CASEY STARED AT THE injured officer lying on the pavement. He was one of Alex’s. They’d tasked the closest vehicle with coming over to collect the violent suspect Trevor had taken down in the middle of the street.

Little Tony was what Trevor had called the guy.

Well, whoever Little Tony was, he couldn’t be human. Or he was on a hefty cocktail of drugs.

“We took our eyes off him for five minutes. How did this happen?” Trevor had lost his cool and stood in the middle of the street yelling.

Casey whirled to where Alex and Trevor were glaring at each other.

The quiet pursuit of the shooter had turned into a spectacle thanks to him. Casey had heard it in the headset as he obeyed orders and followed the shooter’s path.

“There’s movement in the house,” Liam said. He and Heidi were still covering Dina while every other available officer was out here, looking for the suspect they’d already captured.

No wonder Dina had been on the run. Casey had come to a lot of conclusions about the woman based on her family history and record. He was a sorry sack of shit. If this was the kind of thing she’d managed to survive—with and without law enforcement—she was made of stronger stuff than a lot of guys he knew.

“I’m headed back to my post,” Casey said. There were enough guys in charge around to make decisions about how to conduct the manhunt for the shooter. It was time he really did his job, heart and body, and protect Dina. “Hey, where’s Heidi?”

“She’s inside with Dina. I can’t see them,” Liam replied.

“What about the girl?”

“She split as soon as the coast was clear. Heidi must have turned her comm off for a little girl talk. I can’t hear her, but I can see Dina. She’s talking to someone.”

Casey nodded even though Liam couldn’t see him.

The thing that burned Casey about this was that he should have paused and listened to Trevor’s story about Dina. After all, hadn’t Casey moved here to get away from family identity? To be his own person?

His family wasn’t bad, they were just loud, there were a lot of them, and it had always felt smothering growing up. He’d needed space. To be himself. And when his older brother had gone off to join the Army it had given Casey ideas.

He wasn’t destined to spend his life on the same plot of land. He had two other brothers who were happy to do that while Dad transitioned to driving eighteen wheelers and Mom continued to make nosing around in other people’s business a full-time job.

They’d all found their place in the world. His just happened to have been a fresh start on the other side of the country.

He shouldn’t have judged Dina that hard. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair.

“Muzzle fire,” Liam snapped a second after the crack of sound sent a chill down Casey’s spine.

He sprinted forward, gun at the ready, retracing his steps back to where he’d been.

“Officer down,” the disembodied woman said.

Heidi.

Casey vaulted over the corner joint into the back yard of Charles Ray’s house.

“Back door is open,” Casey said.

“Do not enter,” Alex snapped. “Wait for back up.”

That order froze Casey’s feet even though everything in him said to run to the aid of a fallen officer and Dina. Instead, he edged sideways toward a tree, then went to a knee.

A moment later two figures emerged from the open back door.

A man, and Dina.

“Male suspect and Dina exiting the house,” Casey whispered. He wished he could take a shot, but the guy held Dina like a shield, her on one side and the house on the other.

The suspect didn’t glance his way. Didn’t see Casey at all.

“I’m okay,” Heidi wheezed. “Hit my vest.”

Casey remained still while the suspect hauled Dina through some loose boards into the next house where Heidi had been stationed. Everyone beyond that point had gone in pursuit of the first shooter. As far as Casey knew, there was no one on that side to stop them from escaping the scene.

DINA’S CLOTHES STUCK to her skin. Sweat poured from her body. She could smell the fear coming off herself, and yet she was separate from that reaction. Her mind didn’t connect to her physical response to her brother’s sudden appearance.

She hadn’t seen that one coming. Dominick wasn’t really the get-his-hands-dirty type. Even as kids he’d always gotten her to steal the cookies for them. He’d convinced Phillip or Little Tony to do the deed and Dominick reap the reward. Dad had seen it as good leadership bones showing through.

What would Dad say now?

Dina glanced into the rearview mirror at Giada. Dominick had walked her to the end of the street and climbed in the car.

Giada was a distraction the whole time.

Was Little Tony’s shootout planned, too? There wasn’t any way Dominick would have gotten through the police perimeter without that distraction.

Were the girls in any danger?

“Turn here,” Dominick said.

