“He’ll be okay.”

It was the third time Cain had said those same words to me since we’d left the motel, and while I knew he meant well, I also knew he wasn’t completely convinced about that fact.

For one, because Ben had a pretty good head start on us.

And secondly, he had my car… and my gun.

I didn’t know whether to be pissed or terrified.

Truth be told, I was both.

The terrified part was pretty self-explanatory, since Ben was once again out there without me and now he was armed with a gun he didn’t actually know how to use.

And pissed because he’d snuck out on me like a thief in the night.

“I knew something was off,” I muttered. “He was different.”

“Different how?” Cain asked.

Fortunately, Cain hadn’t been too far away from the motel when I’d called to tell him to come and get me. But I had no clue how long Ben had been gone, since I’d been asleep when he’d taken off.

And I’d only been asleep because he’d urged me to get some rest.

The whole thing had been a big lie. He’d been waiting for me to fall asleep so he could bail.

“Just wasn’t himself,” I said, though now I wasn’t sure who Ben really was. I’d fallen hook, line, and sinker for his understanding and patience when I’d admitted my sexual history… or lack thereof. It’d been one of my most humiliating moments, but I’d wanted to share that with him. And I’d thought he’d understood how hard it’d been for me. I thought it’d meant something to him. Had it all been a lie?

I’d made the mistake of giving people the benefit of the doubt before. Could Ben have simply been lulling me into believing we’d had some kind of connection? Had he been doing it from the moment he’d woken up in the motel room?

“Do you think he saw us?” Cain asked. His words caught me off guard and I looked at him in surprise.

“What?”

Cain kept his eyes on the road. “Me and Ethan… do you think there’s a chance Ben saw us?”

“No, he was out cold when I got back to the room.”

I could practically feel Cain rolling his eyes at me. And he was right—Ben could have been acting. And he had started acting distant an hour later when I’d woken him up to take some more of the pain pills Ethan had provided. Ben had taken them and then gone to the bathroom to clean up.

“He tossed the pills,” I muttered as things began clicking into place. Which meant Ben had been faking his exhaustion. “Fuck,” I added. I turned to look out the window as I recalled Ben readily agreeing to sleep in the bed by himself when I’d suggested I sleep on the floor to keep from bumping him by mistake. I’d hidden my hurt that he’d jumped on the offer like he had, and I’d blamed the quasi-rejection on the pain pills I’d given him, but now it made sense.

He hadn’t wanted to sleep next to me because it would have been harder for him to get out of the room without me noticing.

I knew that this whole thing was my fault for lying to Ben in the first place, but my irrational side was still angry.

I’d been sure we’d gotten to a point that he’d tell me about the address and whatever else it was he’d been keeping from me.

But instead, he’d been planning his escape.

“It’s just up there,” Cain said.

I was glad that Cain had lived in the San Francisco area long enough to know his way around the city, because I had no clue where we were.

“Any word from Ronan?” I asked.

“Closest guys are in L.A., so we’re on our own,” Cain said.

The plan had been to get some more of my teammates to San Francisco to help get Georgie back, but I’d overestimated my ability to get through to Ben. My instincts rarely failed me, but that was because I usually never got emotionally involved with my marks or any of the people I worked with. Being with Ben had turned everything on its head, and I’d wound up listening to my heart rather than my gut.

I hadn’t even known him for much more than twenty-four hours and I’d bet all my cards on the connection I’d thought we’d had.

And now both Georgie and Ben could pay for it.

I forced myself to focus as Cain parked the car several hundred yards from the abandoned warehouse at the address I’d found in Ben’s pocket. The surrounding industrial park appeared to be undergoing construction, so there was lots of heavy equipment and building materials around, but no people.

It was the perfect place for an exchange.

Did Ben know what the guys wanted? Had he lied about that too?

Cain and I got out of the car, and I took the revolver he handed me. Fear curled in my belly as I remembered how Ben had handled my gun… did he even know how to disengage the safety? If not, he was fucked.

Because I had no doubt the guys who had Georgie weren’t going to play games.

“We need to move,” I said as I began hurrying in the direction of the warehouse. When we reached the northwest corner of the building, Cain motioned to me that he was going around the left side. I nodded and went the opposite direction. Within a minute, I spotted my rental car parked in an alley to the right of the building. My heart twisted with hope as I hurried to it, keeping my eye on my surroundings as I went. There was no sign of Ben in or around the car.

I kept moving until I found a side door propped open. I stole through it and followed a dim hallway to a second door. I stilled when I heard muffled voices inside. I couldn’t make out what was being said, so I eased my way through the second door, making sure it closed silently behind me. There were piles of building materials all along the outer walls of the big space, but my gaze settled on the light flooding one side of the warehouse. A large sliding door in the rear of the building was open, revealing headlights from a running car.

The muffled voices became more distinct as I weaved my way through the debris.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

I nearly cried out in relief at the sound of Ben’s terrified voice.

