When I woke up to the sounds and scents of a hospital room, for a split second I thought the previous forty-eight hours hadn’t happened. Had it been some kind of dream while I was in the hospital with the assault injuries?

Georgie.

I gasped, lurching forward with the realization if it had all been a dream, I didn’t have Georgie back. “Georgie!” I croaked. Before I had a chance to say anything else, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and heard a familiar voice.

“Shh, she’s right here, Ben. I have her. She’s safe.”

I looked to my left and saw the most beautiful sight. Reese stood next to the bed with my sister on his hip, her messy blonde curls tucked under the big man’s chin and her wide blue eyes peering at me sleepily. One of her arms was slung tightly around Reese’s neck while the other was busy keeping a thumb in her mouth. It was something she only did anymore when she slept. The self-soothing gesture must have come back with a vengeance when she was alone and scared. I noticed Duckie clutched in her fist. Reese must have gotten it for her out of my pants.

“Georgie,” I said again, reaching out a hand for her, but the movement shot blinding pain through me, almost causing me to black out.

“Benji!” I heard her whimper. I tried to blink away the pain and breathe through it to keep her from worrying too much. The poor thing looked exhausted and overwhelmed. Her face had smudges of dirt on it, and I could only imagine what her past week with those monsters had been like.

“Baby, I’m here,” I said through the pain. “I’m right here. I’m fine. Did you meet my friend, Reese?”

She tucked her face back into Reese’s neck without looking at him. Her arms went tightly around his neck again, and she clutched him like a life raft until her body began to relax again. He held her close, and I noticed white bandages around his hands.

“What happened to your hands?”

Reese’s forehead creased in confusion as if he’d forgotten about his injuries. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just some scrapes.”

I was almost afraid to ask the next question. “And… and Georgie? Is she…?”

“She won’t let me put her down. Ethan… Dr. Rhodes managed to look her over as best he could and said he thinks she’s physically unharmed, other than exhaustion, of course. He’s sending in a child counselor to talk to her. She hasn’t said a word other than just now to you.”

Reese’s hand drew circles on Georgie’s small back until she drifted off. She had on jeans and a sweatshirt I’d never seen before, and the sight of her in something unfamiliar was jarring. I felt a hot tear escape the corner of my eye and make its way down my cheek. I tried looking away, but Reese noticed anyway. He sat in the chair that was pulled up to the side of the bed and rested Georgie on his lap, still holding her with one arm while he reached out to me with the other.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, brushing the tear away with the rough pad of his thumb. “We got her, Ben. She’s safe now.”

His touch felt so good, comforting and soothing. I wanted to lean into it and let him take all the pain away. But I couldn’t. “She’s not,” I replied, pulling away from him. “They’ll find her again. They’ll use her again for leverage against Kirk for whatever it is they think he has. He always puts business before family. Always. We have to get her out of here.”

I tried shifting to the edge of the bed, but the first movement stopped me in my tracks again with a horrible, stabbing pain in my wrist.

“Fu… fudge, Ben. Stay still. You have a broken wrist,” Reese said, stopping himself from cursing with Georgie in his arms. “The doc is on his way to talk to you about it. I think it’s serious.”

I looked down at my arm, noticing the black and blue marks where one of Georgie’s abductors had grabbed me and wrenched my wrist up behind my back. The memory made my head spin, and I closed my eyes quickly in an effort to stop the nausea that came with it.

When I felt steady again, I opened my eyes. “We have to go. We have to get out of here.”

A different voice spoke up from the doorway. “Well, you’re halfway correct.” I turned to see Dr. Rhodes, the same doctor who’d cared for me after the assault and who’d met with Reese outside of the hotel room. I suddenly remembered Reese wasn’t who I thought he was.

My head snapped back to Reese as Dr. Rhodes continued. “You have to go into surgery. And no one is getting out of here. You’re perfectly safe.”

“Who the f… fudge are you?” I hissed at Reese. “I saw you. I saw you talking to him at the hotel.” I tried to jab a finger in the direction of the doctor but saw stars when my bum wrist reminded me I shouldn’t be doing that shit.

