Constantly checking my rearview mirror, I push my car as fast as it will go. I know as soon as someone realizes I'm missing Jake will lose his shit, but I couldn't stand by and witness another person I've come to care about be hurt by that monster. Make no mistake, Ronan will kill Lisa. He won't let her go no matter what conditions he wants to be met. My guess is Ronan is going to try and use Lisa to get to me. He'll say he'll want to swap sooner or later, so I am taking matters into my own hands. I won't put Jake in the position to make that decision. Bennett shouldn’t have to be without the love of his life because of me. I hope Jake knows how deep my love for him is and no matter what the outcome he takes care of my daughter.

My only hope is to get as far away from the compound as I can before Jake or any of the other men catch up with me. When Bennett stumbled in the door with the assistance of Blake all beaten and bloody with the horrified look on his face as the words that someone took Lisa left his lips, it knocked every ounce of air from my lungs.

Not having a clue as to where they may have taken Lisa I keep driving. I left everything behind, except for my cell phone. Still having two numbers memorized, I wait another hour before turning off onto a dirt road and drive until I see a farmhouse in the distance before slowing to a stop. Pulling my phone from the back pocket of my jeans, I tap out the first number. After the first attempt goes straight to voicemail, I try the last number I can think of. Ronan's right-hand man, Connor was the one who was always asked to keep a tight rein on my leash when Ronan wasn’t around.

On the third ring, the dead tone of his thick Irish accent fills my ear causing my breath to catch in my throat. "Yeah."

"Connor, put Ronan on the phone," I attempt to tell him, but he cuts me short before I can tell him who I am.

"Who the fuck is this?" Connor barks in a harsh, threatening manner.

Not in the mood to be pushed, I demand through gritted teeth, "Put my husband on the damn phone."

The other end of the line goes silent. I don’t even hear his heavy breathing. For what feels like forever but in reality is about two minutes I hang on the phone in silence.

"Hello, wife." The emotionless baritone of Ronan's voice sends a sharps tingle down my spine. Only in my dreams have I heard that voice for the past two years.

"Cat got your tongue?" Ronan speaks again. This time I can hear the condescending and smirk in his tone.

"You took someone. I want you to let her go, Ronan," I demand.

A sharp bark of laughter pierces through the speaker causing me to pull the phone from my ear. "What makes you think you are in any position to demand a thing from me, Anna."

Straightening my back, I keep my voice even and strong. "Because I'm willing to trade myself for her. You get me in return if you let her go. You win. You get what you've always wanted, and that's me." Ronan's breath skating across the phone becomes the only noise I hear as I wait for him to reply.

"Where are you? I'll send Connor to get you. Anna, if you are setting me up…she dies, and so do you," he warns.

Before I respond Connor has been given the phone and starts talking. "Location." He orders.

"Umm," I look around me. "I'm about forty-five minutes east of Polson in a town named Oakdale. Currently I'm parked on a dirt road just off of Highway 54 called Cooper Lane. I doubt that you will find me, so tell me where to go and I'll…"

"Stay put," are his final words before the line goes dead.

"Stay put? How the hell do they expect to find me? What am I saying," I shake my head. "this is Ronan I'm talking about." I talk to myself. With nothing more to do but wait, I turn my phone over a few times in my hand contemplating on calling Remi. I'm walking into this knowing I will probably never see her again, and my heart is ripping from my chest thinking about it. Telling myself this is to protect her and to try and save Lisa is doing absolutely nothing to convince myself it will work. Knowing Jake and the Club will die protecting her ends up being the knowledge I need to find peace with the choice I have made.

Turning, I glance in the back seat noticing Remi's bookbag. Grabbing the strap, I pull on it and bring it onto my lap and unzip it looking for paper and something to write with. Finding what I need I set out to write my daughter a small note. Using the glow of the moon as my light, I put pen to paper.

My beautiful daughter,

I know I don’t have to tell you how much I love you because you already know, but I'll say it anyway. I love you, Remi. I'm proud to be your momma and proud to have watched you begin to grow into the young lady you are becoming.

I love you, Peanut.

Tears stream down my cheeks and a couple of them land on the notebook paper causing two small water stains to soak the edges of the ink. Lifting my hands, I rub them away with the backs of my hands. Sniffling, I look down at the words I wrote to my daughter. On the same piece of paper, I also decided to include a note to Jake.

Jake,

What can I say? You saw me and showed me what a man's love is supposed to feel like, and I will never let that go. I didn’t just survive all those years to protect my daughter. I survived because my forever was waiting for me and I had to find it—I had to find you. You are my safe place. You are my home. You are my forever.

Keep her safe.

Love you always.