“Please, just let her go! I’ll help you find what you’re looking for, I swear it!”

Ben’s voice was louder than whoever he was talking to, because I couldn’t catch what they said in response. But what I saw made my blood run cold. Ben had chosen that moment to whip out my gun and point it at the tall man he was confronting. “Let her go!” he ordered. His hand was shaking violently.

The tall man actually laughed at him, and when he took a step toward him, Ben pulled the trigger.

But nothing happened.

“You forgot the safety, you little fool,” the guy said as he grabbed the gun. I lifted my own weapon to take a shot at the guy, but I couldn’t get one off because in the same instant, Ben stepped directly into my line of fire. I quickly dropped my arm and raced back the way I’d come, frantically searching for a better line of sight. But as I moved, the tall man lurched forward and grabbed Ben by the arm before slamming him back against a foundation beam. Ben cried out in pain. Frustration tore through me as I realized I couldn’t get off a clean shot.

“Vitole, bring him with us. The boss will want to question him,” a second voice called from the direction of the car. I turned my head and noticed the second man was shorter and stockier than the first. He had on an Iron Man T-shirt that looked ridiculously out of place on such a thug.

“Get the kid,” Vitole called from his place near Ben. “He’ll talk for us then.”

“No!” Ben shouted. Iron Man ignored Ben and opened the back door of the vehicle. Within seconds, he pulled a little girl out of the back seat.

Georgie.

The child stood frozen in fear until Ben called her name, then she began tugging at the man holding onto her. The asshole gave her a hard shake, which caused her to cry out in pain.

That was when Ben lost it. He threw himself at the guy holding him and became like a crazed animal as he punched, kicked and scratched at the man who was practically twice his size. I took advantage of the distraction and began sprinting toward them, since there was no way to get a shot off without giving away my presence. And with Iron Man holding Georgie, I couldn’t risk alerting him in any kind of way. My only hope was that Cain was inside the building and was making his approach from the opposite side.

As I ran, I looked back and forth between Ben and Georgie. The guy holding Georgie seemed to be amused by the fight that was playing out in front of him, mostly because Ben was so outmatched. But when Ben somehow managed to land a solid punch against Vitole’s chin and the tall man’s head snapped back, all hell broke loose. Vitole used his entire body to tackle Ben and slam him into the pillar behind him. His head hit the cement and he let out a groan as he seemed momentarily stunned into silence.

“Ben!” I shouted, but in the melee, no one even noticed me. I pulled out my gun and aimed it just as Vitole twisted Ben’s arm behind him. The sickening sound that followed and Ben’s agonized scream actually stole my own breath from me. I took aim but had no choice but to fire wide, since Vitole was still too close to Ben for me to get a good shot.

Georgie took that moment to pull away from her captor.

I launched myself at Vitole. He was bigger than me, but my momentum worked to my advantage and as my body hit his, we both went down.

“Georgie, run!” I heard Ben scream. His voice crackled with pain. I heard a gunshot, but I had no idea where it came from because I was battling the heavy Italian fucker who’d rolled me onto my back.

Where the fuck is Cain?

“Get the girl!” Vitole ordered as he head-butted me. I saw stars, but managed to punch him. I’d lost my gun in the process of launching myself at the big man, so when he pulled a knife on me, I had no choice but to grab his wrist as he tried to plunge the weapon into my chest. Another gunshot sounded, and Vitole fell backward. My instinct was to get to Ben as a volley of gunfire rang out. Ben cried out in pain when I landed on him, desperately trying to prevent him from being hit. I waited for bullets to enter my body, but squealing tires marked an abrupt end to the gunfire.

“Georgie!” Ben screamed as he tried to push me off. He hissed in pain as I shifted to scan our surroundings. The car was gone, and Cain, gun in hand, was sprinting toward us from the opposite end of the building.

“Fucking fence took forever to climb,” Cain spat.

“The girl?” I called.

Cain shook his head, and I felt my stomach drop out.

“The door!” Ben shouted as he tried to stumble to his feet. “She went out the door!” He pointed frantically at the wide-open door the car had gone through. “The other guy… he went after her!”

Ben’s face was pale, and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. “Go, Reese! Please, go get her!”

“Stay with him,” I said to Cain. I snatched my gun off the ground as I sprinted toward the door. My heart was pounding in my chest and pain shot up my spine, but I ignored all of it as fear drove me forward. Once outside the warehouse, I looked each direction. Helplessness went through me when I saw absolutely nothing.

Oh God, please let her be alive.

