“Thanks, Aleks! These are definitely getting me out of the doghouse with the missus!”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Dunbar,” I said as I locked the door behind the older man and flipped the Open sign to Closed and drew down the full-length blind that kept people from seeing into the flower shop after hours. I instantly felt more relaxed.

“So much for all the progress you’ve made, Aleks,” I murmured quietly to myself.

Progress? What progress?

I told my inner voice to shut up and reached for my phone. I wasn’t surprised when it rang before I could even unlock it. My brother Dante’s name flashed on the screen, along with the picture of him, his fiancé Magnus, Magnus’s grandson Matty, and Matty’s best friends, Leo and Jamie. The picture had been taken during Matty’s birthday party at our house – the private one.

Because I hadn’t been brave enough to attend the real party he’d had with his friends or the one with the entire family. While Matty definitely hadn’t minded having multiple parties, I knew Dante and Magnus had made special arrangements with Matty’s fathers to give the boy a small party that I could attend that wouldn’t overwhelm me. It had been both humiliating and a relief. Because I’d wanted to celebrate Matty’s birthday with him, but it was pathetic that after two years of trying to adjust to my new life, I still couldn’t do something as nonthreatening as attend a family gathering that would have more than a handful of people at it.

And not just any people, but ones who knew about my past and were always respectful of my boundaries.

“I’m leaving in a few minutes,” I said before Dante could say anything.

“Let me guess, you stayed open late for Mr. Dunbar again. What did he do this time?”

I smiled. “He used one of Mrs. Dunbar’s favorite vases as a hole for putting practice.” I didn’t actually know what that meant, but as someone who understood how much Mrs. Dunbar loved her flowers and the vases she put them in, the fact that Mr. Dunbar had even touched one of the vases, let alone used it for a purpose other than it was intended for, explained why Mr. Dunbar had been forced to go for one of the more expensive arrangements today.

“Idiot,” Dante muttered. “Why don’t I come get you?” Dante asked. “If I leave now, I can be there in fifteen minutes.”

I was more than tempted to take my brother up on the offer but doing so would be yet another step backward for me.

“No, it’s okay. I… I want to take the bus.”

I really didn’t, but most of the things I did these days were less about what I wanted to do and more about what I needed to do.

Dante was silent for a moment, no doubt torn between encouraging me and trying to change my mind. I wasn’t the only one who’d been rattled by the abduction of my friend, Caleb, three days earlier. I’d been with the young man when some men from his past had shown up at the small park we’d been at. Caleb and his infant daughter had come with me to support me as I’d tried to work on being around a crowd of people. I’d done pretty well at Caleb’s brother’s wedding a couple of weeks earlier, so I’d been feeling confident that I could somehow magically handle being around a large group of complete strangers.

I’d been a mess.

But I’d managed not to flee.

Until Caleb had spotted a man who’d been hunting him. Caleb had shoved his daughter, Willa, into my arms and had told me to go into the nearest shop and call for help. He’d then taken off to lead the men away. It had been a horrific situation, but fortunately my brother and Caleb’s boyfriend, Jace, had been able to find him.

The whole thing had set me back quite a bit, and it had undoubtedly given Dante a scare too. It had all been too reminiscent of my own abduction twelve years earlier when I’d been eight and Dante had been sixteen. Dante had been with me when I’d been taken from a mall and he’d spent nearly every moment since then looking for me.

Despite knowing the reasons I’d been taken, I had no doubt that Dante had been shocked by what he’d found when he’d shown up at a mansion just outside Chicago one night to rescue me.

I could still remember the events of that night as if they’d happened yesterday, instead of a little over two years ago. Dante and Magnus had watched in horror as I’d followed the command I’d been given to strip and bend over a desk. I hadn’t even hesitated to do as I’d been told.

Because it was all I’d known.

Show this man what you are…

I flinched as the voice permeated my mind. I’d worked for two long years to get Father’s voice out of my head, but every time I was certain I’d managed to silence it, it would randomly appear again.

I was coming to accept that it was a part of me.

Just like I had long ago accepted that I would always refer to Marcus Parks as Father, despite sharing no blood with the man. Not to mention the fact that the things he’d done to me had had absolutely nothing to do with being any kind of father to me.

