The walk helps clear my mind. I return to the penthouse with a renewed sense of purpose. I’m not mad anymore. I realize that neither one of them have had stellar examples of loving relationships.

And everything with Rose has moved so fast, we all need to take a step back; myself especially. I’ve been pushing so hard to get Asher to recognize his feelings, I never considered the damage I might have been doing in the process. We’ve fought before, but never like this. Even so, I’m sure we can move forward.

This is like a business negotiation. In order for all parties to get what they want, there’s going to be a lot of compromise and negotiation. We really haven’t talked at all about what we want or need out of this relationship. After we find Rose, we’re all going to sit down and talk about the future. It’s what we should have done in the first place.

I walk into the living room to find Asher staring out the window again. I take the fact that he’s dressed and freshly showered as a good sign.

“I’m sorry,” I say, crossing the room. “I know you didn’t want this to happen. I’ve been too hard on you. It’s just I’ve never felt this way about a woman, and I might be slightly biased. Rose is—”

“Someone took her,” Asher says, turning around.

The stricken look on his face hits me, and I stop in my tracks. “Took her? Are you sure? What about the note she left saying she was going out of town?”

“I’m sure. I just got a call from her cell. This guy…” Asher’s face cracks with emotion. A cold chill runs down my spine. “He says he wants to make us pay.”

“We’ll pay him whatever he wants,” I say without hesitation.

“He doesn’t want our money.”

“Then what the fuck does he want?”

Asher smacks the window with the palm of his hand and growls. “I don’t fucking know what he wants. He just said that we needed to pay and he was going to take Rose away from us.”

“What exactly did he say?” Sour bile rises in my throat. Please let me be wrong.

“He said we took everything he loves away, and now he’s going to take everything away from us.”

“Fuck. I didn’t think he was dangerous.” I let out a breath and crumple into a chair, fighting the urge to throw up. This was all because of some fucking business deal.

“Do you who took her? Where he has her?”

“Larry Reid,” I say my voice sounding hollow to my own ears.

Fucking Larry Reid. I should have seen this coming. The guy was obsessed and just wouldn’t take a hint.

“Who the fuck is that? Why would he take Rose?”  Asher grabs my shoulder and shakes. “Leo! We have to get her away from this guy. You didn’t hear his voice.”

Asher’s panic pulls me back to the moment. I shake my head and tell him about the letters and threats. “It was never anything specific. They were just vague threats. ‘I’ll make you pay.’ ‘You’ll be sorry.’ I never thought he was actually dangerous. He was the CEO of a midsize import business for Christ’s sake.”

“How can you be sure it’s him?” Asher asks.

“In the last letter he sent, he wrote ‘you took everything I ever loved away from me, and now I’m going to take everything away from you.’ Roger filed for a restraining order, and we also filed a harassment suit.” My head is pounding. That man was a threat, and I led the woman I love straight to him. “What if the lawsuit pushed him over the edge?” I ask. “What if this is my fault?”

“It’s not your fault,” Asher says and pulls out his cell. He dials a number and puts it on speaker.

“I’m still working on it,” Red says.

“I know who has her,” Asher says. “A man named Larry Reid.”

“We bought his family’s company last year,” I say. “It was a hostile buyout, and he’s still holding a grudge.”

“Hold tight. I saw a file with that name.” The sound of computer keys fills the dead air as Red works his magic. “Okay, Larry Reid. Looks like he declared bankruptcy right after the buyout.” More typing. “Oh, wow. His mother died shortly after that. And then his wife left him. Fuck, this guy had a bad run of luck. Looks like the ex-wife moved back to Virginia. She was awarded full custody of their two kids. He’s only allowed supervised visitation. The court records show a history of violent behavior and drinking.”

Urgency gnaws at my nerves. Violent behavior. Why the fuck didn’t Roger find out about this?

“Where is he now?” I press.

“That’s just it. A few months ago, he fell off the map. No credit card charges. No cell in his name. Nothing.”

“Fucking hell, Red! This isn’t helping,” Asher yells. “I need an address. A name. Something. If this guy touches Rose, I swear—”

“We’ll find her,” I say, trying to reassure myself as much as Asher. “Anything you have will help.”

“I might have something,” Red says. “There’s a house in his mother’s name. Looks like it’s an old family property. No one’s lived there since his grandmother passed away fifteen years ago, but someone's been paying the utilities bills. I’ll get one of my teams to check it out.”

“What’s the address?” Asher demands.

“Asher, that’s not a good idea. Let me handle this,” Red says. “You have no idea what you’ll be walking into. I can have someone out there in about an hour.”

“Give me the fucking address.”

Red sighs and rattles off an address down by the docks. “Listen. I’m sending someone now. We can meet you. Don’t do anything—”

Asher hangs up the phone and heads to the door.

“Asher, stop,” I yell after him.

He spins and stares me down. “I’m not waiting for Red’s guys. That guy is going to kill her.”

“You’re not going alone. Let me get my guns,” I say. Intellectually, I know we should wait, but like Asher, I’m not willing to chance it.

I hurry to the safe, pulling out two handguns and load them. I hand one to Asher who nods and slips it into his waistband. I’m not a violent man and despite Asher’s childhood—or maybe because of it—neither is he, but I’m positive we’d both kill without hesitation to protect Rose.

We take the elevator down to the garage in silence and jump into the Jag. What should have been a twenty-minute drive only takes me twelve. I broke every traffic law known to man, determined to get to Rose.

I just hope we make it in time.