Her arms moved automatically. They knew this way. A voice in the back of her head fretted at her, driving her to wonder if this was it? Had Dominick finally won?

She pulled the car into her driveway.

The house looked just as it always had. Cute, if in need of a little TLC.

A light was on inside.

She’d turned them all off.

Giada was an adult. She’d grown up in the same world Dina had. They both knew the score and their place in it as women. Giada more than others was aware of the consequences. Maybe Dominick had lied to her or coerced her into this, but some part of her had still chosen to come here. To participate.

How could the sweet girl Dina had known grown into this?

Rosie would be ashamed.

“Get out,” Dominick barked.

Giada got out of the back seat and headed toward the front door.

Dominick and Dina continued to sit in the car.

She would die in that house.

Trevor was across town. He’d never find her in time. With any luck someone could still save Heidi. There was enough blood on Dina’s hands.

She dropped her gaze to her fingers.

Maybe it was better this way?

Running from Trevor last night had been the hardest thing she’d done in years. She’d allowed herself to care for him. To want something with him. And she knew better than anyone she wasn’t getting a fairy tale life. After her glimpse into his history, who he’d become, she knew he deserved someone who would love him with an undying passion. Dina would only ever be a source of pain for him. She didn’t know how to be in a healthy relationship or the kind of woman he needed. Her past had groomed her for destruction and death.

All those dreams Dina and Rosie used to nurture were never going to come to pass. Dina was going to follow in every one of Rosie’s footsteps, and neither of them would ever be free.

“What version of Rosie’s death did you tell them?” Dina asked. They were the first words anyone had spoken since she’d started driving.

“I didn’t tell them anything.” Dominick turned his head and stared at her.

“Are you going to kill them?”

“I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

“What did you tell them, D?”

“That Rosie’s death was all you, that you snitched on Mom and Dad to cover your ass.”

Dina shook her head. That was some story. And of course the girls had bought it. Dominick knew how to hit on the right nerves, strike a balance. He’d been an accomplished conman back in the day.

“You know you were never supposed to see that, don’t you?” Dominick continued to stare at her, picking her apart.

“You were just going to kill my best friend then make up a story that she went on a trip? Hope I’d buy it?” Dina had always loved Dominick even if he was an ass. But that night he’d stood back and watched their parents torture her. He’d done nothing, proving that he was just as much of a monster as she was.

“That would have been better than this.”

“Why couldn’t you leave her alone?” That was what Dina had never understood. “All she did was fall in love.”

The silence stretched on. Usually Dominick’s silent stares didn’t unnerve her, but the longer this went on the louder that whisper in the back of her head got.

There was more to Rosie’s death than Dina knew.

“She wasn’t in love. She was selling us out to whoever was running the Latin gang back then. Her Romeo? The guy she was in love with? He was buying her love with money. They promised her if she just gave them a little more intel they’d set her up with a nice, plush live down in Miami or Chicago.”

Miami.

Or Chicago.

Two of the cities Dina and Rosie had whispered to no one but each other they wanted to run away to. Dominick couldn’t know that.

Had Rosie really been working on a way out like that? Was she planning all along to leave Dina in that hell?

“You snitched on us because of a snitch. You created all of this for a damn rat. How’s that feel?” Dominick gestured at the door. “Get out, or I’ll do this here.”

Dina opened the door, her mind on autopilot. She’d never know how things would have turned out if Rosie had lived. Dina needed to believe that they’d have helped each other out of that life if they could, but was that the kind of people they’d been? Or was that who Dina had become?

“Can I make one request?” she asked.

“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you back there and be done with it.”

“Can I write a letter? To a friend?”

“Maybe. Get out.”

Dina nodded.

If she died, it would be as she expected. What she hadn’t been prepared for was Trevor and how he made her feel. If she was ever going to be capable of loving another person, it was him. But he shouldn’t have to bear the burden of her death. She’d known the risks when she set out to do the right thing. This was on her, not him.

PHILLIP PACED THE FRONT of the house.

Alessia lay on the sofa, passed out. The girl had spent the few hours of their re-acquaintance asleep.

There’d been no word from Dominick or Giada.

No one knew where Little Tony was.