Even the man’s death hadn’t changed that.

Father’s death automatically had me thinking about another man I’d tried long ago to vanquish from my thoughts, but for a whole other set of reasons.

I only knew him as Vaughn. I wasn’t sure if that was his last name or first. I shouldn’t have even known that much about him, because Father hadn’t liked it when the guards talked to me.

But Vaughn had done more than talk to me. He’d become like the thin stream of light that had somehow managed to break through the black paint covering the little window of the first room I’d been cast into after I’d been taken.

Sometimes that stream of light had been the only thing that had kept me wanting to open my eyes each day.

“Aleks?”

Dante’s soft voice broke through the memories of the dark-haired, dark-eyed man who’d been my only source of light for the longest time…

“Sorry,” I said. “I’ll take the bus, Dante.” I was proud of how firm my voice sounded, even though my stomach was tied in knots.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit,” Dante said.

“Okay. Love you, meu melhor…”

Dante paused for a moment, and when he said, “Love you too, irmãozinho,” I could tell he was choking up a bit. I was too. I always did when he called me his little brother. I’d thought him lost to me forever for so long that it was sometimes hard to accept I had my big brother watching out for me again like when we’d been kids.

I hung up the phone and tucked it into my pocket, then hurried to finish closing the store for the night. It was already starting to get dark out and I really didn’t want to risk missing my bus and being forced to wait fifteen minutes for the next one. I’d lucked out that my work was on a bus line that went directly by Magnus and Dante’s house. It meant not having to deal with transfers. The bus itself usually wasn’t too crowded, but on the occasions it was busier than normal, I usually stood near the back exit rather than sitting and reading a book on my phone (a concept I still hadn’t gotten used to).

As I worked, I found myself reaching for the bracelet on my left wrist, only to remember it wasn’t there. Touching the bracelet throughout the day had become a habit that I just couldn’t break myself of.

Because it wasn’t an ordinary bracelet.

My brother had designed it to include some kind of tracking device so he’d always be able to find me. He’d given it to me after I’d forgotten my phone one day about two months after Dante and Magnus had rescued me. I’d been walking the four blocks from home to the library and had gotten lost. Instead of remaining calm and asking someone for directions, I’d panicked and gotten myself even more lost. I’d ended up being missing for hours, and by the time Dante had found me, I’d been sitting in the middle of the sidewalk crying like a baby. A passerby had called the police, who’d managed to get enough information out of me to call Dante and Magnus.

After that, I’d been afraid to leave the house for weeks. It was only when Dante had given me the bracelet and told me it meant he’d always be able to find me that I’d ventured out again. The bracelet had become my lifeline to the outside world.

But I no longer had it. On the day Caleb had been abducted, I’d managed to stuff the bracelet into his pocket. It had allowed Dante and Jace to track Caleb’s location and rescue him from the men who’d taken him. Unfortunately, the bracelet had gotten lost in the shuffle of Caleb being transported to the hospital, and Dante was still working to get me a new one. But I still had my phone. Not only had I made a point of remembering to grab it the past few mornings, but Dante and Magnus had both checked to make sure I had it on me before I’d left the house.

After making sure everything was locked down, I hurried out the back door. I only had a few minutes to meet the bus, so I didn’t do my usual routine of scanning the alley behind the shop several times before turning my back while I locked the door.

As I began walking toward the northern end of the alley, I heard the sound of squealing tires. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see a green van come careening around the corner of the alley’s southern entrance. I told myself not to panic, but instinct won out over reason and I began running. I kept looking over my shoulder as the van closed in on me. When I saw a figure step out of the back door of one of the other shops, I shouted, “Help me, please!”

I practically slammed into the guy. “Please, they’re after me!” I yelled frantically as I pointed to the van. I wasn’t completely sure it wasn’t just some random, reckless delivery driver, but I wasn’t taking any chances. The van was less than a hundred feet from me and coming fast.

When the man didn’t respond, I tried to push past him, but he grabbed me by the upper arms in a painful hold.

And that was when I knew.

He hadn’t been coming out of one of the shops because he worked there.

