ll put her in another room to wonder what’s happening to you.”

Bile was rising in my throat as Sydney sobbed into the crook of my neck.

“If you don’t want to get hurt, then you’ll comply. Simple as that,” Gianni said.

“You’re a sick, disgusting, twisted excuse for a human,” I said. “You were Kevin’s friend for twenty years.”

“And then he crossed me. People pay the price when they cross me,” he said.

“Your company deserves to go under,” I said. “And I can’t wait to see them haul you away in handcuffs.”

Gianni nodded to the man standing beside him and he reached for Sydney. I turned my body against him and cradled her toward the wall. I felt him wrap his hands in my hair and wrench me backwards, dragging me away from the crying girl. Gianni stepped in front of her as she tried to scramble towards me and I screamed out for her.

“Sydney! No! What are you doing? Let me go!”

“Shut up, you stupid bitch.”

The man cracked his hand against my cheek so hard he knocked me back to the floor. I was panting, my palms pressed into the moldy carpet. It hurt to move. To breathe. To think. I dragged myself over to Sydney as Gian

ni stepped to the side, laughing at us maniacally as I wrapped my body around the terrified little girl.

I listened as their footsteps fell back to the other side of the room. I shielded Sydney with my body, even though it hissed with pain. My vision blurred with tears as I pressed myself back into the wall, heaving the trembling girl onto my lap.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said. “They’re coming after us, okay?”

“I want my Daddy.”

“I know you do. And you’ll see him soon.”

“Please don’t leave again.”

“I won’t,” I said.

The door slammed shut, leaving us alone in the dark, dank, desolate basement no bigger than the half bathroom on the main level of Kevin’s home. Sydney was shaking violently, and I could feel the pain in my head trying to take me under. But I couldn't allow myself to succumb to the darkness. I couldn't allow myself to be swallowed up by it. No matter how bad things seemed and no matter how hopeless the situation was, I had to stay alert.

I had to make sure they didn’t hurt Sydney.

No matter what it meant for me.

CHAPTER 25

KEVIN

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked. “Why the hell didn’t you intervene?” Horrified, I paced around. “You knew they were going to take her.”

“We couldn't compromise the mission, Mr. Spencer. Brooke knew what she was getting herself into.”

“Chase down that damn car and get her and my daughter back!”

“Sir, we’ve got a problem.”

“What?” I asked as I whipped around. “What problem?”

“The tracking device. It’s not registering.”