Ashley woke to blinding white light and a high-pitched screech. She bolted out of bed, ignored the searing pain that flashed through her side, and ran toward the heart-wrenching sound. Unsteady on her hurt foot, she rounded the doorway and entered the large open room on the run, only to stop short at the half-naked man hanging from a bar attached to a thick wood beam in the center of the room. He pulled himself up to raise his chin over the bar. Adam squealed with delight, his arms secure around Beck’s neck, his legs hooked on Beck’s lean hips.

Beck rose and fell two more times in an easy motion despite Adam’s added weight. She took him in with one long sweep of her gaze. Big hands. Strong arms. Rippling muscles all down his chest and stomach. Black sweats ended in huge bare feet that hit the floor just as she snapped her gaze back to his face, then back to his chest once more before she met his dark gaze. His chest and everything else on display was worth a second glance.

Her heart thudded against her ribs, making them ache and stealing her breath. Dizziness clouded her vision. Her legs buckled with relief that Adam was okay, and she hit the wood floor hard on her bare butt. Pain lanced up her side. She tried to cover her legs with the too-big T-shirt and catch her breath, though it burned to suck in the tiniest amount of air.

Adam dropped to his feet behind Beck and ran to her, falling to his knees in front of her.

She reached up and cupped his face. “You were having fun.”

A bright smile split his lips. He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

Beck kneeled in front of her. Adam hooked his hand on Beck’s massive shoulder, his tiny fingers landing just above a large scar on Beck’s chest that looked healed but new. Beck stared down at her, his expression unreadable. One of the many things that probably helped him survive working undercover.

He held his hand out to her. “Come with me.”

“What happened to you?”

“Bad guy took exception to being arrested. He gave me a matching set about a month ago.” Beck used the hand he held out to her to tap the scar on his side. “Adam and I already had breakfast.”

She followed Beck’s gaze to the breakfast bar off the kitchen island and the empty glasses and plates still there.

“You slept in. I bet you’re starving. Sit on the couch. We saved you some bacon and I’ll cook you up some eggs.”

Her mouth watered just thinking about it. “I’d kill for a cup of coffee.” The lingering scent hung in the air battling with the bacon aroma setting off a new round of grumbling in her stomach.

“I don’t think it will come to that, but you might try to dial down the fear that I’m a threat. Adam and I are buddies. Aren’t we, little man?” Beck hugged Adam to his side. Beck didn’t smile. That sort of thing didn’t come easy to him. But Adam’s mouth curved with a silly grin and his eyes were bright with joy.

Adam reached out and brushed his fingers down her hair, grabbing hold of a huge chunk near the end.

She poked him in the belly. “Did you steal Beck’s shirt?”

Adam looked down at the shirt draping all the way to the floor and nodded.

“Help me out, little man. Go get the eggs out of the fridge and put them on the counter. Find a bowl and crack three eggs into it for Ashley.”

Adam ran off, eager to do what Beck said.

Ashley recognized the diversion tactic and waited to see what Beck wanted from her.

“How bad does it hurt?” He stared at her hand on her thigh covering one of the larger, darker bruises.

She blinked back the sheen of tears filling her eyes. “I heard him scream . . . I’ve rarely heard his voice.” She didn’t know how to explain to him the overwhelming urge to get to Adam and protect him in that moment that blocked out everything, including the pain and her understanding of where she was and how she’d gotten here. “I didn’t think. I reacted. Until I saw that he was okay and it was you, I don’t know, it all came back.” She glanced past him to the windows and behind her to the door. “Are we safe here? Is he coming? Have you seen anything outside? Heard anything on the news? We need to get out of here!” She tried to push herself up to get moving, but Beck laid a big hand on her shoulder to still her. The second her muscles relaxed, he removed his hand and the warmth that went with the touch felt oddly comfortable, not intrusive.

“Stop. Calm down. The roads are completely impassable. The snow is still coming down, though it’s lightened up considerably. No one in their right mind would go out in this weather.”

“That’s just it. He’s not in his right mind.”

“Ashley, get a grip. If I thought for a second you and Adam weren’t safe here, I’d take you away myself.”

“We aren’t safe. We’ll never be safe.”

His hand came up and cupped her cheek and the warmth came back. “Right now, you are. The snow covered any tracks you might have left. It’s also preventing anyone from mounting a search for you or Adam. As far as I can tell, there are no new reports on you other than the ones that have already come out about the anniversary of your disappearance. I waited for you to get up before I called the police. Out here, the sheriff has jurisdiction. They’ll probably call in the feds to help out because it’s a high-profile case.”

She hadn’t stopped shaking her head throughout that last part. “No. No cops. The governor, a senator, any number of other people in a position to help him are in his pocket.”

Beck’s gaze sharpened. “What do you mean?”

“The house, the room he kept me in, it’s not his only secret. There are secret passages, two-way mirrors, and cameras. He recorded them and took pictures. He made me watch.” She shook her head. “Parties with underage prostitutes, drugs, or them just doing things others would find appalling. Drunken confessions,” she added, trying to erase all of it from her mind.

Beck raked his hand over his head. “Shit.”

“As soon as I can get out of here, I am.”

“You can’t just run. If you’re right and he goes after you, you’ll have no way to protect yourself or Adam. Do you really want to risk that little boy’s life? Think, Ashley. The only way to get your life back is to stand up and fight. Take him down.”

“Easy enough for you to say. You’re not the one about to have your life explode on every form of media.”

“What the hell do you care about your name and picture splashed across the internet and TV screens when there’s a man out there who will come after you or someone else to feed his sick fantasy? Stop being his victim, get up off the damn floor, and figure out a way to make him pay for what he did to you. You’re so afraid of what he’ll make people believe, but what about your status? Your word. You make people believe you’re someone else up on that screen. Make them believe you in real life.”

She hung her head, knowing that what he said was exactly what she needed to do, but after everything, she didn’t know if she had the strength to do it. “What if they don’t believe me?”

“I believe you. Others will, too.” He dropped his hand to the hem of her shirt and pulled it up two inches to reveal the dark edges of the bruise that throbbed with pain up and down her thigh. She flinched, but the instinctive fear washed away with his deep voice. “There is nothing he can say that will ever make me believe you asked for, or deserved this.” His fingertips swept softly over her skin, sending another wave of warmth through her.

Comfort. Compassion. She’d gone too long without both.

“You trusted someone you knew, a man who called himself friend, who had treated you with kindness and never showed you any ill will. There’s no fault in that, Ashley. He fooled you once, but he won’t fool you again. Don’t let him fool the world, too. You know the real man. You can take him down.”

“Your faith might be a bit misplaced considering I can’t even get up from this floor on my own.”

He held his hand out to her and gave her what for him passed as a grin. “I’ll help you.”

She wanted to believe he meant more than helping her to stand up. But she shut down that delusion. Once she was back on her feet, she’d be on her own again.

Been there. Done that her whole life. She’d had to fight for everything she’d gotten, but Beck was right. She hadn’t asked for what happened to her. She hadn’t deserved Brice’s cruelty. She refused to stand back and take it anymore.

She hoped she had the strength to face what was coming.