My heart was hammering with nerves as my head swam with the pain of everything my body had been through. I was so confused about who was who and who was trustworthy. How the hell was I supposed to keep Georgie safe when I couldn’t even hold her or get out of the damned bed?

I looked from the doctor to Reese and back while they exchanged a look. Feeling like the only person who didn’t know what was going on sucked.

It was Dr. Rhodes who spoke first. “Ben, that’s on me. When you came in here the first time, I was worried about you. I asked my fiancé’s advice and Cain suggested having Reese keep an eye on you to make sure you were okay.”

“But,” I began. Reese cut me off by cupping my cheek to gently pull me back to face him.

“Please don’t be mad. Ethan was only looking out for you. And he was right. You were in rough shape. Those guys at the bus stop—”

“How did you find me at the warehouse?” I interrupted.

Reese hesitated before saying, “I found the address in your pocket. I left it there because I was hoping you would tell me about it yourself, but when you disappeared…”

“You lied to me,” I hissed. “Look, I appreciate you helping me, but you could have told me who you were and why you were following me.” I knew that was technically a lie because I would have kicked Reese and any attempts of help to the curb. Hell, I’d done that when I’d refused to tell anyone in the ER my name and what had happened to me.

My head pounded, and I took another look at Georgie to make sure she was still asleep. She was snuggled against a big warm chest I knew well. Of course she was relaxed enough to sleep. It was impossible to be held by that man and not feel safe and protected.

I huffed again for good measure, and Reese’s fingers stroked my cheek and jaw. It was nearly impossible to be angry at someone stroking your face with such tenderness. Had I been a bit more lucid, maybe I would have been strong enough to shrug him off.

But I wasn’t. I closed my eyes instead and leaned in, just for a second.

Reese’s voice was soothing when he spoke. “You and I both know you wouldn’t have trusted me if I told you I’d been purposely sent to follow you.”

He was right, of course. But I’d be damned if I was going to admit it.

“Georgie and I need to leave,” I said again.

It was Dr. Rhodes’ turn to speak up, and I didn’t like what he had to say. “No. I’m afraid you have an appointment with the surgeon. I came in here to talk to you about your injuries.”

He explained that I had a Colles’ fracture of my wrist that required surgery to properly set the bones. “It will most likely need a plate, but the recovery isn’t as bad as you think. Cast for only a few weeks, then a removable brace for a few more. Maybe some physical therapy to get it moving and back up to full strength.”

The words he spoke made me feel trapped. How in the world was I supposed to look after my sister if I was going under the knife?

“And if I refuse the surgery?” I asked.

Reese’s nostrils flared. “You’re not refusing the surgery.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” I snapped like a complete child.

Just as he was opening his mouth to respond—and I was sure he was going to assert that he was, in fact, the boss of me—Dr. Rhodes beat him to the punch.

“It’s not optional. You’re in no position to look after your sister with a bad fracture like that. Reese can take Georgie to my—”

“No!” I cried, thinking of them putting her into the system until Kirk could be found. “No, please.” I shot Reese a pleading look. “Reese, you can’t take her away from me. Please.”

Reese leaned forward, holding my chin steady until our eyes were locked together. “Baby, I promise you, I will not take her away from you.”

I ignored the tears that spilled out when I closed my eyes. “Thank you,” I breathed. “Just… just don’t take her away. I’ll do it if you keep her here.”

When I opened my eyes again, Reese was having a silent conversation with the doctor. Dr. Rhodes cleared his throat. “Okay, we’ll get a cot brought in for her. She needs a proper bed to sleep in.”

I nodded and sniffed. “Okay. That would be good. Maybe when I’m in surgery, you can sleep in my bed,” I said to Reese.

He snorted and grinned at me. I saw him glance at the doctor who was looking at one of the many machines I was attached to. I was stunned when Reese leaned down and whispered, “Only way I’m sleeping in a bed is if you’re in it with me.” Despite how badly I was hurting, his warm words and growly voice sent shivers throughout my entire body. The fingers of his free hand sifted through my hair. “Just worry about getting better, Ben. I’ll look after Georgie and keep her safe. You need to rest before surgery.”