Phillip should have known when the first cop died that things had gone to shit. He’d had a feeling in his gut that they’d taken a tumble over the side of a hill and nothing would bring them back from this.

He should have gotten out now, but he was too damn loyal to his fucking friends for that.

The front door opened.

He whirled, gun in hand.

Giada froze, eyes wide.

“Chill,” she snapped.

“Where’s D? Did you find Dina?”

“They’re in the car, spaz.” Giada rolled her eyes and shut the door behind her.

“Did you run into—”

“Your friend? Yeah.”

Phillip’s heart pulsed in his throat.

He’d tried to kill his best friend. It didn’t matter that something was seriously wrong with Little Tony. Phillip should have been there for him. Helped him. Something besides put a bullet in him.

This life was destroying him. Used to, Phillip knew who he was, who was important. But now none of that mattered. In all the years, what had Cosa Nostra ever given him?

A job.

Some guys to call friend.

A boss that would more than likely shoot him.

None of this was worth it.

He should take a page out of Dina’s book and start over with a new name, new life, new everything.

The door opened again and Dina entered with Dominick at her back.

Phillip stood there, staring at the woman that little girl from the playground had grown into. His mouth dried up, and he remembered what it had been like to see her smile at him.

“Hi, Phillip,” she said.

“Hey.”

“Write your note.” Dominick pushed at Dina’s shoulder.

Phillip couldn’t be here. He couldn’t watch her die. He’d stuck with Little Tony out of a sense of loyalty to the kid he’d grown up with. Dominick was merely the overlord Phillip inherited. The person he owed a debt to was out there shot and hunting him because he’d fucked up.

This whole life was a mistake.

“I’m going to get some air. Walk the block,” Phillip muttered.

“You do that. Keep a lookout. We’re going to be gone from here after my sister and I have a chat.”

Phillip knew Dina wouldn’t survive that chat, but he didn’t have to be there for it.

He stepped out into the night air and pulled the spare key for the rental out of his pocket.

Fuck this life.

TREVOR TAPPED HIS KNEE, his eyes scanning the street while Casey drove the streets of Ransom. The radio was alive with the voices of officers.

They’d lost the shooter.

A suspect had waltzed into a house they had men watching and video surveillance trained on it.

An officer had been shot, but her vest saved her life.

And Dina was gone. Taken according to Heidi.

She hadn’t been able to say for sure if Dina called the man Dominick or Phillip. Jenna’s guess was that Heidi had at least two broken ribs from catching a bullet at close range right to the back, so it made sense that she’d been out of it for that exchange.

Was this whole thing organized?

They couldn’t have staged the fight between Phillip and Little Tony. They hadn’t known Dina was in the house when they set it on fire. And Trevor knew the man he’d tackled to the pavement had been Little Tony.

Trevor doubted this thing was organized. Which meant Little Tony had effectively disrupted their perimeter lines with his attack thereby allowing Dominick to abscond with Dina out from under their noses.

This was Trevor’s fault. All of it. He should have said no to Dina’s plan. He should have taken her away from here wherever he had to go to keep her safe.

“We’re going to find her,” Casey said.

Trevor agreed, but the real question was: would Dina be alive when they found her? Was she alive now? Or was her brother keeping her alive for some sick purpose?

They passed through an intersection. Trevor watched a dark colored sedan turn onto the adjacent street.

The tail light was busted out.

“Casey,” he snapped.

The license plate–he knew that number.

“There. That car,” he snarled.

Casey jerked the wheel around. This hour the streets were nearly empty, and it was just them—and that car. Trevor reached over and flipped on the lights.

“Damn it,” Casey growled.

The car accelerated, but it didn’t have the horsepower to match the cruiser. Casey’s car shot forward, closing the distance between them and the vehicle. The getaway car driver seemed to realize all was lost and slowed, hugging the side of the road, easing to a stop.

“I only see one,” Trevor said. “Don’t call anyone.”

“Trevor—”

“I said don’t!”

Trevor got out of the car and jogged forward, gun up. Just because he was on leave didn’t mean he was going to stop being a cop. Especially with Dina out there.

The driver’s window lowered, and the man thrust his hands through the window.

So this wasn’t his first rodeo.

“Do you have a weapon? A gun?” Trevor’s hands shook. His gut said to yank the guy out of the car and get some fucking answers. His training won over.

