“Oh, God, Simon. Simon, it’s me.”

“Where are you?” Simon spun around, looking for Aidan. He was trying to talk to the police officers. Celeste was being dragged away to one of the police cruisers.

Nicky, of all people, came rushing over to him and crouched down beside him.

Simon didn’t have the mental fortitude to ask why, only to be grateful.

Nick dug his bear paw of a hand into Simon’s shoulder. The pain brought him back to himself. He was going to shoot off into a million different points of light and that wasn’t going to help his wife.

Simon’s hand shook as he changed over to speakerphone. “Baby, where are you?”

“I don’t know. I…”

A sob came over the phone and Simon’s gaze fuzzed out of focus. “Are you hurt?”

“No. Not really. Just banged up. Just…I really need you here, okay?”

“Baby, I’ll be right there. We just gotta find you. Are you safe?”

“Yes. I’m in a hospital…no, clinic. Smaller and in a rough area.” Her voice went down to a whisper. “I’m in Vegas. I don’t know how.”

Vegas? What the fuck?

“Are you safe?”

“Um, yes. I think so.” Her voice was so low…and small. Not like his Margo at all.

Christ, he wanted to kill anyone who’d ever even thought of harming her.

Nick sprung up off the ground and grabbed Aidan, dragging him back over to them.

“We’re coming. I’ll be there as fast as humanly possible. Maybe I’ll even break the sound barrier, huh?”

Her laugh was weak, but it was there.

When Aidan heard Margo’s voice, his eyes widened. He waved over someone else and they started doing something technical on one of their many gadgets. Simon couldn’t keep up.

Didn’t want to. All he cared about was getting to Margo.

“Do you know the name of the place?”

“Vegas Quick Care.” Her voice got soft as if she was talking away from her phone, then she came back on the line. “Yes, that’s the name.” Then she rattled off an address and Aidan was off and running again, a phone to his ear.

“Did they hurt you?”

“No. Simon, she’s not right.”

“Shh. I know, baby. I know. But she won’t hurt us again.” He stared at the ravaged face of his mother in the back of one of the police cars. She pressed her hand flat against the car window as she stared at him. Her once beautiful face now was tracked with dark streaks from her sobs.

“What happened?” Margo’s voice broke in.

“It doesn’t matter.” He turned his back on the woman who had left him years ago. “I’m coming for you. That’s all that matters. I’m coming to bring you home.”

The shaky sob on the other end of the line nearly broke him. It also pushed him to his feet and over to Aidan. Nick was hot on his heels.

“Can you stay on the phone?”

“No. It’s the clinic phone and people are starting to ask questions. I don’t know what to do.”

Simon peered into the big black SUV where Aidan was speaking with the police officers. Based on how the one guy was trying to get into Aidan’s face, Simon was pretty sure the cop was about to bust a blood vessel. Aidan was demanding to speak with a supervisor.

Who the fuck was this guy to be able to pull rank here? He seemed to be a bit more than a security expert.

Nick dragged him over to the other large black SUV that had just arrived. “Hang in there with me, baby,” Simon said as he moved to the waiting vehicle.

The lanky guy who had wired him up for the dropoff was talking to someone on a screen. Jesus fuck, thank God. Donovan. From the sound of it, they were getting a freaking helicopter ready to go get his wife. Thank fuck. “Margo?”

“I’m here.” Her voice sounded small, but strong.

He swallowed hard. “It’s okay. Donovan is on it. You know him, he can move small countries if he wants to.” She laughed a little and his gut uncurled a bit. “We’re coming to get you.”

“Oh, thank God. Simon…” Her voice was muffled, then came out stronger. “Simon, I have to go.”

“No.”

“Simon, I swear I’m okay.”

“And…” He didn’t want to ask. Wasn’t sure he could face it, but for her, he would.

“We’re fine,” she whispered. “They need the phone.”

“No, Margo, wait.”

“I love you. Hurry.”

And then she was gone. Fucking gone again. “Tell me you can get me to her.” Simon raked his hands through his hair as he met the tall guy’s gaze. “Please.”

“We’re going to a private airstrip about five miles away. A chopper will be waiting.”

“Thank God.” He met Donovan’s gaze through the screen. “Thank you.”

