Matt flopped down on the grass, breathing hard. After Charlie and Brayden had moved on to teaching Dean’s puppy to shake hands and roll over, the game of touch football had quickly degraded into the regular game. Except he was pretty sure no one had an actual position. He wasn’t sure there was even an end zone anymore. Or perhaps a ball. He’d just been taken down by Mason and Connor together, Conner’s elbow finding his ribs and winding him. After finally catching his breath, he rolled up onto his side. He frowned. The sun was lower in the sky than he’d expected. Just how long had they been pounding each other into the lawn?

He pulled himself up and jogged over to Liam. “Hey, are Meg and Lauren back yet?”

Jeremy sprinted past, the missing football under his arm, but it looked like most of his team had followed Matt’s move and given up on the game.

Liam’s face echoed his frown as he lifted his arm to look at his watch. “They’ve been gone about forty-five minutes,” he said. “Maybe the pizza place had a longer wait?”

Butterflies the size of bald eagles swept through Matt’s stomach. “In the middle of a weekday afternoon?”

Seth, who had jogged over and caught the tail end of the conversation, pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Scott.”

“We should drive down to the store and check, too,” Liam said. “No point putting out an all-points bulletin if Meg just needed to track down tuna and ice cream again.”

Mason’s face turned a little green. “Seriously?”

Liam smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was clearly trying to hide his worry from everyone until they knew for sure. Matt could relate. He was trying not to lose his shit in the middle of Meg’s lawn, but if they stood around for much longer, that was going to become impossible. He had to do something, even if that something was just driving down to the center of town to find the women sitting in an ice cream store.

Liam jogged over to one of the picnic tables and picked up his cell, sliding to activate the screen, then putting it to his ear. He stayed a little away from the group, but Matt could tell from his expression he didn’t like what he was hearing. He swiped something else on the screen before stepping back to the group. “Meg’s not answering,” he said. “But the friends app has her still at the store.”

Liam’s discovery should have relaxed Matt, even just a little. It didn’t do a damn thing. Mason looked over at him, catching his attention, then nodding. “Liam, Shane, Connor, you guys go down to the shopping strip, see if you can find them. Seth, Matt, and I will head down to the station and find Scott, just in case.”

Finally. It took Matt only seconds to find where Lauren had left his keys when she’d gotten to Meg’s. He swiped them up, along with his cell, and followed Mason out to the road.

* * *

Matt thought he’d known what it felt like to want to kill someone the night his father had been stabbed in front of him by Victor’s goons, forcing him to run. He’d thought at the time that it was the most terrifying thing he’d ever go through. He hadn’t even been close. His hands were shaking so hard he’s clenched them into fists, squeezing until he felt his nails digging into his skin. The pain was about the only thing stopping him from putting his fist through a wall. That, and knowing he’d probably be arrested. His pulse pounded in his ears as he watched the screen in front of him.

Scott had arrived to the precinct first, heading in as soon as he’d gotten Seth’s call. It had only been about ten minutes later that Liam had called in, saying there was no sign of either woman at the supermarket. It was only when Scott had logged in to the footage of the local traffic cams and found one looking back on the supermarket parking lot that Matt had just about lost his shit. There, in tiny, grainy black and white was some asshole shoving a very pregnant Meg into the trunk of her car. In broad fucking daylight! They’d walked out of the store together, Meg looking scared but with a determined look on her face that would put most special ops guys to shame. God, that woman had a backbone made of titanium. The guy must have had her keys, as he’d pressed a button and the trunk had popped open. After looking around to make sure the parking lot was otherwise clear, he gave Meg another small shove, until she’d climbed in.

“I’ve got her!”

Matt let out a whoosh of air at Liam’s shout through the speakerphone. It hadn’t mattered that Meg wasn’t his girl. Every single firefighter in Monroe respected the crap out of her. Even if they didn’t know her, all that mattered was that she was Liam’s. Just as they’d supported Matt that morning, any of them would go to bat for her in a heartbeat.

Scott’s head had dropped forward in relief. “Rodger that. Paramedics are on their way, five minutes out.” They’d probably be from their firehouse, the C-shift. Thankfully, none of them would be stupid enough to try to get between Liam and Meg while they checked her out. Matt was glad Shane had gone with them. He’d be able to keep Liam and Meg both calm until the rig arrived with their gear.

Scott picked up the receiver, taking it off speaker before speaking again. “Any sign of Lauren and Brayden?” He shifted in his chair, not looking at Matt while he asked the question. Every muscle in Matt’s body tensed further, waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Scott to get off the damned phone. When he finally turned back to Matt, his brow was furrowed. He dropped the phone roughly into its cradle and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m so sorry, Matt. There’s no sign of them.” He pushed his chair back, standing and grabbing his badge and gun out of his desk drawer. “Store security is organizing their tapes for me now, and I’ll get some uniforms down there to start canvassing immediately.”

Fuck! Matt looked around the room, his eyes narrowing. Was it possible that Victor’s men had already gotten to someone in here? He’d met most of the guys in blue at some point as part of the job, and he hated the thought as soon as he had it, but he had to be sure. He’d had a lot of time over the last decade to think on that night when his father had been killed, and especially after learning the hell that Lauren had been put through, Matt knew one thing was an absolute truth: never underestimate Victor Mancini.

A face entered his mind, and Matt’s head whipped around the room as he searched again. There was one person he didn’t see: the man who had nearly pissed him off enough to break a chair the last time he’d been down at the station. He turned back to Scott. “Where’s the other detective?”

Scott raised an eyebrow. “Eli? He’s at a robbery scene as far as I know, but I can call him if you think he can help.”

Matt shook his head. “No, Detective Bellamy.”

Scott’s brow furrowed deeper. “Who?”

The butterflies that had been swamping his stomach solidified, turning into a rock. He turned, pushing his way through the bullpen doors and down the corridor. He could hear Scott’s footprints close on his heels, followed by what was probably everyone else, but he didn’t stop until he’d reached the end of the corridor and turned into Bellamy’s office.

His very empty office.