Smoke billowed inside. It was at the same second I heard Frankie’s cry.

“Frankie!” It was a shout.

Joy.

Solace.

Fear.

Each emotion rushed me. One after another.

Because I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see and everything hurt so bad.

The radiating heat and the asphyxiating smoke.

But there was no chance I was giving up.

Flames bloomed just outside the pantry door, consuming the kitchen, eating away the plaster and wood and memories.

I dropped to my knees and crawled across the floor. My hand came into contact with something that moved. A foot. A leg. A tiny body that I pulled into my arms, holding her against my chest, burying her face in my shirt.

Because I’d do anything to protect her. To save her.

Dizziness swept through my being. Head. Body. Soul. I fought to stay coherent. To stay awake. To fight.

I clutched Frankie to me, rocked back, and screamed.

42

Rex

I rushed through the doors of the police station. I’d been on the phone with my mom the whole way over, trying to get as much information from her as I could and settle her down at the same time. Which was a ridiculous notion in and of itself, considering how close I was to coming unglued. Torn limb from limb. Janel’s fist punched right into the center of my chest, the bitch ripping out my still beating, bleeding heart, holding it hostage in her corrupt, vicious hand.

Never in a million years would I have imagined she’d stoop this low. Of course, I’d had no clue how deep her betrayal went, either.

Treason.

Treachery.

It was nothing less.

Lieutenant Seth Long was already coming out of his office when I skidded to a stop in front of it. We’d gone to school together, had been friends for as long as I could remember, the guy devoting his life to the greater good.

“Rex,” he wheezed, amped up, whole station already on red alert. “APB has been issued, and I have every available cruiser already on the streets. We’re going to get her back. I promise you, Rex, if it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to get your daughter back.”

I nodded, though it was choppy, jerky with hatred and fear. The two together were a dangerous combination. They itched my fingers in direction’s they shouldn’t go. Thoughts of vengeance and retribution skating my skin, a twine that bound my body.

“I just . . . I’ve got to do something.”

He set a hand on my shoulder, head dipping down, eyes meeting mine. Like he was trying to get through to me. To get me to see reason when all I was seeing was red. “I know you do. But I need you to make an official statement first then you can ride with me, okay? I don’t want you running off doing something stupid.”

Another spastic nod, filled with reluctance, but what the hell else was I going to do? “Okay,” I agreed.

“Come on, let’s get this moving so we can get out of here.”

I started to follow him into his office, when my phone chirped with a message. I pulled it from my pocket, squinting when I realized it’d come in close to fifteen minutes ago, during the time I’d been talking to my mom.

Rynna.

Apprehension pressed against my ribs, and I quickly thumbed into the message, pushing the phone to my ear. Rynna was on the other end, sounding panicked and worried and a little shamed, telling me she was sorry but she was going to Pepper’s.

That was at the same second a radio bleeped in the station, a code issued and an address given, an officer asking for backup.

It was to an address I knew all too well.

My gaze locked with Seth’s. Time froze while awareness shot between us. Then I was running. Running back out into the night and into my truck. Seth was right on my heels, sliding into the front seat of his cruiser. I floored it, didn’t care that I was breaking about fifteen different laws as I sped toward the diner.

Toward Rynna.

Toward Frankie.

Toward my entire life.

The center of my world.

Felt like it took me forever to get there when not more than five minutes could have passed. I skidded around the last corner, taking a sharp left turn, roaring down the road.

All the breath left me when the building came into view.

Pepper’s ravaged by fire and smoke.

No.

No. No. No.

I didn’t slow. Instead, I accelerated, truck careening, everything lurching and jostling when the tires hit the curb and jumped the sidewalk. Second before I hit the brick wall, I rammed on the breaks and jumped out without bothering to put it in park.

Anguish pulsed through my veins. Spurring me faster and harder.

I went right for the front door and flung it open.

Desperation makes you do desperate things.

And there was no hesitation. No thought except for getting to them. I knew they were in there. Knew it with every part of me.

Tags: A.L. Jackson Fight for Me Romance
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