“Just go get our girl back. I’m working with the police. I’ll have everything ready at the birthing center you two use.”

“How…” Simon just shook his head. He didn’t want to know how Donovan did half the shit he did. Especially if there were any laws to be broken in the middle of it all.

Aidan appeared at his side. “They’re taking your mother. She’s not freaking talking, but a bag of money and two dead bodies isn’t exactly easy to sweep under the damn rug.”

Simon laced his fingers behind his neck. “I don’t fucking care. She can rot in a prison cell for all I care.”

Aidan snapped out quiet orders to three of the men in the car. They got out and made their way to the van across the street. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before we end up with another three squad cars here. Even Donovan has a limit to his capabilities.”

Simon hopped into the SUV and Nick shoved him over. “What are you doing?”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Dude, you heard them. Chopper. As in helicopter.”

Nick swallowed audibly. “I know. It’s fine.”

“I love you, man, but I don’t have it in me to hold your hand while you’re puking.”

“I can hold my own hand if necessary. And I’ll be fine.” Nick turned to Aidan. “They have barf bags, right?”

Aidan’s eyebrow arched. “Yeah, the window.”

The ride to the airport was eternal. At least it wasn’t LAX. He needed to get to her sometime this century. The little strip was barely more than a dirt road with a freaking shack, but there was a big black beautiful helicopter waiting for them.

“Oh, Jesus.” Nick scrubbed his hands down his jeans.

“It’s okay. I don’t expect you to—”

“Just shut up. I’m coming. I’m much more used to flying now anyway. Just not in one of those tin cans. But I can be a little nervous. It’s healthy. How do those things stay in the air?”

“Sure you want a physics lesson?” Aidan asked dryly.

“Nope. Who’s driving it?”

“Me.”

“God, we’re gonna die.” Nick put his head between his knees.

“No, you could say that if your buddy was driving. Me? I’ve been in the air more than I’ve been on the ground, pal.” He got out of the front driver’s side and slammed the door.

Simon jumped out and followed him to the wicked looking chopper. It wasn’t a tiny personal type. Was it Donovan’s? Or just whatever money could buy for a few hours?

He didn’t fucking care as long as he got to Margo.

Before he could even climb in, Aidan was clicking buttons and doing some sort of check-in. Nick scrambled into the chopper behind him and went right for the harness seatbelt. Within a few minutes, they were all strapped in and lifting off.

His stomach went into his fucking throat as they pulled up off the dry as dust airfield to the sky. As many years as they’d been touring, as many stunts as they’d pulled over the years, a plane was about as exciting as they got in their travels. This wasn’t exactly the way he wanted to experience his first chopper ride.

Nor Margo’s.

He pulled the headphones over his ears when Aidan nodded to him. He handed a set to Nick, but he shook his head.

They banked over the crammed highways while Simon said a fervent prayer that the trip would be fast.

Nick white-knuckled the entire ride, with his eyes tightly shut.

Aidan’s voice through the headphones cut through the white noise of speed. “We’re landing fairly close to the clinic. At least as close as I could get us. There will be a truck waiting for us.”

Simon wasn’t sure how to talk back to him, so just gave him a thumbs up in response.

The ride was endless. At least it felt like it to him. The green of California turned to desert the closer they got to the Nevada border. Heat blasted into the dark cockpit and sweat soaked his back. The rushing view churned his stomach and he followed Nick’s lead by shutting his eyes.

He wasn’t sure which was worse. Watching the world rush by or closing in on himself to hear that fearful tone in his mind. His brave, strong Margo with a shaky voice had nearly killed him.

Add in his mother’s blank stare as she shot two men?

Sweet fuck.

He’d come from monsters. He hadn’t wanted to believe Ian when he’d explained just how obsessed their mother was with him. If she was so focused on him, then why did she leave him alone for most of his life?

That wasn’t obsession.

That was fixation without fact. She didn’t know a goddamn thing about him. Nor would she. She had the money and now she was gone. He had to live with watching her kill two men, but oddly, there wasn’t much remorse inside him for them.

They’d chosen their path.

Jerry with his greed and Dolph? Well, if he was a gun for hire, he knew what he was getting into. How many people had he killed for Jerry? Or for others?

No, Simon wouldn’t lose sleep on that.

