He turned on me. “That little weasel plant cameras?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That weasel. No, not a weasel. A rat. Did he plant cameras?”

It hit me.

“Ryan?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yeah,” Jones bit out. “The rat. The rat who led them to Denny. Him. He likes to watch. He’d like to watch you. Did he plant cameras?”

I stared at him, breathing hard. “Is Ryan okay?”

“He’s as okay as that guy there.” He jerked his head to Ryker.

Oh fuck.

Oh no.

Ryan.

My eyes got wet.

“You shot him?” I whispered.

“Dead.”

Dead.

Ryan.

I stared at Walter Jones.

The tear fell.

I should have known.

I should have known, with my life.

I should have known there would always be room for tears.

* * * * *

Garrett

His phone rang.

He looked to it.

It was Rocky.

He drew in breath and took the call. “Honey, unless this is about Ethan, now’s not a—”

“Merry?” Ethan interrupted.

The pain spiked, scoring into his brain.

“Hey, buddy.”

“Rocky doesn’t know I’m usin’ her phone. I swiped it. But I had to…I had to…” He drew in an audible breath. “Can I go to the station? Maybe Tanner can come and get me. I just…I just wanna…sit at the station.”

Fuck, he sounded scared.

His boy sounded scared.

Pain skewered Garrett’s brain as he beat back the fury.

“Prefer you where you are right now, kid,” Garrett told him.

“I know, but—”

“Ethan, bud, I gotta be doin’ what I’m doin’. Tanner’s helpin’. Mike. Cal. Colt. Sul. My dad. Everyone. So I got no one to look after your gramma except you. Need you to look after Grace. Can you do that for me now? Look after your gramma?”

“Yea—” His voice broke and Garrett’s vision blurred. He listened to Ethan clear his throat before he said, “Yeah. I can do that. I can look after Gramma.”

“Good, bud. See you soon, yeah? I’m gonna see you soon, buddy. You hear me?”

It was weak and nearly inaudible when Ethan replied, “I hear you, Merry.”

“Suck it up, Ethan,” Garrett ordered gently. “Need you strong, okay? Before you go back to your gramma, suck it up for me. Go back to her strong. She’s probably scared. You need to take care of her, yeah?”

Ethan didn’t reply.

“You with me?” Garrett prompted.

He heard Ethan clear his throat again and his voice was a lot stronger when he said, “I hear you, Merry. Gotta get back to Gram.”

“Yeah you do. See you soon. See you both soon.”

“’Kay, Merry.”

“Love you, son.”

A sniff, then, “I love you too.”

“Right. Later.”

“Later, Merry.”

They disconnected.

Garrett drew a sharp breath in through his nose and kept scanning.

“You did right, Garrett,” Mike said softly. “Gave him strength, direction. Something like this happened when Jonas was Ethan’s age, a time he’s just beginnin’ to figure out what kinda man he wants to be, he wouldn’t wanna look back and remember himself fallin’ apart.”

“Right,” Garrett bit out.

“He needed a mission.”

“Right,” Garrett repeated.

“You did right.”

Garrett said nothing.

Mike drove.

Garrett’s phone rang again.

He looked to the screen.

It was Cal.

If Cal had something to say that wasn’t important, he’d text.

He was phoning.

Garrett took the call.

He didn’t say a word before Cal spoke.

“Burgundy Taurus, man, right in your woman’s goddamned driveway.”

The pain spiked.

He looked to Mike. “They’re at Cher’s.”

Mike turned on his blinker.

“You got eyes?” he asked Cal.

“Walked by. Sheers closed but movement in the kitchen,” Cal answered. “Otherwise, made no approach.”

“Distinct movement?”

“Yeah. One person. Couldn’t tell much. But it wasn’t Cher.”

It wasn’t Cher.

“Stay clear,” Merry ordered. “We’re on our way.”

“Got it.”

Garrett disconnected and ran his thumb over the screen.

“He took her to her own fuckin’ house?” Mike asked.

“Cal says car’s in the driveway and there’s movement in the kitchen, not Cher,” Garrett answered as he made his call and put the phone to his ear.

“Yo,” Colt answered.

“Cal reports burgundy Taurus in Cher’s drive. You and Sully. Mike and me. And I’m calling Tanner. We go in soft with no one else there to fuck this shit up.”

“You’re too close to this, brother. Let me call Drew and Sean there. Adam and Ellen,” Colt replied. “We’ll take care of her.”

“If I’m too close, you’re too close,” Garrett gave him the truth.

There was a pause, then, “Fuck.”

Colt knew the truth.

“You call cap,” Garrett ordered. “Tell him what we’re doin’, but do not let him throw everything we got at this so fifteen squads from all over the county roll in hot and tweak this guy to do somethin’ even stupider than abducting my woman. We don’t know what we’re dealin’ with here. We go in easy.”

“You got it. I’m on it. Meet you there.”

“Our ETA, five.”

“Ours, seven. But we’ll shave off two.”

They disconnected.

Her own fucking house.

He called her number. It was the fourth time he’d called since he’d heard.

She didn’t answer.

Then he called Tanner and gave him the news.

“Okay, keep your shit, man, but if this is about Lowe, her bein’ Lowe’s and now you bein’ hers, this could be about you. Goin’ to her place, he could be drawin’ you there,” Tanner warned.

“That thought crossed my mind,” Garrett replied.

“We’ll get her, brother,” Tanner assured.

They would.

They had to.

Because he definitely could survive losing Mia.

He could even survive losing his mom.

But he wasn’t sure he was capable of waking up and not seeing Cher’s pretty.

* * * * *

Cher

“You’re breaking all my shit,” I bit out.

He was also near to dislocating my shoulder, jerking me around while he shoved the gun in my shelves in my media center and knocked shit off, not to mention tore pictures off the wall.

“Ratted on him. Got him caught. Weasel fucker,” he muttered.

Things had turned.

He had turned.

It was like I wasn’t there. He was so focused on finding cameras that didn’t exist, I was an afterthought.

And I was fucked.

There was nothing I could do. My hands were still zip-tied behind my back.

I couldn’t run and get shot dead, making my son fatherless and motherless.

I couldn’t fight to try and get the gun away from him.

I couldn’t think of Ryker on my floor, hopefully still breathing.

I couldn’t think of Ryan at all.

I couldn’t do anything but get extremely pissed off that my life sucked so fucking bad.

I should have known.

Never hope.

Never want.

Certainly never dream.

Never.

If this guy made me dead, he’d set my kid on a path where he could learn that.

And I wouldn’t be there to set him straight.

Fucker.

Fucking fucker.

“Please let me go,” I whispered.

He didn’t let me go.

His head came up and he jerked me around so quickly, my head snapped on my neck.

I saw him stare at the door.

My eyes shot to the door.

Was someone there?

Should I cry out?

“You ratted too.”

His words in that weird whisper made me look to him.

He was looking at me.

“I wanted to make a video for them. A nice video they’d like. A video of you on his camera. A video of me cleaning up Denny’s business.”

Oh God.

Please let someone be out there.

“You,” he kept whispering, “the slut-stripper whore and the weasel. You got him caught.”

“He was murdering people,” I replied.

“In the name of love.”

I stared at him.

Fucking fuck this guy was whacked.

And there it was. Just my luck. Just the suckage of my life.