Ripping the page from the notebook, I hold onto it while tossing the bag and the notebook onto the passenger seat. As I'm folding the letter, a bright beam of lights fill the car and temporarily blinds me as the reflection bounces off the rearview and side mirrors. Shielding the light from my eyes, I turn to try and see the vehicle behind me when knuckles wrapping on my window steals my attention.

Connor's large frame fills the space outside my car door. With his arms crossed he backs up a few feet and waits for me to open the door. Drawing a deep breath my hand finds the handle, and I climb out of my car. The note in my hand I crumble to hide in my palm. Feet crunching the gravel causes my head to turn as I take notice of another man walking on the other side of my car holding a large can of gasoline.

A firm hand grips my left arm, and I turn my head towards Connor. He holds his palm out. "Your phone." He demands. Not wanting to provoke him I comply and hand it over, which he immediately tosses on the hood. The other guy begins to pour the gasoline over and around my car then proceeds to throw a match to the ground. Connor leads me towards the SUV they arrived in as the car starts to catch fire. I drop the crumpled note in my hand to the grassy ground before the back door opens, and I climb in. Part of me was expecting to find Ronan sitting in the back seat, but I find no one. In the end, it's Connor, the other guy and me as they turn the vehicle around and peel off leaving nothing but a fire behind us.

Unfortunately for me the windows are blacked out to where I can't see my surroundings, so I have no idea which way we are going. Turning his head and looking over his shoulder Connor looks me over. Raking his beady eyes over my body. A wicked smirk appears on his face as his eyes land on mine, and I give him the best go to hell look I can provide as I press my back to the seat and cross my arms. No words are exchanged. The partition that separates the front from the back starts to roll up, cutting me off completely, leaving me alone.

I'm not sure how much time has passed when the SUV finally rolls to a stop. At this point, I'm starting to let my nerves get the best of me. All I know is I'm sure by now Jake, and the rest of the club knows I'm gone. I wait for the door to open and when it does a little light shines on my face causing me to blink and raise my hand to block it. I step out. Glancing around, I try to take in where we are. The house in front of me is an older white colonial style, and we are standing in a circular driveway. There doesn’t appear to be anything else around the home, only thick, dense forest as far as I can see through the darkness beyond the well-lit yard. Connor reaches to take hold of my arm, and I take a step to the side preventing his touch, which angers him. His hand shoots out and grabs for my arm again, this time succeeding. Roughly he yanks my small frame into his large one and squeezes my arm to the point of pain.

"That’s enough, Connor. Release my wife." Ronan's voice roars. Not breaking the stare off, I continue to shoot daggers at the man holding me.

"I said enough," Ronan bellows once again.

Finally, releasing his tight hold on my upper arm, Connor steps back. I keep my fists balled at my side as I turn my body to face the man I have been running from for two years. I take a good long look at him. Not much has changed. His hair is a little more gray on the top, and he looks to have taken up going to a gym because he isn't as lean as he once was. He has more muscle definition than before.

"Like what you see? Too bad you're not the woman who's been enjoying this body for the past couple years," He remarks gesturing to his body with his hands. Ronan has always been full of himself. I cross my arm.

"Trust me, I'm not the least bit envious of any woman you’ve ever slept with." My words strike a nerve. I watch his smug face warp to one of anger. I insulted him, and I did it in front of his men, something I would have never in a million years done before, but I'm not the woman I was then, and he is taking notice.

"It's going to be fun breaking you all over again, Anna." Giving me his back, Ronan walks inside. Connor takes a step towards me and this time I choose to follow Ronan's lead and trail him into the older home. I don’t get too far inside the foyer when Ronan spins around. The back of his hand lands a substantial blow to my right cheek causing my head to snap back. The radiating pain is instant. Finding my center, I stay on my feet and bring my hand to my face covering my throbbing cheek. I won't cower. Dropping my hand, I push my shoulders back and level my stare.

"I see you seem to think you've become a different woman. Stronger even. I'm going to show you just how wrong you are my dear."

"I can take whatever you dish out, but first let Lisa go. You've got me. She has nothing more to do with this," I demand, even though it's more of a plea. His eyes grow cold.

Stepping into my space, and getting right in my face he continues, "You reek of him, you know that? But you see, my family isn't complete yet. That biker gang still has my daughter, and I want her back. Oh, don’t get me wrong, wife. I'm going to have my fun with you. I plan on using you up until there is nothing left but your lifeless body. In the end, I'll throw you out like the garbage you are."

A tear rolls down my cheek before I can stop it. I knew I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. The sinking feeling of his words cement the finality of my life, but I'll give my last breath knowing he won't ever get his hands on my daughter. Feeling bold I spit in his face. "Go fuck yourself. You will never get your filthy hands on my daughter." Instead of reacting like I thought he would, which was striking me, Ronan grips the back of my head, grabs a fistful of hair and forces his mouth over mine. Swiftly, my body gets slammed against the wall, and the struggle to push him off causes him to press his body further into me. Pinning his leg between mine, he makes it a point to press his erection against me.. Bringing my hands up I pull his hair in an attempt to make him stop. Just as quickly he punches me in the stomach knocking the breath out of me, and I fall to my knees.

