My head pounds, and the stars dance above me. They twirl around, making pirouettes and doing flips.

Wait…

When did the sun set?

A groan rumbles deep in my chest, and I blink my eyes against the dark. There’s a dripping noise coming from somewhere, and it echoes inside my skull. It’s cold, much colder than it should be in the car.

The car.

My body tightens as it all comes back to me. Within a flash, my eyes are open.

Wherever I am, it’s poorly lit. I can see the figures of two men, though. They have their backs turned to me and talk in low tones, their words indecipherable.

“Hey,” a voice says, much closer to me than I would like. “He’s awake.”

The two men turn and walk toward me with interest, and a third man—the one who must have spoken—appears in my peripheral. My head aches like hell, and even the dim fluorescent lights hurt to look at.

The room is large—no, not a room. We’re in some kind of warehouse that’s full of boxes. It smells of mold and decaying cardboard.

That’s all I have time to register before one of the men is grabbing a chair and taking a seat across from me. I go to move, but my arms are tightly bound to my sides. I look down, and find I’m tied to a chair.

“How you doing, Mr. Glen?” the man across from me asks.

My heart hammers away, and I open my mouth to speak, but it feels like it’s full of cotton. The man is short, small in stature, but there’s an easy confidence to his dark eyes that’s unnerving.

“I…” I swallow, and try again. “Where am I?”

“You’re still in San Bravado,” he coolly responds.

I start to nod, but it makes my head pound. My driver…he hit me over the head.

We’d stopped on a side road. He said he was going for gas, but once he pulled over into an empty lot, he reached over and hit me with something. I went to retaliate, to punch back, but there was a sweet-smelling cloth pressed over my mouth. With my head spinning from the hit, I hadn’t had the energy to fight back.

Chloroform, I realize now, as I look at the man. That’s what was on the cloth. It doesn’t keep a person unconscious for long, so they must have given me a good deal of it.

One of the other men steps up behind the seated man’s right shoulder. My teeth grind together. That’s him. My driver.

“Any other questions?” the seated man asks. He smiles slightly, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

But of fucking course.

“Yeah,” I rasp. “What the hell is going on here?”

“I’ll get right to the point. We have your daughter in our custody. If you wish for the safe release of both of you, I’ll require a billion dollars. Immediately.”

I stare at him as the words soak in. A ransom?

“You have to be fucking kidding,” I say.

This time, he doesn’t smile. “I’m not,” he succinctly answers.

My chest burns with an inhale. They have Mia.

Rage pounds through my veins. I want to break from these ropes and pummel these three with my fists until there’s nothing left of them.

“Where is she?” I demand.

“At another location.”

I stare into his poker face. He’s lying.

Maybe. I can’t know for sure.

“If you’ve hurt her at all…” I can’t finish the sentence.

“She’s safe. I give you my word on that.”

“Bring her here.”

“I can’t do that. She’s at another location, on the other side of the city.”

“Bullshit,” I snap.

His brows twitch a bit. “You’re calling bullshit on everything I’ve told you? Is that really a call you want to make this soon?”

I rake my gaze over the three men. Only the sounds of my ragged breathing and the dripping of the water fill the warehouse. There’s the light roar of traffic, but it’s far off.

There’s no chance of my escaping. I can clearly see that. And if they have Mia, I won’t be trying anything like that.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“You don’t need to know that in order to meet my requests.”

His goons stand behind him, monolithic and impassive.

They’re some kind of gang. Or, part of the mob? The latter is known to operate in San Bravado; I know that much. Or maybe they’re just three men working alone.

“Well, Mr. Glen?”

A billion dollars. It’s a lot of money, but I don’t give one shit about letting it go if it means my daughter is going to be all right.

But how do I know this man will be true to his word? What if I get him the money and he demands more? He could have my every last cent, if that’s what he wants, but I need to know that it will mean Mia’s safe release.

Mia. My throat tightens. If they do have her, she must be so scared. And what about Jayne? Did these assholes nab her as well?

I should have fucking listened to her. She told me something weird was going on, but I had my head too far up my ass to listen. Is one of these men the guy she saw watching Mia’s school?

Anger like fire shoots through me, and I have to consciously unclench my jaw before I can speak.