“Yes. It’s in the trunk though.”

“Get out. Slowly. Then lay on the ground.”

Casey came up on the other side of the vehicle, peering into the back seat.

Trevor saw Casey shake his head out of the corner of his eye.

Dina wasn’t here.

The driver got out slowly then went to his knees.

“Phillip?” Trevor asked.

“Yeah,” the man sounded resigned as he lowered to the pavement.

“Trev?” Casey jangled his handcuffs.

Trevor held out his hand and caught them.

“I’ve got him,” Casey said.

Trevor jerked his head and holstered his sidearm. He didn’t take his eyes off Phillip. The way tonight had gone down, Trevor couldn’t be certain this wasn’t some sort of set-up either. Phillip didn’t move a muscle so Trevor quickly handcuffed the man’s hands behind his back while reciting his rights.

He was too much of a cop, a good one, to not do this properly. He might not want the chief to swoop in and bog down the rescue effort, but he wasn’t going to cut corners where it mattered.

“Where’s Dina? Is Dominick here?” Trevor patted the man’s pockets, verifying that he wasn’t carrying a weapon on his person.

Phillip said nothing.

“That was Dominick who took her, wasn’t it? Who was the girl with him?”

Still Phillip said nothing.

“Trev.” Casey jerked his head. “Let’s get him in the car. I just heard they found the shooter.”

Phillip’s body twitched.

“Really? That’s great. Come on, asshole.” Trevor bent down and grabbed Phillip’s arms. “I’m sure your friend has a lot he’d like to say to you.”

“No,” Phillip cried out.

“You aren’t making the rules here. Get up.” Trevor used his greater bulk to haul the man to his feet.

“You can’t let him near me,” Phillip said.

“Ransom’s not a small town. Only so many holding cells.”

“He’s right.” Casey holstered his weapon. “Small town. Small tank.”

“I’ll tell you where she is.” Phillip stopped walking. “But you have to keep Little Tony away from me, got it?”

Trevor glanced at Casey. He was all in on the deal, but his priorities were fucked. Casey nodded.

“We could arrange something,” Trevor said.

“He took her to her house.”

Those words sent a chill up Trevor’s spine. It wasn’t enough that her safe haven had been violated, they wanted to kill her there, too?

“Who was the girl?” Casey asked.

“Giada Volta.”

“Volta, like the best friend?” Trevor was blanking on the first name, but Volta was unique and memorable.

“Yeah. They think Dina killed Rosie. That’s why they’re helping Dominick.”

“Wait—they?” Casey opened the back door to his cruiser.

“There’s two of them. Giada went with Dominick to get Dina, then there’s Alessia.”

Two more innocents that could get caught up in this.

Trevor got Phillip into the back seat of the cruiser. He wasn’t a hulk like his estranged partner. The vehicle would hold him.

“We’ve got to call this in,” Casey said.

“You can’t let Tony near me. Promise me,” Phillip begged.

“Ain’t no one seen him.” Casey glanced at Trevor.

“You lied to me?” Phillip deflated.

“Call Liam, Val, Sean and Alex. We can handle this.” Trevor’s gear was in Casey’s cruiser. They could be suited up to go in minutes. It would take the joint task force an hour or more to move on the intel and by then Dina could be dead.

“Trevor...”

“Call Alex first, if that’s what you want, but I’m going over there and I’m going to get her back. Alive.”

DINA STOOD IN HER kitchen staring at the sheet of paper. She’d scrawled Trevor at the top and that was it. She should be contemplating her note, these last few words she was allowed to scrawl to the man who’d pried her out of her comfort zone. Instead she kept looking at the cutlery drawer.

Two weeks ago she’d ordered new knives. Fancy chef ones. They were wicked sharp.

If she gave up and focused on her note, she was accepting that this was the end of the road for her. If she wanted to say the things in her head to Trevor, she had to figure out a way out of this.

“Where the fuck is Phillip?” Dominick paced from the back door to the front. “The God damn car is gone?”

Dina went still.

“What?” Giada yelped.

Alessia hadn’t woken up since Dina entered the house. Something was wrong with her.

“Where are your keys?” Dominick demanded.

