“I need to see him. Know he’s safe.” I squeezed the phone so tight I was pretty sure I could hear it crack.

“Ten thousand.”

I was done. So fucking done.

“You think I’m just gonna hand over ten grand? Always knew you were nothing but a greedy, selfish bitch, but this time you’ve gone too far.”

Pretty sure she’d crossed that line when she’d sold her house. The house I’d bought for them. To keep them safe.

“You know everything comes at a cost. You want to see him, it’s ten.”

I gritted my teeth, gripping at the back of my neck as I stormed around my loft, trying to rein it in. “He’s not a fucking pawn, Veronica.”

“You know how it works.”

“Not anymore, it doesn’t. I’m done. I’m going to see him, and you aren’t going to stop me.”

She laughed. “Don’t fuck with me, Zee. You should know better than that.”

The line went dead.

A roar burst from somewhere in my chest, fury and anger and this fucking brick wall she kept landing me against. Rage had my phone flying across the room. It slammed against the hard floor, tumbling as it slid.

I gripped handfuls of my hair, storming back and forth.

Losing it.

Forgetting the promises I’d made.

Because that girl…that sweet, sweet girl had me wanting to make different ones.

Would she get it?

Would she understand?

Could she ever look at me the same?

It didn’t matter. I was finished letting Veronica control the situation. Yeah, I was fucking fed up. But I wasn’t doing it for myself.

I was doing it for Liam.

That precious kid.

The one thing that’d been the permanent light in my life.

Now Alexis glowed all around me. Adding and amplifying.

Maybe the two of them together were enough to finally purge the dark.

* * *

I jerked my car to a stop out in front of the shitty building, propelled by the frenzy that pulsed through my veins.

They say there’s only so much a person can take before they finally break. Mark and Veronica and all the fucked-up choices I’d made had broken me a long time ago.

But I was ready to change it.

Shift paths.

Take all the pieces that had fallen around me and put them back together. Build something solid.

I was ready to stand.

I jumped out of my car. My attention shot around the area, vigilant of my surroundings and every shady looking motherfucker lingering in them.

That ball of anger pulsed. Fucking hated she’d brought him here. Before I left, I was going to make sure she was packing her shit and moving back to where it was safe.

Yeah, I was terrified what this was going to cost. What the guys were going to think. How they were going to react to what I’d done.

Because after this?

No chance could it remain concealed.

But I was finished doing her bidding. Thinking it was somehow protecting him and providing for him when the only thing it was doing was exposing him to the vile depravity of this seedy world.

He deserved better than this.

The building was five stories of dingy gray brick. Trash littered the sidewalk out front, and weeds encroached on the sidewalk.

I jogged toward the building’s entrance. The lock on the main door was still broken.

Surprise, surprise.

I took to the stairwell, bounding up three flights to Veronica’s floor. Voices shouted from behind the thin walls and babies cried from behind the doors.

I skidded to a stop in front of apartment 317.

I pounded on the door.

“Who is it?” Veronica’s voice shouted from the other side.

“Me.” It was nothing less than a growl.

“It’s a bad time.”

I pounded again. “Seems like a pretty damned good time to me.”

“You can’t just show up here.”

Hostility wound tight. “Open the fucking door, Veronica. I’m not leaving without seeing him.”

“No…I’m…I’m busy. Come back tomorrow.”

“Open the door or I will bust it down.”

“I’ll call the cops.”

“Good.”

Metal screeched, and the door just barely cracked open, one of those chain locks keeping it from coming all the way open at the top. “Please…just go away.”

I thought maybe it was the first time I saw real fear on Veronica’s face. Guess maybe this time she had a real reason to be afraid.

“Open it.”

Cries echoed from somewhere inside.

Liam.

Devotion pumped fast, and I thought maybe Veronica saw the resolution written on my face, because she scrambled to slam the door closed. My hand was already on the knob, ramming it forward. It caught on the chain.

I didn’t even hesitate. I reared back, lifted my foot, and kicked it in.

The chain snapped and the door flew back, banging into the interior wall.

Veronica screamed.

My eyes jumped around the trashed out space, my heart going wild where it slammed against my ribs.

No. There wasn’t anything concrete lying around, no needles or bags, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t been around long enough to know the signs. I knew exactly what I was looking at.

Fear and hatred slicked like ice down my spine. I should’ve known. I should’ve fucking known.

My head cocked as I shifted to stare her down. “You’re using?” It was a spew of revulsion that slid from my tongue.

Memories spanning the last couple of years assaulted me. The shady, sketchy shit she’d been pulling that had gotten worse and worse. The secrets. The lies. The manipulation.

God, how long had this been going on?

“You don’t know anything,” she spat.

Biting laughter rolled from my mouth. “Oh, I think I know enough. Where’s Liam?”

I started for the hall, stepping over the clothes strewn about the floor.

Veronica was right behind me. She grabbed onto my back, her nails digging into my shoulders as if her pathetic attempt might stop me. I shrugged her off just as I tossed open the first door I came to.

I froze in my tracks, a shock of horror rushing from my lungs.

Two women were inside on twin beds. One was passed out, face down.

The other was curled on the opposite bed, her back pressed against the wall and her arms wound protectively around her knees. Bruises covered one side of her face, and there was a huge cut that was starting to scab on her upper lip.

Avril.

I blinked, trying to process. “Avril…what the hell are you doing here?”

She scrambled onto her knees, her eyes wide when she saw me. “You.”

Frantic, I looked around, gaze quick to land on the sheer terror sculpted in every line of Veronica’s face.

My lips pinched. “You’re involved in this shit?”

“No,” she begged.

I swung back around to Avril. “Come with me.”

She shook her head. “Hurry. Leave. Get out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you. I’m calling the cops.”

Veronica’s voice went hard behind me, floating around like a dark warning. “She fell down the stairs. Lucky for her, I found her at the bottom.”

“That’s bullshit.”

Veronica looked at Avril. “Tell him that’s what happened.”

Avril nodded through the tears blurring her eyes.

The girl looked so much like Alexis, it damn near destroyed me. “Avril, come with me. Right now.”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

Muted cries bled from behind the next door.

Liam.

It struck me like an arrow. I pointed at Avril. “I’m coming back for you.”

I jostled Veronica aside, and the second I turned away, she was on me again, pounding at my back and clawing my skin. I shook her off and tore open the door to Liam.

Mark’s son.

The boy on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chin, rocking.

Blameless and innocent and caught up in a mess where he shouldn’t be.

My entire foundation cracked by the force of my anger. By the force of the protectiveness that combusted somewhere within.

Rushing in, I scooped him into my arms and ran right back out, because I sure as hell wasn’t wasting any time.

Veronica’s voice was desperate. “You can’t just come in and take him. I’m calling the cops.”

I flew out her broken door. “Good, call them, Veronica. Let them see the shit you live in. The things you’re involved in.”

Liam’s little arms clung to my neck as I hurried faster, jogging down the hall and bounding down the steps.

“You can’t take him. I won’t let you!”

I didn’t take the time to spare her a glance. “He’s not safe, Veronica. You know it. For once, think of him.”

In a frenzy, she scrambled down the steps behind me and out into the blazing light of day.

I ran for my car with Liam in my arms and then all the breath left me when I skidded to a stop.