“Is she the only one you have?”

He cocks his head like he’s amused. “Worried about that pretty nanny of yours?”

A growl rolls from my throat, and that makes him smile.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Glen. She’s with Mia, and you can trust that she’ll be…well taken care of.”

He’s trying to get under my skin. I fucking hate that it works.

I force myself to stay calm.

“You have to let her go, as well,” I state, piercing his gaze with mine.

“Of course.” He nods in agreement.

“And how do I know you’ll let them go once I give you the money?”

That makes him chuckle. “You don’t, do you?”

For a second, I forget I’m tied down. I try to lunge at him, but the ropes hold me firmly in place. He blinks, looking back at me evenly. I don’t even know this man’s name, and yet he’s holding my life in his hands, toying with everything I hold dear.

“Still nothing?” he asks. “You’re not very talkative, are you?”

He reaches into the inside of his suit jacket and pulls out a knife. Even in the shitty lighting, its blade gleams.

Maybe he’s about to say something else, to threaten me, but he doesn’t get the chance. Gun shots ring out in the warehouse. The man jumps to his feet, all three of them pulling out guns. I do my best to duck, but it’s not an easy feat considering I’m stuck to a chair.

There’s shouting, and one of the henchmen grabs at his arm. Dark red blood seeps between his fingers. The other goon starts running, and the wounded one follows. More shots, these sounding like they’re hitting even closer to me.

The leader darts behind a crate, disappearing into the darkness. Somewhere past him, a door bangs shut.

“What the fuck?” I gasp, frantically working my hands against the ropes.

Are the police here? Or is it a rival gang, and I’ve just gotten stuck in the middle of some kind of shoot-out?

All I can think of is Mia and Jayne. I can’t lose these crooks, because if I do, I’ll lose the two most important people in my whole world.

Footsteps sound to my right, from the opposite direction the three men took off in. As if out of a vision, Jayne appears. She runs toward me at a crouch, a gun in her extended hands. My hands still, and I just stare at her.

“Jayne?” I ask in amazement.

She drops behind me and gets busy untying the ropes. “Are you okay?”

“I… Yeah. How did you find me?”

“Let’s talk about that later.”

The ropes fall from my wrists and I stand up, rubbing at the grooves they’ve left in my skin.

“Which way is out?”

Jayne’s eyes are darting every which way, her gun held up in front of her. Everything that is happening right now is fucking insane…and yet I can’t help but think that she’s looking the sexiest she ever has.

“This way. Keep close.” She rushes back the way she came, and I keep so close she’s only a few inches away.

From the soft murmur of traffic, a new sound emerges. Sirens.

I suck in a breath. “Police?”

“I called them. They’re on their way.”

Thank God.

“And Mia?”

“With Eddie. Come on.” She darts around a forklift, and I follow.

Mia’s safe. The cops are on their way. Everything is going to be all right.

The figure moving out of the corner of my eye dashes that hope in an instant. The leader of the group, the man who spoke with me, steps out of the shadows, his gun pointed right at Jayne.

Time slows down. I’m not even thinking. Before I know what’s happening, I’m rushing at him from the side. The gun goes off, but I keep moving.

My left hand grabs the wrist that holds the gun as I land a punch to the man’s nose. He’s strong for his size, and I see him turning the gun my way. Grabbing the wrist with both my hands, I twist his arm and pull the gun free before elbowing him in the neck. He goes down, dazed and bleeding from the nose.

I point the gun at him and take a few quick steps back. The sirens wail. The police can’t be more than a minute away.

“Where’s the entrance?” I ask Jayne.

When she doesn’t answer, I glance over my shoulder. She’s sitting up against the forklift, her palm pressed to her side. She looks at me as she brings her hand up, revealing its thick coat of blood.

I take a painful breath. There’s a noise behind me, and when I look over, my kidnapper is gone.

“Jayne,” I grunt, dropping to my knees in front of her.

She doesn’t answer. Her eyelids are growing heavy, and her head is dropping forward.

“Jayne!” I grab her shoulders and shake her. “Jayne, stay awake! The ambulance is on the way.”

Again and again, I yell her name, but still there’s no response.