Not when they hurt his woman. His baby?

God, he hoped Margo was right—that their baby was okay too.

Their lemon drop couldn’t be taken away by his mother.

Simon opened his eyes to Nick’s staring eyes. Instead of showing fear, he was leaning against the window to watch the desert whip by.

Simon’s eyebrow arched as he shook his head. His weird life.

Aidan’s voice boomed through his headphones. “Ten minutes.”

The longest ten minutes of his life.

There was chatter between Aidan and some sort of tower as he got permission to land and call signs were given. All the things he didn’t understand, but knew it meant he was one step closer to getting his girl.

Landing was a bit dicier than their takeoff. The headwinds were giving Aidan trouble or something. Nick was a nice shade of green by the time they set down. He tugged off the harness and crouched close to the door.

“Hold up,” Aidan barked.

Simon flipped back his belt and crowded Nick at the door. The blades above the damn helicopter didn’t seem to ever stop fucking beating. Finally, they slowed and Aidan gave the all clear. They both jumped down and Nick actually touched the ground.

“Gonna kiss it?”

“Maybe.” Nick glanced up at him and stood up. “Only for you, man.”

Simon gave him a half smile and slapped his arm. “Thanks, Nicky.”

“Yeah.” His voice was little more than a grunt.

A black SUV pulled up at the edge of the small airstrip. Did rich dudes have access to these things at all times? Maybe if they were as rich as Donovan fucking Lewis. He’d thought he was rich until today.

Until he saw just how much he could have lost if he didn’t have these connections. Hours? Days to get to her with the added red tape of the police?

He didn’t want to think about it. Couldn’t.

Margo was his only focus right now.

The drive into the shitty little town on the outskirts of the Vegas strip seemed to take longer than the damn chopper ride. Nick was unusually quiet through the entire drive, but Simon was glad. He didn’t have the mental fortitude to try to make small talk. Just knowing Nicky was there next to him was enough.

Aidan made a left hand turn and the downtrodden street could have been in Carson. They’d left her here? Alone?

Just left her?

Rage raced up his spine and he fisted his hands at his sides. Right outside the car window, the cracked and half buzzing sign for a motel with an actual drug deal going on beneath it chilled him to the bone.

She could have been killed. Attacked again—even more so than her previous kidnapping.

“Jesus Christ,” Nick muttered.

Simon swiveled away from his own view of the street hustle to see a man with a gun on the corner outside Nick’s window.

Aidan cleared his throat. “Guys, we’re parking around the back to get inside the clinic.”

“Could we maybe do that before this guy shoots the other in a bad deal?”

Aidan glanced toward Nick’s side of the car. “For fuck’s sake.”

“Yeah.” Nick crunched down in his seat. “Didn’t we get away from this shit?”

They had crawled out of Carson, hoping to never see it again. This entire situation reminded Simon just how far he’d come. And how much he’d never take it for granted again.

Before Aidan turned off the SUV, Simon had the door open.

“Simon, wait.”

He ignored Nick’s plea and rushed inside the squat building. His only focus was Margo.

The little clinic was surprisingly clean. The chairs were filled with patients, including one crying child, but the place seemed to be running relatively smoothly for such a shitty section of town. The woman running the front desk certainly had a lot to do with it. She smiled when Simon came through the doors, but quickly, her demeanor changed.

“Mr. Kagan?”

“Please.” Simon got to the desk and nearly sagged under the stress and worry. “Where is she?”

“Right this way. She’s resting. We’ve given her IV fluids and checked her over the best we can. We don’t have the facilities of a hospital. We’ve tried to move her—”

“No. No, we’ll be taking her home.”

Her wide dark eyes met Simon’s. “All right. The doctor is with her now.” She smoothed a hand over her curls, brushed ruthlessly into a bun. “Right this way.”

Nick was behind him, and Aidan was speaking on the phone in the waiting room. He was grateful for their presence even as he couldn’t take time to express it.

The small room at the far end of the hall had an actual door. The tiny window didn’t afford much of a view, but then her heart-shaped face devoid of makeup was right there.

So close.

All he had to do was open the door.

God, right there, she was okay.

Simon ran a shaking hand through his hair and the whole room went dark.