He’d been waiting for me.

“No,” I whispered as pure terror ripped through me with violent force.

I opened my mouth to scream again when the man holding me punched me in the face. The blow left me reeling and I hit the ground hard. I tried to get my bearings as pure panic clawed through me, but I wasn’t fast enough.

A second blow left me too stunned to do anything at all. Several pairs of rough hands grabbed me as the world spun. I was lifted and thrown onto a cold, metal floor. More hands, or the same ones – I wasn’t sure – held me down as the van’s door slid shut.

It’s happening again.

Tears streaked down my face. “Please, don’t!” I begged, but that was all I got out before a piece of fabric was jammed into my mouth and tied behind my head. I flailed my arms and legs, but they were bound with plastic ties within seconds.

“Get his phone,” one of the men said.

I was quickly searched and let out a harsh sob when my phone was yanked out of my pocket.

“Toss it,” I heard someone say and then I heard a window opening.

And with it went my only lifeline.

I began crying uncontrollably, but my captors didn’t take any pity on me. Instead, one gruffly said, “Shut the fuck up,” and then he covered my head with some kind of hood, pitching me into darkness.

They left me alone as I rolled onto my side and sobbed into my gag. My hands were bound in front of me, but the second I lifted them to try and get the hood off, I felt something sharp at my throat.

“Do it and I’ll cut you. He said bring you back, but he didn’t say shit about doing it in one piece.”

I froze as the tip of the blade trailed down my throat. When I felt it snag on the first button of my shirt, I stiffened. Then it was popping the button off.

The second button followed.

Then the third.

I squeezed my eyes closed and let out a moan of denial.

“Knock that shit off, Spears.”

“The order was to bring him back. Didn’t say we couldn’t have some fun along the way. It’s a long drive to Chicago.”

Bile rose in my throat. They were taking me to Chicago?

Despair had me folding in on myself, not caring about the knife anymore. There was only one reason they could be taking me back to Chicago. Father might be dead, but there were plenty of men who’d be happy to take his place.

I stopped listening as the men argued and searched out that place inside my head where I wouldn’t hear them anymore. There’d be no hood, no gag, no van…

Alstroemeria… friendship.

Amaryllis… splendid beauty.

Anemone… fading hope.

I let out a sob when I realized it wasn’t working. From the time I’d been handed a book with stunning pictures of all kinds of flowers, along with their meaning, I’d recited the list of flowers in alphabetical order whenever I’d needed to block out what was happening to me. But I could still hear the men bickering; I could still feel the floor of the van beneath me and the rocking motion that went with the vehicle taking turn after turn. The gag was still there, as were my bindings.

I felt a keen sense of betrayal by my own mind as I lay there and tried to accept that I would never see my brother again. Because there was no way Dante was going to be able to find me a second time. It’d been sheer luck that he’d managed it the first time.

My body began to shake violently as this new reality crashed down on me. I had no idea how long we drove for, but it felt like hours.

“What the fuck?” I heard one of the guys say. “What is this asshole doing?”

The man sounded annoyed, and I felt the van slow.

“Just go around him!” one of the men sitting near me said.

“He’s in the middle of the fucking road,” came the response.

“Idiot probably broke down,” a third man grumbled.

There was a brief moment of silence as the van slowed even more, then someone yelled, “He’s got a gun!”

A split-second later came the squealing of the brakes. I rolled forward, then back as the van careened out of control. I heard a chorus of yells and curses, along with several popping sounds. One of the guys grabbed my arm as the sliding door was opened.

“Wait… wait—” I heard the guy named Spears yell, then there were another few popping sounds and then silence.

Complete and utter silence.

I lifted my hands to try and get the hood off but froze when a hand closed around my arm. I tried to scramble back, but the hold on me was firm.

“It’s okay,” I heard a man say, then he was pulling me to an upright position. I could feel fingers at the base of the hood. It was removed a few seconds later and despite it being dark outside, my eyes still felt the need to adjust. There was enough light from the dome light inside the van to make out the man who was working to release the gag.

I let out a sob of relief at the familiar sight of the dark hair, brown eyes that almost appeared black, and bearded face that was just inches from mine.

