“You talked to her?” Van asked.

I sat heavily on my couch, phone in my hand, and stared at the ceiling. Was she up there? What was she doing right now? Jesus, she owned me, heart and soul, and she had no damned idea. Or maybe she did. Fuck, if I knew, but I planned on making her see it, making her believe it.

“Jude?”

“There’s nothing to talk about. She’s decided running is a better bet than trusting me with the truth, whatever the hell that is.”

I hadn’t confronted her about the money she’d asked Tomas for. I’d hoped she’d confide in me on that rooftop; she hadn’t, of course.

Van was silent a beat. “You’re letting her go?”

My fingers curled tighter around the phone. “No fucking way. Neco’s working on it now.” My gaze lifted to the ceiling again, like I could communicate through stone and drywall, like I could get in her damn head and make her listen, make her come to me and talk to me. No more secrets, beautiful.

“When you have something, let me know. I’m here, whatever you need,” Van said.

“Thanks.”

We ended the call and I sat there in the dark room, deep in my own head. A place I didn’t like to be at the best of times. I felt helpless. Something I hadn’t felt since I lost Kate and Louis. I’d spent a great deal of my life helping other people, solving problems; it was what kept me going. Losing my sister and my nephew was my greatest failure, and had almost killed me.

I would have given anything for another day with them. Anything.

Willa, she was still here, I hadn’t lost her yet, and I didn’t plan on it. Another failure, another loss wasn’t acceptable. I would not let it happen.

A vision of her staring up at me, tears glistening in her eyes, filled my head. “I love you, too.” I sucked in a sharp breath. Those three words, coming out of her mouth, almost knocked me on my ass. And the impact hadn’t lessened the next day. Far from it.

What are you hiding from me, beautiful?

Because she was hiding something, something bigger than she knew how to handle on her own, something so big she was prepared to run. Shit in her world had gotten real, I knew that much.

She thought I was a nice guy. She hadn’t seen the other side of me; the ruthless, single minded side that would do anything—fucking anything—to protect those I loved.

I didn’t give a fuck about her privacy anymore. Her and Tilly’s safety was more important than her secrets. Now I just had to wait for Neco to call with what he found out.

I woke up, still in my chair in the dark, to my phone vibrating in my pocket. I checked the time before I answered. I’d been asleep for hours. “Yeah.”

“You get the email I just sent you?” Neco said.

The hard note to his voice set off alarm bells. “No.”

“I think you better take a look. I got mugshots sent over of Tilly’s dad.”

I put the phone on speaker. “Checking it now.”

I clicked it open, then tapped on the mugshot. “Fuck.” Willa’s brother-in-law was the same fucker who brought her to the poker game.

“Yeah,” Neco said. “He’s got to have something on her.”

“No other reason she would’ve worked that game for him. She sure as hell didn’t want to be there.” I fucking hated that she’d kept this from me.

“This Trent asshole is a known user and a dealer. Likes to gamble as well. Managed to find out he owes some bad people a lot of money.”

I shoved my fingers through my hair and cursed again. “Willa went to Tomas for money, and not chump change. He’s blackmailing her.” I paced the room.

“That’d be my guess,” Neco said.

Red rage pounded though me. “I’m going to find that asshole. Whatever he has over Willa, he will tell me.”

* * *

Willa

I stood in the middle of the house we’d called a home for almost a year, and told myself I wasn’t going to cry. After what happened with Jude the night before, I was struggling to keep it together, to pretend everything was okay, for Tilly’s sake.

But I had to. I had to do what I always had. Bottle it, shove it down deep, and keep moving.

Tilly was pissed at me, angry that I was taking her away from her friends, from Fay, from Jude, and I didn’t blame her. I couldn’t tell her the real reasons we were going, so for now, I was the meanie who was tearing her world apart. Between her and Jude, I felt like the worst kind of villain.

Fay walked in from the kitchen, where she’d been helping me pack. She was frowning down at her phone.

“What’s up?”

She shook her head. “Jennifer’s no good, piece of shit son, that’s what’s wrong. She’s pissed at me because I told her what her son’s been up to. Raul knows for a fact he’s mixed up with some shady characters. You know he looks after his girls, and Jen falls under that category. She won’t hear a word of it, though. Donny always was an idiot, but it sounds like he’s in well over his head.”

“Donny? What’s Jennifer’s last name?”

“Morgan. Why?”

Jethro’s pasty sidekick with the creepy eyes. “He’s come into the club a few times is all. I didn’t realize he was your friend’s son.”

I checked the time. The bus would be here any minute. “I need to go pick up Tils.”

“I need to go see Jen and try smooth things over. See you later?”

“Sure thing.” Grabbing my keys, I headed out, waving Fay off when she climbed in a cab.

I’d heard Jude leave in the middle of the night. I knew he wasn’t there, but I glanced back several times as I headed down the street.

I was replying to a text from Steph when the bus came to a stop in front of me a short time later. Kids swarmed off. I waited for Tilly, waited for the sight of her dark hair and bright green eyes.

The last kid climbed off and the door started to close.

What the hell?

I ran for it and banged on the doors, but it was already driving away. I stood there frozen, stunned as it disappeared, merging with the traffic.

She hadn’t been on the bus.

I yanked my phone from my pocket and hit the number for the school. I fired questions at the woman in the office and got stuck on hold while she checked.

I waited, sick to my stomach.

Blood pounded through my ears as I headed back toward the house. Maybe she’d run away. Maybe she was so upset about the move that she’d run off.

“Miss Hartley?”

I gripped the phone tighter. “Yes? Have you found her. Is she there?”

