Her heart was beating too fast.

“And do you know why I did it?”

Sarah shook her head.

“For you. Because I wanted you to think I was more than a fucking killer.” His eyes darkened as he stared at her. “But now I’m wondering, hell, maybe she already thinks that. Everyone else does. What do you see, Sarah, when you look at me?”

She stepped closer to him. “I told you before, I see strength.” Sarah wrapped her arms around him and held tight. “I see the man I want.” A man she was coming to need, more and more, with every moment that passed. “I see you.”

She stayed there with him, her hands linked with his, and she watched as the cops searched the scene. They didn’t turn up any bombs and the man they were looking for wasn’t there.

Maybe he never had been.

Maybe it was all just one of his sick games.

The sun rose, sliding higher and higher into the sky. By the time the cops gave the all-clear, it was close to noon.

And Sarah knew exactly what she had to do. “Will you . . . come with me, Jax?”

“Where?”

“Back to my past. There’s someone there that I have to face.” She didn’t want to see him. Sarah had vowed once that she would never see him again, but, this time, she didn’t have a choice.

It was time for Sarah to visit her dad, Murphy the Monster.

A faint furrow appeared between Jax’s eyes. “But first,” she told him. “We’re going to need to make a little pit stop.”

“ARE YOU SURE about this?” Brent asked Jax as they walked down the hospital corridor. “I mean, yeah, I get that Sarah is keen on you seeing Molly to clear up suspicion, but . . .” He grabbed Jax’s hand. “How do you know that girl won’t start screaming as soon as you walk into the room?”

“I know because I’ve never done anything to hurt her.” And Sarah wanted him to go out of town with her. He couldn’t fly out until the cops cleared him. So . . . time to check in with Molly Guthrie.

“I don’t like this,” Brent said. “I really freaking don’t.”

There were plenty of things that Jax didn’t like right then. The big thing on his list? The crazy SOB who was trying to play games with his life.

Sarah pushed open the door to Molly’s room. Jax squared his shoulders, and then he went inside. Molly was lying down, so still at first that he actually thought she was dead. But then he heard the beep of her machines and she slowly turned her head to look at him.

Her eyes widened. “I . . . remember you.”

“Shit,” Brent muttered. “Here we go . . .”

“You carried . . . me out.” Her lips trembled. “You carried . . . me . . . thank you.”

Jax didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Helpless, he looked Sarah. She mouthed, Go take her hand.

He crossed the room. Touched the slender fingers that had been reaching out to him.

“Th-Thank you . . .” Molly whispered.

He squeezed her hand. “You’re the one who survived that bastard. All I did was run down some stairs.”

Her lips lifted. The smile was weak, but it was there.

When he looked up a few moments later, Sarah had slipped from the room.

“YOU CAN’T BE serious,” Gabe said, glaring at Sarah. “This is the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Don’t do it.”

“Damn bad, Sarah,” Wade echoed. “You don’t need to talk with him. We can figure this out on our own. We always do.”

She’d known they wouldn’t exactly be game-on about her plan to travel to her father’s prison. “I think my dad knows him. He knows who this guy is.”

Gabe’s eyes briefly closed. He’d been stitched up, bandaged up, and then—according to Eve—he’d jumped out of the ER while the docs had their backs turned. Eve had told Sarah that was SEAL mentality. If Gabe wasn’t shot in the heart or head, he wasn’t staying down.

“Knows him?” Wade said. “What . . . you think they killed together?”

“No.” She glanced back over her shoulder. Molly’s door was still shut. She couldn’t be in there with Molly without guilt eating her alive. “I think that he wants revenge on my dad. The same way that Eddie did.” That was actually why she thought the perp had used Eddie. “All of my father’s victims weren’t found.” A stark and sad truth. “I have to get him to tell me about the others because one of those victims . . . our perp is tied to one of them.”

“And you think your dad is just going to offer up this information? Sarah, I know how he got arrested,” Gabe said. His expression held sympathy, a sympathy that just made her feel even more uncomfortable right then. “I know what happened between you. I know—”

“I’ve visited him since then.”

Gabe’s lips parted, but he didn’t speak.

“There is more that you don’t know.” She straightened her spine. “Jax is coming with me.”

“Sarah . . .”

“I think the rest of the team should go back to Atlanta. We found Molly. Your job is done here.”

Wade growled, a low sound of frustration. “And will you be coming back to Atlanta?”

“After I find the man who took Molly.” Once he wasn’t a threat to anyone else, then, yes, she’d be heading home, too.

Wade stepped toward her. “Sarah, we’re not leaving you alone!”

“She’s not alone.”

Sarah glanced back. She hadn’t even heard that door open, but Jax was there.

“She’ll be with me,” Jax said.

“That is not the reassurance I wanted,” Wade muttered.

“Too bad,” Jax threw back. “It’s what you’re getting.” His hand curled around Sarah’s hip.

Wade’s stare dropped to that hand. “Like that, huh?” He shook his head. “Sarah, do you know what you’re doing?” Worry was there. Concern.

I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m protecting my team. “Go back to Atlanta,” she told him and Gabe. “Take the rest of the team and just go back.”

Gabe whistled. “You think he’s coming after us.”

He’d always been sharp. That was why she’d agreed to work for LOST.

“I think that he’ll do anything to get to me. I think you’ve been shot and Wade nearly wound up dead.” Her chin lifted. “We don’t need to take any more chances. This guy—he’s got a vendetta against me. I won’t let you be risked.”

“But—what? Jax over there can handle the risk?” Wade’s face tightened. “Better than an ex-SEAL and an ex-cop? Better than men who’ve been trained for this shit?”

“I tend to handle myself pretty well,” Jax murmured with a casual shrug. “In any situation.”

“Sonofabitch,” Wade snapped.

Gabe smiled. “I’m sure Jax is well accustomed to danger.” His head inclined. “But I’m not accustomed to abandoning my team when the shit hits the fan.”

“Gabe—”

“When you get back, I’ll be eager to learn what your father had to say.”

Wade was pacing now. “This is such a bad idea.” He pointed at Gabe. “You thought it was a bad idea five minutes ago, too. Only now you’re changing your mind. What? Is everyone going crazy? Everyone but me?”

“If her father knows who this man is, then she has to see him.” Gabe closed the distance between them. As he gazed down at Sarah, his expression softened. “But be careful, and whatever you do, don’t let that asshole get into your mind again.”

Sarah nodded. She’d try. The goal, this time, was for her to get into the mind of her dear old, twisted dad.

“Be safe,” Gabe told her.

Wade stopped his pacing. “Jax, you guard her with your life, understand?”

“Wade, he doesn’t—” Sarah began.

“No one will hurt her,” Jax promised. “Not without going through me.” His words were flat and cold and scary. Sarah knew that he believed exactly what he’d just said, and, from the grudging nod that Wade gave, she knew that he believed Jax, too.

Jax Fontaine was a powerful, dangerous man.

He was also an enemy that you didn’t want to have.

THE ONLY MOTEL close to Biton Penitentiary was little more than a truck stop. Small and old, the place was not exactly where Jax would have preferred to spend the night with Sarah.