Jax felt sick to his stomach and the air around him was thick. A chill ran up his spine whereas sweat beaded on his forehead. Smoke and debris littered the area. Jax held his Glock at the ready and trucked forward, Greg to his left.

The gatecrasher did its job. A large man-sized hole was made and not much was left of the warehouse. Jax prepared to toss in a flash-bang grenade when he heard a scream, followed by a gunshot.

“Fuck!” Jax rushed inside and held his gun at shoulder level. No one was standing or moving about. “Andria!” He stepped further inside. He made it as far as Brandi’s body. The woman was dead, without a doubt. No one survived a head wound like that and lived to tell about it.

He motioned for Greg to check her body anyway, just in case. As Greg knelt down, Jax continued his pursuit inside the warehouse room.

“Andria, answer me, baby. Are you safe?”

A groan caught his attention just as the dust of the explosion settled to the ground. Draven’s body had pinned hers to the floor, but he wasn’t moving. There was blood, a lot of blood. He rushed forward as another groan erupted in the silence.

“Get the fuck off me!” It was Andria.

Jax sighed with relief, she was alive. He pointed his Glock at Draven and bent down, pressing it to the back of his head. “You move, I will kill you.”

“You can’t kill him, he’s already dead,” Andria told him. “Get him off of me, please.”

Jax felt for a pulse in the man’s neck and sighed once more. He was gone. The monster was vanquished. Her father’s killer would never again bother his daughter. The breaking-out-of-prison-to-find-his-conquest-again was truly, and finally, dead.

He grabbed the man’s shoulder and heaved his body off the woman he had fallen in love with. What Jax did not expect was a gun shoved in his face. He stared down the barrel of the hammerless revolver Andria held. The gun shook in her hands. Her eyes welled with tears. Her mouth shook as shock had begun to hold claim over her body.

“Andria, it’s me, Jax. Let me have the gun. You’re safe now, baby. No one will hurt you. Draven is gone.”

“You…” she started and held onto the weapon. “You promised to keep me safe.”

The words struck him like a hot iron thrust through his chest. He held his poise and continued to talk to her. “Andria, I am not him. I promise, I will never hurt you the way he did. Suzy will be with you soon. We have a call out to her.” Jax waved to Greg and behind him, he heard the response.

“On it.” Greg rushed from the room. Jax knew he would dial Andria’s sister.

“Andria, I wish I could change the past and never let you from my sight. I wish I had someone escort you to the bathroom. I wish we never went to the party. There are so many different scenarios that are playing through my head of what if we did this, or what if we did that. I cannot change what happened, but only offer my most sincere apology and promise that nothing like this will ever happen again.” He slipped down to his knees and held his hands out in surrender. “Let me take you home. We can begin our life once again, and put all of this behind us.”

Andria’s hands shook as did her body. Jax waited for her to give in, and knew it would be a matter of time. Only a second had passed but it felt like an eternity. She gave in and dropped the weapon.

Jax picked it up, flipped on the safety, and shoved it into the back of his pants. He looked her over, hoping Draven had not shot her, punched her, anything. From what he could manage to see, she seemed to be okay. He held out a hand to her and Andria stared at it. Her lip began to tremble. Instead of taking his hand, she lunged for him, thrusting her arms around his neck.

With a sigh, he wrapped his woman in his arms and held her close. Her body shuddered as she cried into his shoulder. He moved his hands up and down her back and whispered, “I have you. You’re safe. I love you.”

Jax scooped Andria into his arms and stood. He carried her out of the warehouse and into the open. Red and blue lights staggered through the trees and uniformed officers approached the scene.

Greg was talking to a few of them when one broke away to approach Jax.

“Is she okay?” asked the officer.

Jax nodded. “She was bound to a chair and possibly hit a time or two, but he didn’t shoot her. The escaped convict is inside dead, as well as one of his accomplices. I have video recordings of the ordeal inside I’m happy to turn over, as well as records showing Miss Huffton hiring GAPS for protection.”

“We’ll get to that soon enough, son. You’ve done a real good thing here. There’s an ambulance, just over by the parked cars. Please get her checked and see if she needs further medical help.”

Jax nodded and held Andria close. She may need to go to the hospital but he would ride along with her. No way would he allow her out of his sight until she gave him the go ahead.

He approached the ambulance and sat Andria onto a stretcher. She clung to him around his neck. “Shh, it’s okay,” he told her and cupped her face. He kissed her on the forehead and continued. “I’m only setting you down for observation. I’m right here, not going anywhere.”

She nodded but did not let go of his hand. “I’ll tell you whatever it is you need to know.”

Two EMTs stood by, a man and woman. The woman brushed Andria’s hair back and smiled.

“You’re a very brave woman. Please tell the officers your story, if you would.”

Andria nodded. “I feel so tired.”

“Your adrenaline is fading,” Jax told her. He laid her back on the stretcher and lightly rubbed his fingers along her hairline.

Tears slipped from her eyes and she turned on the stretcher toward Jax. He rubbed her back while the EMTs checked over her body. The woman lifted Andria’s top in the back and shook her head. She met Jax’s gaze and pointed.