“Okay. Here we go.” Nick grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to the small alcove right near the door. “Okay. Breathe, man.”

Simon gripped Nick’s forearm and sagged against the wall. His knees gave out and he almost went down. “I can’t. What if… She—”

“Hey now. She’s good. She’s stronger than any of us. Okay, maybe as strong as Li. But she’s certainly stronger than us two idiots.”

“Jesus, I brought this down on her. My mother. My fucking family.” Simon bent at the waist and stared at his feet as the black dots crowded in on him. “God, I almost lost her.”

“But you didn’t.” Nick crouched down next to him. “You didn’t. She’s here and she’s fine.” He gripped his shoulder—hard. “She’s fucking here and needs you.”

Simon ran a trembling hand over his face.

Nick disappeared and came back with a tiny cup of water. “Probably would do better with a fucking belt of vodka.”

“God, yes.” But he knew he’d never come out of that bottle. Not right now. He’d drown in it and he couldn’t. Could never go there again.

“Your family needs you.”

Simon looked up.

“What do you call the baby? Lemon drop?”

Simon huffed out a half-laugh. “Yes. She’s the size of a lemon right now.”

“Margo and your lemon drop need you. Your real family. They’re the important ones right now. You can fall apart later.”

Simon shook his head. “Right. You’re right.” He stood up and fisted his hands until they stopped shaking. “If I lost her... I don’t think I’d survive it.”

“You didn’t.”

“You didn’t see her face. That woman. My mother. How I could come from her…”

“We both came from absolute shit. But we’re not them. We never have been them, even at our worst. And we have these strong, capable women who make us even better. That’s where your head needs to be. Not back there in the shit. Here, for your wife and your baby.”

A lump eased in his chest. “When did you get so level-headed?”

“Sex with Li must infuse through the skin or something.”

Simon laughed. It wasn’t much of a laugh, but it wasn’t a damn sob.

“I’ll go check in and see what the big scary dude is doing out in the waiting room.”

Simon nodded. “Thanks, Nicky.”

“Nothing you wouldn’t have done for me.”

He dragged Nicky in for a hard hug. “The damn truth.” He stepped back and Nick was already turning away, scrubbing at his own eyes.

The fucking pair of them. Jesus.

He scrubbed his hands over his face and straightened his shirt, then blew out a breath before pushing through the door.

She looked so small and fragile. So very not Margo. Her shirt was ripped and dirty, her black pants dusty and streaked with something. Her face was free from makeup, making her freckles seem like a stark dusting of cinnamon on her pale face. She was laying on a gurney with an IV attached to her arm.

As soon as Margo saw him, she sat up and her eyes filled. He stalked across the room to her and hauled her into his chest. He curled his arms around her shoulders and held her as she sobbed. His heart broke and knit itself back together all at the same time.

“Ah, baby. Tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” she said against his chest.

His shirt was damp with her tears, but she was warm and real. He pressed a kiss to her dusty hair. Under the noises of the clinic, the antiseptic scent of the room, there was a hint of honeysuckle. The one thing that he’d always associate with his wife.

“Thank God. Thank God you’re okay.” His voice was little more than a husky grumble around the tears threatening to spill down his own damn cheeks.

Finally, he noticed the doctor standing just at the edge of the curtained area. Simon cleared his throat. “Sorry, Doc. I didn’t mean to just barge in.”

“It’s fine. I’ve been trying to convince Mrs. Kagan to be brought to the hospital. She’s doing well, but I don’t have the equipment here to do much more than an ultrasound.”

Simon swallowed. “And we’re all…” He couldn’t quite ask.

“The baby’s heartbeat is strong.”

Simon rested his cheek against Margo’s hair. “Can I hear it?” Margo gripped his shirt. He looked down at her. “I need to hear it.”

The doctor was older, but he gave Simon a gentle smile. “I don’t know the full story of what’s going on with her, but I do know she’s lucky to be in such good health. She was very dehydrated, but it seems she had no other injuries save for some bruising.”

Simon locked his jaw. Thank fuck.

Margo rubbed his back. “Honestly, Simon, she didn’t hurt me. None of them did. They just left me in a room alone most of the time.” She looked down, which made Simon wonder how much of that was a generalization. Right now, he just wanted to make sure she was physically okay.

