I meant what I said. This woman had come to mean more to me than just a burden. There was a part of me that wanted to keep her safe – to protect her from all the wrongs in the world. I felt like an alpha male protecting his mate.

“Thank you,” she whispered, laying her head on my shoulder. “That means a lot to me.”

I wrapped my arms around her torso and pulled her close. I rocked her gently and kissed the top of her head.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said so suddenly that it took me by surprise.

“What is it?”

“When that man kidnapped me… he placed that envelope you saw in my pocket. He told me to keep in touch… It didn’t even cross my mind to tell you. I was so preoccupied with the baby…”

“Where is it?” I demanded. It had to be a clue.

“In my bag…”

I flew out of my seat and out of the room. In the living room, I snatched the bag up and rummaged through it, eventually finding the envelope. I tore through the seal and pulled out a postcard.

It depicted a scene in Germany. Was that where he was hiding? No. That would be much too easy. Dean never made anything easy.

I flipped it over to see his handwriting.

Greetings from Berlin! It really is a very beautiful city. I think I might stay here a while, enjoy the food and women as I decide what I want to do with you. Who knows? Maybe I will lose interest and let you live your life, or maybe I’m still watching you and tracking your every move. It’s so easy to spy on people these days. After all, Big Brother is always watching. From your phone to your laptop, it’ll be easy to track down your location. You leave behind a digital trail that’s so easy to follow. You make my life boring. But I’ll make it interesting. Until we meet again, Dean.

I ground my teeth together. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Quickly, I snapped a picture and sent it to Cruz. Maybe he could make some sense of it. We had to get to the bottom of this – one way or another.

Almost instantly, he texted back. Where’d that come from?

He slipped it into Lauren’s pocket when he kidnapped her.

Why are you getting it now?

The baby.

For a while, Cruz was unresponsive.

Lauren stepped into the room, holding Frankie in her arms. “Is everything alright?”

“No…” I ran my fingers through my hair, pacing around the room. A part of me wanted to hide this from her, but at the same time, I knew she had a right to know. I gave her the postcard.

She read through it, her expression becoming one of horror. “Would it really be that easy for someone to track us down?”

“I’m afraid so… I’ll have to see your phone. I need to disable all location settings and anything else that can be used to track your movements. We have to be careful.” I looked over my shoulder as if Dean would emerge from the shadows at any moment.

“Are we… safe?”

I hesitated. “Yes.”

“How?”

“The company I work for specializes in keeping people safe. We have the best bodyguards and security specialists in the world. Even as we speak, this place is under tight surveillance. It would be difficult for anyone to get through.”

“Difficult… but not impossible,” she said.

I frowned. “Yes.”

She held Frankie a little tighter. “I’m scared.”

“Don’t be. I won’t let anything happen to you ever again.” I folded her into my arms, my hands running up and down her back in a comforting motion. “I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”

My phone buzzed. I’d be careful around her.

A spark of anger flared inside of me. How could Cruz accuse Lauren of being a part of this? She was the mother of my child. The DNA tests had proven it – they had eliminated all doubts that at one point had plagued my mind. She wasn’t in cahoots with Dean – it was impossible.

But in the back of my mind, I considered it as a possibility. After all, it was all a little too convenient – too perfectly pieced together.

I narrowed my eyes in her direction, trying to discover her true intentions.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

She frowned. “Did you get news about something?”

“No.”

My phone buzzed again. I’m going to put Ned on this case. He’s our newest intern. The boy’s a genius. If anyone (other than you) can crack this, it’s him. Trust me, we’re going to get to the bottom of this.

Thanks. I answered back quickly, aware of Lauren’s gaze.

“Tell me,” she whispered.

“It’s nothing,” I repeated. “Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s get Frankie settled so we can go to bed ourselves. We have a few hours before my friends get here, and even a few hours of rest would do us both some good.”

“What about Gina?”

“I’m sure she’s playing in her room. She’ll be fine.”

She nodded in agreement. Together, we laid him down in his crib and set up the baby monitor on the nightstand so we would be able to hear him when he needed us.

Lauren lingered by the door, hesitant to leave him. I finally took her hand and pulled her away.

“Wait… this is your bedroom…”

“Yes… and?”

“What am I doing here?”

“Well, since the guest room turned into a nursery, I thought we could share a bed. Is that a problem?”

“No… I just didn’t expect you to want to sleep with me.”

I took her face in my hands and looked into her eyes. In that moment, I realized how truly beautiful they really were. There were a million things I wanted to say to her, but I kept quiet, pressing my forehead to hers. Soon, our lips collided, communicating everything in a silent language we both understood.