“Uh...” Dina glanced around. Her house keys and car keys were in her purse, which she’d left with Trevor. “I think there’s a spare in the garage somewhere.”

It was stuck to the fender of the car in an awkward spot that required a person to kneel and reach.

“Where did Phillip go?” Giada asked.

“Out,” Dominick snapped. “Dina. Get your ass in there.”

He shoved her toward the door leading from the house into the garage. She grit her teeth and kicked herself for not making a grab for the knife.

Dominick stayed on her ass out into the garage and flipped on the lights. Her hatchback sat where she’d left it. A few gardening tools were arranged in the corner. A deep freezer she’d never used was up against a wall. Her holiday decorations took up the available shelving.

“You have a cute little set-up here,” Dominick said.

“Thanks.”

“Where’s the key?”

“Um.” She turned around, taking in her garage, looking for the best weapon.

The gardening tools were all the property of the owner who sent someone over to weed the beds and tend the yard since Dina was useless there. A number of the tools she’d seen looked positively wicked.

“I think I stashed it over here.” She walked across to the toolbox she’d seen the gardener use. He was paying too much attention to her. She needed to distract him. “Have you seen Mom and Dad?”

“Once a month, every month for eight years,” he replied.

“They don’t ask about you.”

“Good.” She hadn’t so much as looked them up in years. They might as well be dead to her.

“Do you have any shame for what you did?” he asked.

“Do you have any shame about what you did?” she parroted back.

“I did what was right by the family.” Dominick thrust his finger at his chest.

“And damn the consequences and whoever you hurt in the process?” Dina shook her head.

“Rosie was a slut and a snitch—”

“She was my best friend.” She stared at her brother’s angry gaze.

“She deserved what she got,” he snarled.

“What you’re saying is that I deserved to be ignored or forgotten about then, do I have it right?” Dina tipped her chin up. “You know why Rosie did what she did?”

“You knew?” Dominick’s eyes went wide.

“No, but I don’t have to guess at her reasons why. They’re the same reasons I did what I did. Our whole lives all Rosie and I wanted was for our families to love us. To care about us. And you know what we got instead? Forgotten. Shoved in corners. Our friends married off at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. We didn’t matter, and we got that message loud and clear.” That had also allowed Dina the distance to really see what was going on. She’d become her own person, apart from the family identity. It didn’t mean that small child inside of her hadn’t hurt at being forgotten.

“Get the keys,” was all Dominick could say to that.

Dina turned popped open the kit and stared down at a wickedly forked tool. She swallowed and was grateful her back was to him. She’d often wondered if having it out with Dominick would make her feel better, if it would change how she felt about things.

It didn’t matter.

He would never change his mind or his ways, so long as his lifestyle paid off. Just because they’d shared a womb didn’t make them family anymore.

She picked up the tool and pressed it to her chest. There was a future worth fighting for if she survived.

Dina understood Rosie in a way she never had. Until now.

TREVOR STARED AT DINA’S house as he slid his vest on. Alex had arrived at the same time they had without comment. Liam, Sean and Val were only a minute or two out.

“You think this is a good idea?” Casey asked Alex.

“Chief Taylor is pointing fingers. You know how that went down last time.” Alex glanced in Trevor’s direction.

He felt the chill of that look and accepted his role in that unfortunate series of events.

Their chief was a good guy, but he still had a small town mindset and was territorial to boot. This whole joint taskforce was not a welcome effort in his book.

“What’s our plan?” Casey’s voice was strained. Trevor got it. Casey was a good guy. A rule follower. But the truth was sometimes the rules had to be bent to do a good thing.

Saving Dina and those two girls? That was the right thing to do.

Liam’s pickup followed by two cruisers pulled in behind their other vehicles. The guys circled up, no one speaking. The others were still suited up from the earlier op.

“Trevor?” Alex asked.

Trevor blinked at his former Team Leader. “Casey’s the—”

“You know more about this situation than I do.” Casey shook his head.

Trevor swallowed. He wasn’t as collected as he should be for this, but they were right. He was the one with tactical knowledge of the place and targets.

“We’re looking at one, male shooter. One female hostage. And two female, teenage unknowns. It sounds like they’re accomplices, but they could also be hostages. According to our intel,” Trevor nodded at their prisoner, “there are two, maybe three, handguns in the house. We know the front door is weakened. There are both front and rear doors, plus the garage.”