"Take her upstairs." He tells Connor as he looks down on me as I try and catch my breath.

Snatching me from the floor, Connor leads me up the stairs. Stopping in front of the door at the end of the hall, he inserts a key and unlocks the door. Swinging it open he shoves me inside hard enough I lose my footing and stumble to my knees. The sound of the door slamming shut and locking follows.

"Jesus, Grace," Lisa's voice rings out, and then a pair of arms wrap around my waist as she helps me off the floor, and she settles me on the edge of a bed.

"Lisa, are you okay? Did they hurt you," Pulling back I start trying to access her.

"Sweetie, I'm fine. A little banged up from the accident but other than that they haven't touched me. My question is what the hell are you doing here? Where're the men? Oh my God, Grace, please tell me my husband is okay?"

"Bennett is alive. Not in the best of shape, but alive." I lay my hand on her lap and reassure her. "I took off in the middle of the night. I gave myself over to Ronan. To save my daughter and to save you, Lisa." I confess.

The look Lisa gives me is the look I would have gotten from my mother if she were alive. "I can understand doing it for your daughter, but not for me. You should have let Jake and the men handle this mess, Grace. Now look, we are both in the same boat," Lisa informs me of a fact I'm already aware of, but I have a plan.

"Listen, I'm going to need you to follow my lead. I don’t know where we are, but we need to try and get out of here." I'm telling her this, and yet I have no intentions of running. Getting her out of here is my only concern. "There wasn’t much I could see from the outside but trees all around us, but we have to try," I tell her. I walk over to one of the windows in the room and peer out. Lisa joins me.

"What do you suggest we do?" she asks.

Continuing to stare out the window I state, "We fight."

For what feels like a couple of hours, no one comes into the room, and we both begin to lose a little of the fight we had earlier due to the fact we are both tired. Both our stomachs growl as we continue to walk around the room to stay awake. The sound of the key being inserted into the lock on the other side of the door halts our movements. Grabbing the only thing of use in the room, Lisa stands to where she stays hidden behind the door. I back away a few steps to give myself room to defend myself.

The door opens and the man that was with Connor earlier appears holding a plate containing two sandwiches. I wait for him to step further into the room before making a move. Lisa pushes the door closed. Raising the lamp above her, she brings it down as hard as she can across the back of his head. Dropping the plate, he stumbles slightly and doubles over grabbing at the back of his injured head. Taking the opportunity just as I see his hand reach inside his jacket, I brace my hands on his shoulders and bring my knee up. The crunching noise I hear lets me know I made solid contact with his nose which brings him down to one knee. Rearing back, Lisa kicks the side of the knee not on the floor causing it to buckle.

Scrambling, I lock the door as Lisa snatches a drawer from the nightstand. Swinging, the wood cracks across the guy's jaw knocking him out.

"Holy shit, Lisa," I say in awe.

"Honey, remember who our family is. I picked up some skills of my own along the way," she drops the remaining piece of the drawer to the floor.

"We don’t have much time. Does he have keys on him anywhere.?" We begin to search his pockets. Reaching into his suit jacket my hand grasps his gun. I give it a once over making sure it's loaded.

"Oh my god," Lisa dangles a set of vehicle keys in her hands.

"Listen, as soon as we break that window we have to hurry because if this big guy dropping the plate and falling didn’t get someone's attention, then glass shattering will. Remember the lattice to the right. We use that to climb down," I rush as we stand in front of the window. Readying ourselves, I use the butt of the gun to break the glass. It doesn’t completely shatter so we use our feet to knock the rest out.

Heavy footsteps echo alerting us to hurry our asses out the window. Lisa climbs out first. I watch over my shoulder with the gun drawn and the safety off ready to shoot whoever crashes through that door.

"Come on," Lisa loudly whispers.

Craning my head out the window, I find her making her way down the side of the house. The door handle jiggling followed by the sound of heavy boots kicking the door fill the room. I turn my head one last time and look at Lisa who is now on the ground staring back at me.

"No matter what you get in that vehicle, and you keep going." The bedroom door splinters at the hinges. One more kick and I know the only barrier between them and me is coming down. I plead and scream to her one last time. "Lisa, run!"

The door gives way. Raising the heavy gun in my hand, I point and pull the trigger. The bullet rips through Connor's shoulder, but he advances on me before I pull the trigger a second time. The sound of tires spinning gravel in the distance is the last thing I hear before I take a blow to my face causing my vision to double and my world to go black.