Jenna had never been one to hide from her problems, but when she saw four of the angry bikers heading her way on their growling motorcycles, she took cover behind one of the stone columns near the convention center doors and curled up into a ball. Silent prayers spilled out of her lips, and she clenched her eyes shut, anticipating that the bikes would suddenly stop and the four men would come stomping over to beat the crap out of her.

But the bikes sped on by the building and raced off down the street, weaving around the rush-hour traffic with moves that had likely earned them tickets in the past. Only when they turned right at an intersection several blocks down did Jenna finally unfurl with a sigh of relief.

She leaned back against the column and mumbled, “Just what I needed after a stressful day, my life flashing before my eyes.” She climbed to her feet and peeked around the column, just in case somebody had decided to ambush her. But all she saw was her suitcase still sitting on the sidewalk where she’d abandoned it. Tugging the wrinkles out of her suit and pretending she wasn’t rattled, she marched over and grabbed the handle and made to walk close to the street so she could—

Wait a second.

Apprehension bloomed in her gut.

Cade was somewhere in the vicinity of the convention center. And now the bikers were too. It could’ve been a coincidence, but then, these were the guys who’d followed Cade across a state line just because he’d sucker punched one of them. They were determined to get revenge for that slight. They were single-minded. On a mission. And the fact they hadn’t seen Jenna—hadn’t even looked her way—leant credit to the idea that they were here for a reason.

Had one of them spotted Cade nearby?

If that’s the case…

Jenna unzipped her purse and hunted for her phone. She tugged it free, swiped the screen, and rapidly scrolled through her contacts until she found the new entry for Cade. She tapped on his name and shot off a text: Where are you?

She impatiently tapped her foot on the concrete while she waited for his reply.

When it came, it told her he was at Grand Park. She plugged that into her Google Maps app, and when the map popped up on her screen, she oriented it so that it was laid out the same way she was facing. She traced a finger along the road the bikers had zipped down a few minutes before and then the right turn they’d taken. She dragged the map a little farther over to reveal what was in the area that road led to, and which other roads branched off it. Sure enough, Grand Park was one of the options. The bikers could very well be heading there right now.

And Jenna had only seen four of them. There’d been five at the bar.

Did that mean one of them was already there, watching Cade?

Jenna sucked in a sharp breath and switched back to the message app, then typed out a warning for Cade to get on his bike and leave the area as fast as possible. She sent it off, and hoped he got it, read it, and ran for his life. Cade was a well-muscled guy, but there was no way he could take all five of those buff bikers in a fight. They’d crush him almost as easily as they could crush her.

She paced around in a circle for five minutes, glancing at her phone screen every few seconds, waiting for confirmation that Cade was safe.

But it didn’t come.

The apprehension morphed into dread. What if I was too late? What if the one at the park attacked him first so he couldn’t get away before the rest showed up? He might be able to beat one of them, but the fight would stall him too long. The four who passed by were going really fast. They would’ve gotten to the park in no time.

Panic rising in her chest, she debated what to do.

Call the cops? That could get Cade in trouble too, because he punched that guy in Nevada. He might get off on self-defense, sure, but he’d still get hung up in the justice system for a while.

Even so, what other option did she have? She didn’t have a gun. Or a knife. Or…

Oh, of course! she thought. I’m an idiot.

Jenna frantically searched the street in both directions until she spotted a series of cabs letting out people two blocks down. She grabbed her suitcase and raced off down the street as fast as her heel-clad feet could take her. She jaywalked right through a crosswalk bearing a DO NOT WALK message on its light, earning herself several angry beeps from oncoming traffic, but she tried her best to ignore the fact she could get flattened on the pavement any moment. With seconds to spare, she made it to the last cab in the lineup before the car pulled away from the sidewalk. She knocked on the front passenger window and pointed to the back seat, which was empty.

The cabbie gave her a stern look but shrugged.

She opened the door, shoved her suitcase across the seat, and climbed in. “I need to get to Grand Park,” she commanded. “Fast.”