Dr. Rhodes put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “The nurse will be here in a few minutes to give you something to relax before we move you to the OR.”

I let out a breath and fell back onto the pillows. My arm hurt like a son of a bitch and there were aches and pains in other places too. My body felt like it had been pummeled, but I guessed it truly had. When the doctor left the room, I saw him stop and kiss a man standing outside my door.

“Is that his fiancé?” I asked.

“Hm? Oh, yeah. That’s Cain. He’s standing watch outside the door.”

Before I could respond, I heard a commotion outside the door and turned to see it being pushed open. The blond man that I now recognized as Cain stuck his head in and focused on Reese. “Hey, sorry, there are some guys here who are insisting on seeing Ben… I know one of them so I think we’re good as long as Ben wants to see them.”

“Who is it?” I asked, but before Cain could say anything, the two men pushed their way into the room. It was like looking into a damned mirror. I’d seen Griffin Marian only once before, but my stomach plummeted the same way it had several years before.

I noticed Reese reaching for me as if to protect me from the intrusion. I wanted to say something, to tell him they wouldn’t hurt me, but I couldn’t. My mouth was dry and my face felt numb.

Reese seemed to take my reaction as fear and acted accordingly. He stepped around the bed until he was between me and the men. Georgie stayed asleep on his chest, her sweet face smooshed against his neck.

“Who are you?” Reese growled in a low voice. I wondered if he could see what I saw—that the man with tears streaming down his face might as well have been my twin if my hair hadn’t been cut short.

“Who am I?” Griffin cried. “Who are you? Move. Get out of my way and let me see him.” His voice was broken and the man next to him seemed to be trying to hold him up, or maybe keep him from lurching forward. I refused to let his emotions touch me. My entire body tensed up, causing all the sore places to scream in response. I must have made a whimpering sound because Reese whipped his head around to see what was wrong.

Whatever he saw seemed to set his jaw. He turned back to Griffin and the man holding him.

“Get out,” he said in a hushed but deadly voice. “I don’t know who you are, but—”

“I’m his brother,” Griffin said.

Words I’d waited my whole life to hear… but when they came, they fell to the floor like ashes. Light and meaningless. The end of something that didn’t matter anymore.

At least, that’s what I tried to tell myself as my heart started thundering in my chest and my throat felt like it was going to close up. I began breathing faster than normal until my head swam and my vision dimmed.

“Reese?” I gasped.

“Let’s go, Foxy. Give him a minute,” I heard someone say. But all I could see was Reese’s face—his calm but firm instructions for me to stay calm and focus on him.

“Breathe in and hold it, baby,” Reese said gently. I heard the door open and close and then people were moving around the room. A nurse appeared, as well as Dr. Rhodes. But I kept my eyes on Reese.

“That’s good,” Reese said. “Focus on me.”

Despite Dr. Rhodes’ presence, he didn’t interrupt us other than to gently ease an oxygen mask over my face. Even with the flow of oxygen right there, I couldn’t catch my breath. So I mentally dismissed everyone else from the room and just let my eyes cling to Reese’s. I wasn’t sure how much time passed before I felt the constriction in my lungs ease, and I was able to find my voice.

“Make him go, Reese. Please, I don’t want him here,” I whispered desperately. My throat felt like ground glass.

“Is he your brother, Ben?” Reese asked as he stroked my temple with his bandaged hand.

“No,” I said. “Not anymore.”

Reese looked understandably confused by the remark, but thankfully, he didn’t question it. Instead, he eased a still-sleeping Georgie down on the bed next to me as Dr. Rhodes began talking to the nurse.

“I’ll take care of it,” Reese murmured, then he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. I knew I shouldn’t have relied on this man to do anything for me, but in that moment, all I wanted was for him to take care of it.

And everything else.

“Ben, we’re going to go ahead and start preparing you for surgery. I have some things I need to go over with you. Are you okay to do that now while Reese goes and talks to your… visitors?”

I snuggled closer to Georgie and nodded, then looked at Reese. “You’re coming back, right?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m coming back,” Reese said softly with a smile.

His smile.

And then he was gone.