“There’s a bruise forming on her back, but no lacerations. We’ll get a thorough eval at the hospital.”

Jax nodded. He knew the drill, but he wasn’t happy about it. He lowered his gaze to Andria. He would do anything, give anything, to take this nightmare from her. He could only imagine the fear she felt facing the demon that plagued her life.

Noise caught his attention behind him and Jax turned to look at the warehouse. Two bodies were brought out on stretchers, covered in white sheets.

Brandi and Draven.

An officer approached and nodded to Jax. He returned it. “I need to ask her a few questions.”

Jax nodded and bent down to Andria. “Are you up for this?”

She nodded. “Help me sit up?”

He took her by the hand and braced his other hand under her. She sat up and smoothed down her hair. She wiped at her eyes and sniffed, then met Jax’s gaze.

“How do I look?”

He smiled. “Beautiful.” Swelling had started around her left eye. He grit his teeth to keep the rage to a minimum. He wanted to bring Draven back to life for the opportunity to kill him again.

“Ma’am? I’m officer Hightower of the Virginia Beach Police Department. I need to ask you a few questions.”

She nodded. “I’ll try to answer them best I can.”

“Are you comfortable answering in front of this man?”

Jax frowned. “I’m her hired guard.”

“Yes, it’s fine,” she offered and took Jax’s hand. The gesture did not go unnoticed to the officer.

“What was your relationship with Mister Combs?”

“He was an ex of mine. He murdered my father and almost killed me. He was sentenced to prison but escaped and came looking for me. Needless to say, he found me. Anything else?”

Officer Hightower jotted down a few notes then looked up. “Just a few. How did you get out of the restraints? We saw them inside and need to understand what happened.”

“I do have it on video,” Jax offered.

The officer held up a hand and motioned to Andria. “I need the account from her first, please.”

Jax nodded and looked to Andria. She met his gaze and squeezed his hand.

“Well,” Andria started, “I gave him what he wanted. He wanted me. I told him I would leave with him, that I made a mistake coming here. I told him I wanted him to take me home.” She lifted a brow and looked to her legs. “He believed me, so he let me go.”

“What happened then?” Hightower asked.

“Just before he released me, he shot and killed the other woman, Brandi.”

The officer nodded and took notes. “Then what happened?”

“He pointed the gun to my head. I begged him not to shoot, that I would return home with him. Eventually, he left the restraints off.”

“How did it come about you shooting him?”

Andria looked to Jax. The look on her face seemed to ask for permission. Confusion settled over him. He nodded, hoping this was what she needed.

She shifted in her seat then continued. “Jax taught me how to fire a gun and fitted me for one to my size. I have my permit to carry. When Draven captured me, I remembered I had my gun tucked away in a holster inside my clothes, my revolver. When he untied me, he wrapped his arms around my body and held me tight.

“I used self-defense to free myself. I broke free and dropped to the ground, then punched him as hard as I could in the groin. He fell over and dropped his gun. I scrambled to the side to escape. He grabbed my ankle as I went to get to my feet. I fell forward and my gun fell from my holster. I reached for mine first and he followed, landing on top of me.”

“What happened to his weapon?” Hightower asked.

“I don’t know,” she said and continued. “As I was saying, he landed on top of me and I managed to grab my revolver. He had a hold of my wrists and bent my arms. He pushed down and tried to get the gun close enough to make me shoot myself.

“It was then that the wall was blasted open by Jax and his team. The distraction was what I needed. I pushed the gun to his throat and pulled the trigger. He died instantly on top of me. That was when Jax found me inside.”

The officer at some point stopped writing and stared slack-jawed at Andria. Jax frowned and cleared his throat. The officer shook his head.

“You are one lucky and remarkable woman, Miss Huffton. Thank you for your statement.” He turned to Jax and continued. “If you’d hand over your videos, that would be beneficial for this case.”

Jax nodded. “I can get them to you now. They’re on a hard drive with our equipment.”

“Perfect. Who should I see?”

Jax pointed to Greg. “Let him know you’re taking the video log for evidence. He’ll comply and give you everything you need.”

Officer Hightower nodded and shook Jax’s hand. “Thank you. And Miss Huffton?”

“Hmm?” She looked to the officer.

“Many women could take note from you and your actions tonight. You fought back and won. No one deserves to go through what you have been through. My condolences for your father.”

She nodded and lowered her gaze. “Thank you.”

The EMTs checked her blood pressure once more then addressed Jax. “We need to go now to get her thoroughly examined.”

“Great. I’m going to ride along. Please, one moment before we go?”

The female EMT nodded.

Jax looked out where Greg stood and whistled. Greg turned and Jax motioned to the ambulance. Greg nodded and gave a thumb up. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Moments later, the ambulance was shut and the sirens wailed. Jax held onto Andria’s hand and held her gaze. He wasn’t sure what the future held for them since she no longer needed his services, but he’d be damned if he would let her go. He loved her and would prove that the rest of his life, if she let him.