Vaughn.

“It’s okay, Aleks, I’ve got you,” Vaughn murmured as he got the gag off and dropped it on the floor of the van.

The combination of terror and relief mixed in a symphony of emotions that I couldn’t control and before I could stop myself, I lifted my bound hands and looped them over Vaughn’s neck. I tucked my nose against his throat and breathed him in to prove to myself he was really there.

He still had the same scent – some kind of woodsy smell mixed with musk and just a hint of butterscotch.

I wanted to laugh at that.

The brutally dangerous man loved butterscotch.

And it was how he’d gotten me to trust him when I’d first met him, because he’d shared his butterscotch candies with me.

In secret.

Because I hadn’t been allowed to have candy.

Or anything else.

I couldn’t form words as I clung to him. He held me against his big, warm, strong body, making me feel even safer. I could have stayed there all day, but Vaughn gently eased my arms up over his head and settled them in front of me.

And that was when I noticed the bodies.

Two in the back of the van with me, two in the front seats, and one just outside the door on the ground.

The ones whose faces I could see had their eyes open and perfectly shaped holes dead center in their foreheads. There wasn’t even much blood.

I was dimly aware of Vaughn tucking the gun in his hand into his waistband and then pulling a small utility knife from his pocket. He cut through the ties at my feet, then pulled me to a standing position.

“Are you hurt?” Vaughn asked as he quickly scanned my body, then settled on my face, which was no doubt bruised from the punches I’d taken.

I shook my head and then lifted my shoulders so I could wipe my wet face on my shirt sleeves.

And that was when I realized my hands were still bound. Before I could ask Vaughn to remove the plastic ties around my wrists, he grabbed my arm and led me from the van. “We need to get moving,” he said. “Someone could come along at any minute.”

Wasn’t that a good thing?

I felt off-balance as he steered me toward a sedan that was parked in the middle of the road. I had to lean into him to keep myself from stumbling, and I was glad when his arm went around me. He was considerably larger than me and while his bulk should have scared me, Vaughn was the exception to that general rule.

Vaughn was the exception to a lot of rules.

While I’d initially thought him to be just another one of Father’s guards who’d become infatuated with me, he’d been different. He’d never once made a move on me, and when things had come to a head in Father’s study the night Magnus and Dante had shown up to rescue me, it had been Vaughn who’d saved us all. I’d ended up stabbing Father in the back – literally – when he’d been preparing to shoot Dante. Dante had still gotten shot, but only in the shoulder.

But then Father had turned the gun on me.

And that was when Vaughn had appeared, and I’d watched Father’s eyes go wide as a bullet had torn through his neck. Blood had spurted everywhere, and he’d collapsed onto the very desk he’d made me bend over on. Vaughn had shot the other two guards in the room before I’d even been able to process what was happening, then he’d calmly walked up to me and helped me stand from where Father had knocked me to the ground. He’d touched the spot on my face where Father had marked me, then he’d shot Father in the head.

I’d never seen Vaughn again after he’d gotten me, Magnus, and Dante out of the house.

But I’d dreamed of him often.

Almost nightly.

Strange dreams I didn’t always understand.

But that I enjoyed just the same.

And now he was here, saving me again.

Vaughn led me to his car and got me settled in the passenger seat. He walked around the front of the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. I turned and held out my hands as I said, “Can you… can you take me home, please? I don’t want to wait for the police. Dante will be worried… he’ll… he’ll help us explain what happened to the police.”

Vaughn got the car started, then turned to look at me. There was enough light from the touchscreen in the dashboard to see his face.

And I didn’t like what I saw.

In fact, it had fear skating through me.

Fear that turned to a sensation that I could only describe as agony as a sense of betrayal hit hard and fast.

“Vaughn,” I whispered as I jutted my hands toward him a bit, desperately hoping I was wrong. “Please untie me and take me home.”

Tears began flowing down my cheeks long before he turned away from me and put the car in gear. Long before he set his eyes on the road ahead of us. And long before he confirmed my worst fear with seven little words that cut through me like the sharpest of blades.

“I’m sorry, Aleks, I can’t do that.”