“There’s obviously been some kind of communication breakdown between you and Tilly’s father. He picked her up after school.”

The oxygen was punched from my lungs. “What?”

“Her father, he picked her up…”

“He’s not to have any contact with her!” I screamed down the line. “Did you talk to him? Did anyone talk to him? Did he say where he was going, anything?”

I was met with stunned silence. “I’m sorry, I…”

I hung up, not interested in what she had to say.

Trent. He had her.

The roaring in my ears got louder, deafening, as I reached the steps to my house. I realized then it wasn’t my ears, but the rumble of Jude’s bike.

It shut off and then he was there, his hands on my shoulders, real fear on his face as he looked down at me.

“Willa? What’s going on? Talk to me,” he said.

My blood pressure shot skyward, and I fisted his shirt. “He’s taken her!” I screamed, my voice sounding muffled, like I was underwater. “Oh God, he’s taken her.”

Jude held me tighter. “Who? Took who?”

“Tilly, he took Tilly.” I started to hyperventilate. I couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly, I was being lifted and we were moving, going through Jude’s front door.

I clawed and clung to Jude, needing something to ground me, to stop me from spiraling. Tilly needed me, she needed me. I had to find her. I had to. Whatever Trent wanted, I’d give it to him. Anything. I needed to get the hell out of there. That’s when I started struggling harder.

Jude held me against the back of his front door, his massive frame holding me immobile. “Calm down, baby. Breathe…fuck, breathe, Willa.”

“I need to go, you need to let me go,” I gasped. “He’ll talk to me. He’ll tell what he wants and I’ll get her back. You have to let me go!” Even as I screamed the words, I didn’t know if they were true. I didn’t know anything anymore, but I had to try.

“Listen to me,” he said. “I need you to calm down and listen.”

He propped me against the door with his hips, his fingers cupping my face, thumbs under my chin, making me look at him.

“I’ve got you, you know that, you know it. Now I need you trust me, to trust your man.”

His deep, raw voice moved over me, through me, until I could focus on what he was saying.

“You need to tell me everything, okay, Willa? Everything. I’ll find her. I’ll bring her home. I promise you that. I promise,” he said.

“Why would he take her? He doesn’t care about her. He doesn’t care about her,” I said louder, starting to shake so hard my teeth rattled. “He won’t keep her safe, Jude. He won’t care if she’s hungry or thirsty, or if she’s sick with one of her migraines. He won’t care if she’s cold at night.” I gripped his shirt. “She’s scared of him. Oh God, she’s so scared of him.”

He cursed, the sound rough and vicious. “You’re talking about her father? Trent?”

I nodded.

“Do you know where he was staying?” Jude asked.

“No, I…I don’t…he never said…”

“He’s been extorting money from you?” Jude asked.

I nodded again, ready to tell him anything he needed to know; anything, if it got Tilly back. “He said if I didn’t give him money, he’d try and get Tilly back. He’d say I was a stripper, a hooker. I was pretty sure he was back on drugs, I thought he might be, but if I got the police involved and I was wrong, he’d turn it around on me. I had no proof. I gave him his money, but he always wanted more. He put Tilly through a visit with him to make sure I’d do what he wanted. After that, I couldn’t do it anymore.” I was breathing hard, feeling dizzy with fear, trying to get everything out, everything Jude needed. “The visit was too much for her. I couldn’t put her through that again. I asked how much to make him go away for good, how much to sign all rights to his daughter over to me and walk away.”

Jude’s thumb slid along my jaw. “That’s why you went to Tomas?” he asked.

“You knew?”

He dipped his chin. “Tomas and me, we go back a long way. He knew you were mine, so he came to me with it.”

Another sob burst from between my lips. “It was your money, wasn’t it?”

“Don’t worry about that,” he said.

He’d known that night, when we made love. He’d wanted me to tell him what I was hiding and I refused. I clung to him tighter, a fresh wave of tears burning a path down my cheeks. “If I’d told you, if I’d…”

“This is not your fault, you hear me?” he said.

He waited for me to nod. I did, but I didn’t believe it. I’d tried to do this on my own and because of that, Tilly was gone.

“I need you tell me the places you met with him, if he ever said anything about where he was going, where he’d been?” Jude said.

I gave him the names of the diners we met. “He didn’t say much, though, nothing useful. He just made his threats and took his money.” Where was Tilly now? Was she scared? Was she hungry, alone? Oh God.

“Focus, Willa. Eyes back on me.”

I did as he asked, needing the strength I saw in his eyes to stop me from falling to pieces.

“Did he say who he owed money to?”

I shook my head. “He was always nervous, though. And that creep, Jethro… Trent wanted me to make a good impression, wanted to impress him or something.”

Jude nodded. “Okay, I need you to check your phone, sweetheart. See if he’s contacted you, made any demands.”

He lowered me to my feet and I quickly pulled it from my pocket. The surge of hope vanished instantly. Nothing. I held it up for him to look at.

“You think you can get it together enough to call him?” he asked, tucking my hair behind my ear. “All you need to do is ask him what he wants. If he thinks you’re handling this on your own, he might agree to meet for an exchange.”

“I can do that.” I hit Trent’s number, keeping my eyes on Jude’s. It rang for a while, but he didn’t answer. “Fuck!” I shoved my fingers in my hair and paced away from Jude.

“We’ll find them. This is what we do.”

My phone beeped.

I tore it back out of my pocket. Trent.

Call the cops and you’ll never see her again.

Jude cursed.

I grabbed onto his shirt, gripping tight. “Please, Jude. Please, find her. Please, bring her home.”