My phone vibrated and I ignored it, throwing some of my clothes into a duffel bag I’d found in the back of my closet. I had just gotten home from working a sixteen-hour shift, missing out on the baseball practice with the little guys in order to make up for the time I was going to miss from work. There was no vacation time for me, no sick leave that allowed me to still get a paycheck and go on this trip. The foreman had been gracious enough to give me an extra few hours of overtime so that I could not feel the pinch so badly, but that had meant letting Darren run the practice instead. I hated it, I really did, but I needed to be able to pay my rent.

The phone went off again and I swore, putting down the balled-up socks on the bed before walking over to the dresser where the phone was on the charger. It was another text from Cara and I hesitated, wondering if she had gone to the practice and noticed my absence. I didn’t know what I was going to tell her and while I hated to keep secrets from her, I knew it was in her best interest to not know what was going on. Even if I told her I was visiting my parents, there was bound to be questions I could not answer. Still, though, I was missing her and just the thought of her reaching out again and me ignoring her made me feel guilty.

Thumbing over the screen, it took me a second to register what I was looking at. Darkness and heavy dread clouded my mind.

It was a picture of Cara. She was sat on a chair but was slumped over, her head held back by some unseeing hand. Her jaw was blooming with a bruise and I could see the tears streaked down her cheeks. She looked unconscious.

Furious, I scrolled to the text that came with the picture and my heart took a long dive into my stomach. If you want to see her alive, come to the old warehouse near the waterfront park, alone. You got two hours.

I knew immediately what this was about. The previous texts, my father showing up, it was all connected. Never in my life had I thought Cara would end up in the middle of it, though. I’d kept her at a distance precisely because I knew deep down my life still wasn’t my own.

Shoving the phone in my pocket, I grabbed my keys and exited the apartment, heading to my truck. There was no way I was going to allow her to be hurt because of my past. They wanted me, they would have me.

I gunned the engine and at the same scrolled to a number I hadn’t ever used but kept in there, just in case.

It didn’t take me long to reach the warehouse. There wasn’t another car in sight as I pulled the truck up along the side of the building, and I reached for the revolver I kept under the seat.

It wasn’t the safest place to keep it, but for this one time, I was glad it wasn’t locked away somewhere out of reach. My father had forced both me and my mom to learn how to properly shoot a gun in the first few months after our relocation and there weren’t many people who could say they learned marksmanship techniques from US Marshals. Now I was a concealed-weapons card-carrying member, though I hadn’t actually shot the gun in more than two years. There hadn’t been a need and I truly hoped that wouldn’t be the day, but if it was, I prayed the lack of care I’d given the gun wouldn’t bite me in my ass. And if they so much as looked at Cara funny, or hit her again, I wasn’t against filling them with bullets.

Climbing out of the truck, I tucked it into the waistband of my jeans and pulled my T-shirt over it. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I had to take a few deep breaths. I grabbed the baseball bat for good measure, too. A decoy of sorts.

My main concern was Cara and how I was going to get her out of there with both of us alive. She didn’t deserve to be caught up in this mess and I vowed that I would spend the rest of my life apologizing to her if I was able to pull this off.

Despite the wealth of emotions that flowed through my veins, I gritted my teeth and strode to the door and pulled it open with as much confidence as I could muster. Stepping inside of the large warehouse, a dank smell of old and dry sawdust intermingled with a faint odor of fish overcame me.

No one jumped out at me as I took a few steps inside. My eyes were peeled, trying to see past the gloom looking for any sign of Cara or the men who had taken her. It was dark in the warehouse, just the barest hint of light filtering through the cracks in the battered walls. I made my way toward the back, where there was another door. Throwing it open, I was greeted with the sight of Cara, still tied to the chair, awake and looking royally pissed off.

“You finally made it. Oh and the big tough guy brought his bat, too.”

I looked over to see two extremely large men standing nearby, both of them with their arms crossed over their massive chests and frowning.

“Yeah so I made it,” I said slowly, looking for any guns in their meaty paws. When I saw none, I forced myself to relax. I didn’t want this to turn into a shooting match and put Cara into any more danger than I created for her. “What the hell do you want?”

