The bell sounded, and for a moment, I thought the round was over. I was bleeding heavily from the cut above my eye, my body starting to wear down despite the intense training. The fucker was fast, and if I didn’t get him down on that mat soon, I was going to be in some serious shit.

“It’s over!”

I looked over to see the white towel on my side of the damn cage, Tony’s anxious face peering at me over the top. What the hell? Had he just surrendered the fight? I was hurting, but I still had a damn good fight in me. “What the hell man!” I shouted, feeling anger welling up inside. This was a title match!

“It’s Amelia,” he shouted back. My body went into full on dad mode, my blood freezing in my veins as I ran over, the crowd going fucking crazy behind me. “What?”

The paleness of his face alarmed me, and I was already starting to strip off my gloves, not giving two fucks about the fight. “She’s, hell, she’s been kidnapped, Benji. Danielle just got the call.”

“Kidnapped? You’re kidding me,” I said, waiting for the punch line. When one didn’t come, I felt a growing panic starting to build. Kidnapped? My daughter?

Not wasting any time, I climbed out of the cage, ignoring the fact that they were handing over the title back to the champion. Screw the title, my daughter was in danger. “What do you know?”

“Not much,” Tony said in my ear as he escorted me down the aisle, where people were starting to throw things. “Danielle took the call. That’s all I know.”

Then Danielle is who I needed to talk to. Tamping down my anger, I hurried to the locker room, finding her standing there, tears streaming down her face. The sight alone was enough to bring a grown man to his knees, and I wobbled a bit, Tony’s strong hand catching me as I sank onto the bench.

“Benji,” she breathed, clutching my phone in her trembling hands. “It’s Amelia. Some-someone broke in and took her.”

No words that a parent wants to hear, I can assure you. Bile rose in my throat, and I felt faint as I attempted to process the words. My baby was in the hands of some monster. My precious curly haired daughter was somewhere unsafe, away from the one person she trusted. All because of this damn fight.

“No!” I shouted hoarsely, standing and turning around, punching the locker behind me angrily. The metal met my hand, and I felt the bones shatter, the pain a blessed change from the overwhelming pain in my heart. “It’s a mistake. Call them back.”

“I-I’m sorry,” she said softly, her voice breaking.

Tony’s hand laid on my shoulder as I started to punch the damn locker, again and again, feeling helpless and pissed off at the same time. What was I going to do? What if? No, I wasn’t going to think like that. This was all a bad dream, and I was going to wake up here in a minute. “Come on man, let’s get you home. The cops, they want to talk to you.”

* * *

The drive home was hellacious. The van transporting us to my apartment wasn’t going fast enough, and I broke out in a cold sweat as I thought of what Amelia would be going through, what she might be experiencing. It was enough to make a grown man nearly lose it.

Finally, the van arrived, and I tore out of the van as soon as it stopped moving, ignoring all the police that were milling around outside. One tried to stop me, but I snarled at him, my legs eating up the space between me and my apartment. Joey was matching me step for step, the worry about his daughter written all over his face and we reached the apartment door at the same time.

“Marcella,” he breathed, seeing his daughter sitting on the couch. She was holding an ice pack on her head with a paramedic shining a light in her eyes. I instantly looked around my apartment, expecting to see my daughter there, waiting for me to arrive.

Instead, I saw an overturned bowl of popcorn on the floor, the splinters from where the door was kicked open out of the door frame, the yellow tents of numbers as the crime scene techs marked the evidence and took their pictures. Suddenly I wanted to scream at all of them, tell them to get out of my damn apartment and find my daughter.

Danielle stepped in my line of vision, approaching one of the men lounging against my counter. “Henderson,” she said, her voice cracking a bit. “What do you know?”

Henderson looked at me, raising a brow as he took in my attire and battered face. I wanted to smash his in. “Forced entry. The babysitter said she was getting ready to watch a movie. The kid was asleep in her room. She tried to run but they conked her over the head, and when she woke up, the kid was gone. There is a note.”

“Give it to me,” I said instantly, stepping over to them. Danielle met me before I could reach the detective, her hand on my bare chest. “Wait. Benji, I don’t know.”

“Get out of my fucking way,” I said, cutting her off. “This is my fucking child we are talking about. I want to see the note.”

Thankfully, she stepped aside as Henderson handed over a plastic baggie, the note inside. “Just don’t open it.”

I glared at him as I took the bag from him, looking down at the handwriting. Mr. Lomns, it started. We have your daughter. She will be safe as long as you comply with our demands. We will be in touch.

“No prints,” Henderson was saying as I reread it again, looking for the hidden nugget inside the words. Was this it? What the hell was I supposed to do until the contacted me? “No evidence. Nothing.”

I handed it back to the detective, running a hand through my hair roughly. “What’s the next step?” I asked, unable to control my frustration. “Are we gonna just stand here and look at each other like dumbasses until they call?”

“Benji,” Tony warned. “They are doing everything they can.”

I whirled around, seeing my friend in the doorway. “Are they? Looks like they are fucking enjoying themselves in my fucking apartment! My daughter, she’s out there, alone and upset and I can’t do a fucking thing about it.”

The entire apartment grew silent, but I ignored them, turning back to Henderson. “Get the fuck out there and start looking for my daughter.”

He didn’t look intimidated. “I assure you, Mr. Lomns, we are doing everything we can at this moment, but I am going to need for you to calm down. Go get cleaned up and then we will walk through the process, alright?”

He didn’t understand. I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t even function knowing that Amelia was out there. My baby was out there, somewhere, wanting her daddy and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was failing as a parent, failing my child when she needed me the most.

Danielle took a step forward, biting her lip. “Come on, let’s go get you cleaned up Benji. Let the detectives do their job, and they will update you.”

I looked at her, helpless to know what I was supposed to be doing at this moment. The rage inside was barely controlled, and at any moment I was going to lose it. She held out her hand, tears in her eyes and I grabbed it, wanting to hold onto anything that could keep me from falling apart. I couldn’t do this. Amelia was an innocent little girl, and some fucker had put their hands on my daughter.

Danielle gripped my hand as she led me back to the master bath, my heart squeezing painfully in my chest as I took in Amelia’s bath toys still in the tub. My knees weakened, and I went down on the floor, unable to keep myself standing. Amelia was missing.

“Benji,” Danielle breathed, shutting the door behind us before she had me in her arms, my hand gripping her hair tightly as I pulled her against me. “Oh God, Benji I am so sorry.”

I let out a guttural sound, burying my face in her shoulder as the tears started to flow. I had failed my daughter.