I drop to my knees. I don’t have a choice. I was hoping all along for a miracle and it’s clear that’s not going to happen now. I wish I knew what was happening with my men. I’d have thought they would have been here by now. Nothing about this is adding up. They didn’t even have great security or else Red and Skeeter would have never found where Torrent was in this old building—not as easy as they did.

So what’s holding them up now?

“I thought you’d see things my way, Dodger,” Carter boasts.

“I’m sorry, Tor, baby,” I murmur, giving up the last hopes I had.

“Daddy…” she whispers brokenly.

My beautiful daughter is so much like me. She always has been. She’s headstrong and independent, impatient as hell sometimes but underneath it all she has a loyalty inside of her that shines bright. It’s a loyalty that blinded me. I should have seen Crash for what he was sooner—should have investigated that harder… but I was too impatient to get to Torrent.

Too damn impatient…

“Chain her,” Carter orders and hate and misery burn in my gut. I still have a pistol hid down in my boot. I’m going to die, but I’m going to drag Carter into hell with me.

“Baby girl, do you remember when you were fourteen and Wolf and I took you to Hadden Park?” I ask her, hoping she gets it and quickly, before they lock her in the chains. She looks confused, but I see when the fog lifts and determination moves over her expression.

“Stop with the trip down memory lane,” Carter says. The fucker is clueless and begging for his death—even if he doesn’t know it yet.

“You’ve got me where you want me, Carter. At least let me say goodbye to my little girl. Please,” I respond, the word making me nearly choke. I have to act as if I’m begging for crumbs from the son of a bitch, but it’s not fucking easy.

He looks surprised, but his smile of victory is proof I’m only feeding his ego. I crumble down on the floor as if I’m completely defeated—as if I have no hope and that only makes the asshole smile that much more.

“Fine. Say your goodbyes, but don’t worry, Dodger. I’ll be sure to show your daughter a good time after your death. I’ll make her scream in delight,” he says and my hand shakes with the need to kill him now.

“Do you remember, Torrent? What fun we had that day?”

“I remember…” she murmurs.

“I was so proud of you. Wolf still talks about it,” I tell her, trying to make sure she remembers what I need from her, without giving it away.

When Torrent was fourteen, there was a boy harassing her at school and making her life misery. Wolf and I decided to teach her how to take up for herself. We trained her that day in some ways to get the upper hand. She took to it like a natural. Hell, she even managed to bring Wolf down to his knees once. There’s fifteen years between them because Wolf is five years younger than me, but sometimes I think that was when he began to see Torrent as something special.

And she is.

Torrent has always been special. There’s a fire in her eyes that shines so damn bright you can’t look away.

“He underestimated me,” she says, and even now some of her cockiness fails to come through.

“Doesn’t pay to do that to us, does it, Torrent? You were always your daddy’s little girl.”

“And proud of it,” she murmurs and I can see her getting her body into position.

I move my hand slowly to my boot. I don’t look at it while I do it, but I can watch as Torrent’s gaze drifts down--watching. I slide my hand in and immediately grab the handle of my pistol.

“Okay, that’s enough. Besides, your conversation reminds me of something I should tell you. You’re really going to enjoy this one, Dodger. It’s time—” Carter starts talking, and I worry I’m not going to have enough time to pull out the pistol, let alone aim it. Knowing what I’m thinking and proving that Torrent and I have always been connected, she lets out a loud moan, distracting everyone.

“Ohh! I think I’m going to be sick,” she sobs interrupting Carter, which is good. The bastard is trying to torture me and I’m tired of listening to his damn voice.

Torrent sidetracks the room for a few seconds, but in those seconds everyone’s eyes are on her and not me. I pull out the gun, bring it up and aim it at that son of a bitch, Carter.

“Now, Torrent!” I scream, unable to watch her as I level my gun at Carter and aim to shoot the bastard right between the eyes.