One of them eyed me, sizing me up with his cold stare. “First, you better drop that weapon before I bitchslap your girl here.”

Immediately I let the wood slip from my hand. It fell to the floor. The clatter echoed around the enclosure.

“Good boy. Now we want your father,” the tallest man said as he came closer, stepping farther away from Cara.

I chuckled then, shaking my head. “Dude you are in the wrong state for that. My dad is thousands of miles away. So you and your friend can go fuck yourself.”

The blow came out of nowhere, his fist punching me hard in the stomach. Cara yelled obscenities. But her screams were cut short, a hand covered her mouth and I all I could hear was her muffled cries for me. I felt the nausea rise up and forced it back down, hoping that his fist hadn’t damaged anything internally. God it felt like I had been hit by a train. I coughed a few times before I was hauled up against the wall, my head slamming hard on the sheetrock.

“Ow! You little bitch,” the other man said with surprise. “She fucking bit me.”

“And I’ll do it again if you touch me ever fucking again.” If this were any other time or place I would’ve grinned at her. She was a spectacular, one-of-a-kind kinda gal.

The goon holding me turned his attention back around. “I don’t like wise guys.” His hand was wrapped around my throat, squeezing the air out of my windpipe, crushing it slowly. “So I am gonna ask you one more time and you better get it right or I will do some damage to that pretty little thing over there. And I’ll make you watch.”

My eyes connected with Cara’s and I saw the fear in her eyes, hitting me like another sucker punch to the stomach. In that moment I knew I would do anything to protect her, including giving up my dad.

“He’s in Minnesota,” I forced out, feeling the flex of his fingers on my throat. “Under Theodore Pines.”

He released his grip and I fell to the floor, coughing violently.

“You got what you wanted,” I wheezed, struggling up to a sitting position against the wall. “Now let us go.”

The goon who had jacked me up against the wall laughed, his entire body shaking. “You aren’t serious, are you? You know we can’t leave any witnesses.”

“We won’t say anything!” Cara cried out, struggling against the ties that were holding her hands behind her. “I swear it.”

“I wish I had a dollar for every time we heard that,” the other one laughed, taking off his coat to reveal a crisp black shirt, though there were darkened sweat patches staining his underarms. “Don’t worry it won’t be messy darling. We tend to make it quick.”

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and knew I had to act fast. This was going to be my only chance to protect Cara from what was about to happen.

With a grunt I pushed myself to my feet and launched across the room as the door exploded from its frame. I collided with her and the chair and covered her body with mine as the deafening sounds of flash bombs went off all around us.

Then it was absolute chaos.

Noise like I’ve never heard before assaulted my ears. Yells, orders, and screams from all sides. For a few moments I clung to her, keeping my arms around her body and hugging her tightly to my chest. I could feel her erratic breathing on my neck, the way she whimpered as the room was awash with the sound of the good guys storming in, shouting demands at our captors.

Finally everything went quiet and for a second the silence was unnerving. Had I gone deaf?

“Mr. Harris,” someone said in my ear, shaking my shoulder hard. “Are you hurt?”

I lifted my head and looked at the FBI agent, giving him a quick shake of my head. Parsons had done good. I had no idea how he managed it, but he must’ve called in a few favors to get these guys all here in time. “No, I’m good. We are both good, I think. Cara, are you hurt?”

The agent nodded and reached down to cut Cara’s ties before he helped her out of her chair. I took her hands and eased her to her feet.

“Ms. Young, do you need any medical attention?”

“N-no,” she answered shakily, looking over at me. I saw the bruise and my jaw clenched tightly, wishing I could kick the shit out of the two men who were now on the floor, both secured with their own restraints. “I’m fine. Apart from the fact I have no fucking idea what’s going on.”

The agent lifted his eyebrows and walked away and I stole a look at her, giving her a solemn smile. “You did good. I’ll explain everything…”

“You fucking better. But all I did was sit in that damn chair and hope to God my life wasn’t over,” she forced out with a shaky laugh. “Hell, you saved me.”