He’d help her through anything else after that.

The doctor paused before he brought the machine over to Margo’s bed.

“I’m sorry, Doctor. I can’t say much, but just know we have security here to make sure nothing will be happening at your clinic.”

The doctor waved him off. “Half the time I’m not sure if a patient has a gun under his shirt. I’m not worried about that.”

Simon swallowed. “As soon as we can, we’ll have her out of here and her OB will be checking her over.”

“That makes me feel better.” He flipped on the machine and squirted the gel Simon was getting used to smelling on the little wand. “Okay, Mrs. Kagan. Lay back for me.”

Margo scrunched down on the gurney and lifted her shirt. Simon ran the back of his finger along the slight swell of her belly, then linked his fingers with Margo’s. She gave him a tremulous smile, then gasped when the cool gel hit her skin. When the baby’s fluttering heartbeat filled the room, they both laughed.

On the screen, their little lemon drop kicked. Simon closed his eyes, unashamed of the tear that seared down his cheek.

Both of them were okay. In the end, that was all that mattered.

The doctor pulled the wand away from Margo’s belly and the room went silent. “Just another second,” Simon asked in a hoarse voice.

The heartbeat filled the room again with its comforting sound. He dipped his forehead against Margo’s. “Can I take her home now?”

“I’ll get the paperwork ready.” The doctor quietly wiped Margo’s skin clean and pulled down her shirt.

Simon laid his cheek against her arm to collect himself. When he sat up, Margo’s eyes were still shut, but she was angled toward him. It was as if him just being in the room with her gave her enough permission to finally rest.

He couldn’t help wanting to shake her awake. To hear her voice and ask her questions, but she needed rest so much more than an inquisition.

He gently stroked her hair and signed whatever papers came his way for the next space of eternity. He just wanted her on that chopper and at the hospital where he knew people would take care of her. This place had become a safe haven, but it was rundown and he could feel danger pressing in from the outside.

They needed to be on their home turf.

A shadow fell across the end of the bed and he looked up to find Aidan filling the doorway. “Can we take her home now?”

“I hate to wake her, but I’d really like to get back before dark.”

“Me too.”

Simon brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Violin Girl?”

She made a sweet little moan that melted his heart. A familiar one that meant she was sleeping and didn’t want to be disturbed.

“I just need you to wake up for a little bit so we can get you in the car. Can you do that for me?”

Her big brown eyes fluttered open. “So tired.”

“I know, baby. Just a few minutes.”

She nodded and sat up. “M’kay.” She pressed her hand to his chest. “Simon… Oh, God. Jules.”

Simon’s chest ached. “We didn’t tell her. With her baby, we didn’t…” We didn’t what?

His entire focus had been Margo. He couldn’t even feel shame about it.

The doctor came in behind Aidan and unwrapped the IV, ending the conversation. “I’d like you to keep this going if you can.”

Aidan nodded. “I’ve got a medic for the chopper. One of my guys arrived just after we did.”

Simon breathed a sigh of relief. At least there would be one person on the chopper with some medical background, just in case.

Things started rolling after that. Nick was hovering outside, looking around the back bay entrance. Relief smoothed his face when he caught sight of them.

Nick quickly opened the car door for them and Simon helped Margo into the car, scooting her into the middle so she could lean on him. He hung the IV on the little suit hook near the window. Margo instantly turned into him and burrowed into his chest.

Aidan and the medic got in front, and Nick got in on the other side of Margo. He gave her as much space as possible, but the three of them were on the tall side.

Silence reigned, but it was necessary so his girl could rest.

If she could.

Another endless ride. There was traffic, and Nick was twitchy because of the less than safe situation they were in. Not because of Simon’s mother, but they both knew the vibe of an unsafe area. For too many years, they’d lived on streets just like this. Desperate people and hopeless situations made for a very bad brew.

Margo was too restless to settle, so Simon did the only thing he knew how to do. He sang. His voice was soft and low. A song he’d heard that he couldn’t quite get out of his mind.

He sang about the hope of love and a possible larger message. The song was wide open for interpretation. But she’d always been Simon’s guiding light and the song suited her right now. Even tired and broken, she was a survivor.

Her and their lemon drop.

And they were going home.