“We could approach along the right side of the driveway.” Alex bent and collected some gutter rubbish to do a quick map. “The line of sight isn’t there if we approach here, then cut across to the door. Casey, you have gas on you?”

“I do.” Casey was their less lethal specialist. He had a small arsenal of gas and alternative munitions to bullets. Considering they had three potential hostages, they wanted to treat this situation with as much care as they could.

“You think we bust in a window, toss gas and enter through the door?” Trevor asked.

“We’ve done it dozens of times.” Alex peered up at him.

“Yeah. We can do that approach.” Trevor nodded.

Casey spoke slowly, “I think, to cover our ass, we should radio this in right before we breech.”

“That’s smart,” Val chimed in.

“In case something goes sideways I’d like to know help is on the way,” Sean said.

“Well, let’s do this,” Liam drawled.

“Okay.” Trevor swallowed. There wasn’t time to second guess things. Dina’s brother wanted her dead. He had to realize things were bad and that his best chance was to do the deed and leave fast. “Let me get the rest of my gear, then we can go.”

“Liam and I will scope out what’s going on inside,” Alex said.

Thos two moved off silently.

Casey popped his trunk open and Trevor reached in, grabbing the rest of his gear.

“You want to breech, or should I?” Val asked. They rarely were on the same teams since they served the same function.

“I don’t have a door ram. Do you?” Trevor’s had been stowed in the team gear at their team leader’s directive since.

“I do.” Val nodded.

“You breech, I’ll go in first.” Trevor strapped on his helmet, the gear sitting a little odd over jeans and his T-shirt.

“Got it.” Val turned, presumably to retrieve the twenty pound door ram.

“You going to be okay on point?” Casey asked quietly.

“I’m the best one for it. I know which girl is Dina, I’ve seen Dominick and I know who our players are,” he said.

“Yeah, but—”

“I need to go in first,” he said.

Trevor hadn’t understood Alex’s need to vault the damn fence and be ahead of the rest of the team when they’d rescued Jenna. Boy, Trevor did now.

“I really wish you guys would reconsider waiting on everyone else. What if things go sideways?” Casey asked.

“Then they’ll be on their way.” Trevor gave his straps one last pat then hooked the strap for his rifle over his shoulder.

“Okay. Whatever you say, man.” Casey looped a bandolier across his chest. The pockets held canisters of gas, color coded with bits of tape and arranged in a way that made sense to him.

Trevor and Casey crossed to join Val, Sean, Alex and Liam behind a SUV parked down the street from their vehicles.

“Everyone ready?” Trevor asked.

He received a round of nods.

“I’ll go up first with the shield.” Alex tapped the bullet proof shield with its clear window.

“I think, given the damage to the door, I should knock out the window with Casey first,” Val said.

“Good idea. Let’s have you two move in first, then the three of us will hit the door,” Trevor said.

“I can adjust the fuse for a three second timer,” Casey said.

“Do it.”

“Want me to hold the light?” Alex positioned himself to shield the light from the house across the street while Casey fiddled with the gas canister.

“There.”

“Everyone ready?” Trevor asked again.

“Let’s mask up.” Alex met his gaze.

Trevor was grateful for the man’s presence. Trevor owed Alex a debt of gratitude and a good measure of forgiveness. Trevor had been rough on Alex over Jenna, but he hadn’t understood until now just what it had been like for them. Now he did.

The all slipped their masks on.

“We still calling this in?” Casey asked.

“I am...right...now,” Sean muttered.

They moved into formation, Alex in the lead with the shield. Then came Val and Casey. Trevor followed with Sean and Liam taking up the rear. They’d be the first through the doors. With any luck Dominick would be a clear shot.

“Dispatch?” Sean whispered. “Hey, Delores? Will you please inform Chief Taylor we have located the suspect and all three hostages... That would be Alex, Trevor, Casey, Val and myself. I think I just heard a shout for help. Got to go. Send the cavalry.”

“Let’s roll,” Trevor said. He tightened his grip on his gun and focused on the bright squares of light.

Dina was in there, and he was going to rescue her. Then, well, he didn’t know what he’d do but at least they’d have time to figure out the next steps together.