“With some help,” I replied, looking around the room. There had to be at least ten or more FBI agents, a smattering of police officers, and a couple marshals milling about now, a few trying to get the guys off of the floor so that they could be taken away.

“So, what now, Luke… or should I call you Marcus?”

I swallowed. “Does it really matter?”

“Yes—”

I couldn’t hold back anymore. I pulled her into my arms and sought out her lips, silencing the inevitable questions and angry words that she was ready to throw my way. Kissing her was like coming home; going back in time when everything was good and right.

“I… I…” she stuttered breathlessly as I released her from the kiss. I gave her a wicked smile, at least I hadn’t lost my touch.

“There’s more where that came from.”

“I think I need to sit down,” she said, a hand going up to her head.

“Oh, okay.” I guided her to where the chair had fallen, righted it and eased her down. “I promise you you’ll be fine. I’m never going to let anything happen to you ever again.”

She nodded. She was in shock. It would’ve been nice to think my kiss had done that, but I wasn’t that good.

My phone vibrated again and I took it out of my pocket and pressed it to my ear all the while keeping a close eye on Cara. “Parsons.”

“I take it they got there in time?” he asked, his voice rough in my ear.

“Yes, sir,” I answered. “You were cutting it close though. I guess that business card came in handy for something after all; I thought you were full of shit.”

“God, you’re still a cocky bastard, aren’t you?” he said with a sigh, causing me to grin. I had given Parsons a run for his money during the first few years of our relocation, attempting to dodge the marshal’s protection any chance I got. When I decided enough was enough and to leave and strike out on my own he had given me his card, forcing me to program it into my phone in case I ever got into any trouble. I had never been so relieved to find his number.

“How’re my mom and dad?”

“Your parents are safe. And I’ll be taking them to Denver next week for the trial.”

“Thanks,” I said, glad that they were okay. “If you see or speak to them tell them I’ll be up there soon.”

“Will be good to see you, son,” the agent said before clicking off. I pocketed my phone and reached for Cara’s hand, finding it trembling. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

I helped her through the destroyed doorway and out of the warehouse, where we found at least six unmarked police vehicles littered around my truck. The FBI agent who had first checked in on us jogged up to me, giving me a reluctant smile. “Mr. Harris, Ms. Young, we need you to come down to headquarters and answer a few questions. It won’t take long. Just a formality.”

“Yeah sure,” I said, looking at Cara. “Are you up for this?”

She nodded, her eyes were wide with surprise and there was still a hint of fear as we were led over to one of the vehicles, climbing in the backseat before the doors were shut and we were on our way. “Luke?”

I rubbed my thumb over the top of her hand, my insides churning. “Yeah?”

“Y-you are going to explain this all to me right?” she asked, hesitancy in her voice.

I sighed and nodded, giving her hand a squeeze. “Yeah. A promise is a promise. I’m going to explain everything to you.”

She squeezed back and I smiled grimly, knowing that she wasn’t going to initially believe my story. Well maybe she wouldn’t have if everything hadn’t happened. I could tell her that I was the son of the fucking president of the United States and she might believe it given the kidnapping and subsequent rescue by god-knows-how-many services.

The ride downtown didn’t take long and soon we were being led into a nondescript building near the water, where a few guys in more suits greeted us.

“Mr. Harris,” the short one with blond hair said, holding out his hand. “I am Agent Welter; this is Agent Kaiser. We are going to debrief the both of you separately and it shouldn’t take too long as we have the guys in custody.”

“Ms. Young,” Agent Kaiser said, giving Cara a gentle smile. “If you will come with me.”

I looked over at her and gave her a wink, then pulled her into my arms again. I kissed her forehead hoping desperately she would talk to me after all this was over. “Go on,” I said. “We can trust these guys.”

She nodded and straightened before following the agent down the hall. I had never felt more fucking proud of anyone as I did of her at that moment.

“Mr. Harris, this way,” Agent Welter said, pointing to the opposite hall. I gave Cara’s retreating back one more look and then followed the agent.

“You really need to stop calling me Mr. Harris.”