The second the silent plea left my lips, I heard a scream and then what sounded like metal scraping over metal. Terror ripped through me as I barreled in the direction of the sound. I managed to reach the alley next to the warehouse when Georgie screamed again and there was a loud crashing sound. I watched in disbelief as part of the fire escape along the east side of the warehouse we’d been in crumpled to the ground. Iron Man fell along with the rusted metal, but he managed to get to his feet and stumble toward the waiting car at the other end of the alley. I ignored him and began searching the heap of metal for Georgie when I heard more metal grinding and another scream. I looked up in time to see more of the fire escape give way and fall about ten feet. Georgie, who was clinging to the lowest step on the last bit of metal that was still attached to the building, shrieked and lost her balance. She somehow managed to hang on, but with her legs dangling a good forty feet off the ground, much higher than her pursuer must have been, and with the stairs still shifting precariously, I knew she wouldn’t be able to hold on long. With all the twisted metal around my feet, there was no way I’d be able to catch her.

“Hang on, Georgie, I’m coming!” I yelled as I dropped my gun and began figuring out how to get up to where she was. It would take far too long to get back inside and get to the row of windows she was closest to. While the warehouse had appeared to be one huge space on the inside, I could tell it actually had at least several floors of office space on this particular side of the building. I scrambled over the broken metal and used the height to reach the first floor of windows. Luckily, each windowsill had a kind of thick cement lip I could hang onto. Georgie was at least four floors from the ground, and just as I reached the second window frame and pulled myself up, the stairs creaked and shifted again. Georgie screamed and wrapped both her arms around the bottom rung that was pulling away from the building.

“Don’t move, honey, I’m coming,” I called as I pulled myself up another level.

“Georgie!” I heard Ben scream, but I didn’t dare take my attention off my upward climb. My lungs were burning, and I was sure my heart was going to pound out of my chest as I struggled to reach the child. Another scream from Georgie was proof that she had only seconds left before the stairs gave out completely. I was directly beneath her, but I knew I wouldn’t reach her in time, especially since it was her own weight that was causing the stairs to detach.

“Georgie, sweetie, I need you to let go!” I called out. “I’ll catch you.”

I could hear her sobbing and the street lamps gave me enough light to see her frantically shaking her head.

“Do it, Georgie! Reese will catch you!” Ben yelled.

With only two bolts holding the stairs on and one of them nearly free of the cement, I knew we had no time left.

“Georgie, you have to let go! I swear to you, I won’t let you fall!”

“No!” Georgie cried. “I can’t!”

“Yes, you can,” I said, trying to stay calm. She was too high for me to reach, and I couldn’t get to the next window because the stairs were blocking my way. The little girl would have to drop for a good six or seven feet before getting to me, and even a slight shifting of the stairs when she let go would spell disaster. But the child adamantly clung to the only thing keeping her alive for the moment.

“Georgie, honey, Ben told me all about you. He told me how smart you are, and brave, and how much you love Duckie. He’s got Duckie with him, sweetheart. All you have to do is trust me, and I promise, I’ll get you down to see him. Please, honey, just let go.”

“Georgie, please.” I heard Ben sobbing.

The girl sniffled, but finally whispered, “’Kay.” It took her another beat to actually let go of the stairs, and I stiffened myself in preparation, gripping as tightly as I could to the window ledge with one hand. At the exact second she released her grip, the stairs gave way. Her small body hit mine, and I used every ounce of strength I had to grab and shift her body so it was pressed between the glass and me. I felt the stairs hit my back, nearly causing me to lose my footing as pain seared down my spine, but somehow I managed to hang onto the window frame. The resounding crash beneath us had me scared for Ben, but when he and Cain called out for us a second later, I breathed a sigh of relief. Georgie was crying so hard she was having trouble breathing.

“She’s okay,” I yelled down to Ben and Cain. “We’re both okay.”

“I’m coming, Reese,” Cain yelled.

I flexed my arm to lift Georgie as best I could. “Honey, I need you to turn around and hug me really hard, okay?”

Not surprisingly, Georgie practically climbed up my body and held onto me so tightly, I was certain I wouldn’t be able to move.

But it was the best feeling ever.

I put my arm around her back and tucked her face against my shoulder. When I saw motion on the other side of the glass, I said, “There’s going to be a loud crash, but we’re okay, Georgie. It’ll be over in just a minute.”

Georgie nodded against my neck. Her hot tears scalded my skin.

The sound of glass breaking washed over me as Cain broke out part of the window. I closed my eyes in relief.

“Okay, Georgie, I’m going to hand you to my friend, Cain, okay?”

She shook her head violently against me.

“Just trust me a little longer. I’m going to get you back to your brother, I swear it.”

Georgie hesitated for what seemed like forever, then finally nodded. She released me when I told her to, and when Cain handed me his jacket, I managed to work the material around Georgie’s body to help protect her from the glass. It took just seconds for Cain to get her inside, and I quickly followed. The second my boots hit the floor, Georgie pushed back into my arms. I lifted her up, her tiny body shaking violently against me. I left Cain’s jacket on her as I quickly carried her out of the office. Ben was waiting at the base of the stairs. Tears streaked down his face, and when he saw us, he dropped to his knees and sobbed in relief.

And then his eyes rolled back into his head and he crumpled to the ground.