Bellamy stepped forward, dragging Lauren to her feet. There was no use resisting. With her hands tied behind her back, she was putting all her effort into staying upright, tripping as she was forced out the door and along a narrow hall. They didn’t pass another living soul, but by the brief amounts she could see outside portholes lining the wall, she could tell that there was a dock, and in the distance, warehouses. Thank God, they were still in port. If the boat got out to sea, then she was sure they’d never be found.

Her shoulder banged up against the wall on a sharp turn, but she refused to give her captor the satisfaction of a reaction. Instead, she used the pain to add force behind her words. “Where’s my son?”

Bellamy grinned. He grabbed the back of Lauren’s shirt, hauling her up and pushing her against the wall. She braced her hands flat, but her back still met the surface, adding yet another scrape. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered if it got her to her son.

“Your son will stay safe and sound,” Bellamy said, leering at her. “So long as you do what you’re told.”

He leaned forward and Lauren turned her head, expecting him to try to kiss her, but there was nothing except a low chuckle. “Maybe later, Darling. After my employer’s got what he wants, then you’ll be all mine.”

Revulsion bloomed in her gut. She stared down at the floor, still unwilling to close her eyes for a second but unable to look the asshole in the eyes, either. If she did, then she was guaranteed to throw up all over him. As much as that might give her temporary satisfaction, she was sure the punishment for any such behavior would far outweigh that gratification.

Someone was coming for them. They had to be. She refused to believe anything else. Until then, it was her job to keep Brayden safe and keep herself alive. Bellamy grunted at her lack of response and grabbed her arm, dragging her farther down the hall. They came to another iron door, and Lauren braced, expecting to be shoved inside and locked away again. Instead, he pushed open the door and maneuvered them both inside.

Her eyes widened. This room was much bigger, and unlike her makeshift prison, fully finished. The corners of the room were still filled with old crates and a few small piles of debris, but along one edge of the room were counters holding multiple monitors and computer equipment. She had to be in some kind of surveillance room. Her stomach lurched again. The condition of the boat already told her that it wasn’t part of Victor’s regular fleet. He wouldn’t dare take something so old out when he could flaunt the latest and best-equipped vessels to his competitors. Why hang onto this one, then? The answer was in her mind so fast that it made her blood run cold. This was where Victor did his other business—his real business. Out of sight, tucked away in some old harbor outside of the city, and with what appeared to be a fully monitored control center.

Bellamy dragged her over to a chair lying on its side in one corner of the room. His grip on her elbow with just one hand as he leaned over to right the chair made her eyes water. He turned and shoved her in the chair, saying, “Sit,” in a rough voice. She tried, but nearly toppled off the front of the narrow seat when her restrained hands forced her forward from the straight back. Bellamy swore, and for a moment Lauren flinched, scared that one of his large hands was going to come swinging in her direction. He could shove her around all he liked, but she could do little but perch on the edge of the chair. What could he do? It was his choice to restrain her. She resisted an eye roll, sure it wouldn’t be good for her current health. Of course he wouldn’t leave her hands untied, as much as she’d like to offer him the excuse.

“Boss’ll be cranky if I damage the merchandise,” he muttered, so low that Lauren wasn’t sure she was supposed to overhear. It didn’t matter. His words still chilled her. Impossibly, the room seemed colder than the small makeshift cell she’d been held in. Victor had been involved in a lot of ugly things, but Lauren had always thought it had been involving shipping weapons and illicit goods. That was all she’d suspected—until now.

Oh, God. She had to figure a way out of there.

Still muttering, Bellamy reached behind her, pulling her wrists up, the hard tug almost sending her to the floor again. Lauren froze when she heard the snick of a knife blade, but suddenly the pressure on her wrists was gone. She pulled her arms around to her front, almost gasping in equal relief and pain as the blood flooded back into her tired limbs. Would he really leave her untied like that?

He smirked, as if reading her mind. “Don’t go getting any ideas,” he said. Before the pins and needles subsided from her arms, he reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out two more pairs of ties and deftly tied her hands in front of her. He pushed her down in the chair and then repeated the motion on her ankles. “Just to make sure,” he said, leering at her. Finally, he grabbed a roll of duct tape from the bench and wound it around her chest, securing her to the chair.

Lauren gasped, her heart hammering. It pounded in her chest until she felt like it might give way entirely. How many more times would she be given hope only to have it dashed away moments later, then to be replaced by something worse? As much as having her hands restrained had scared her, at least she’d still had her legs. She could still run. Now that option was gone.

Bellamy stepped back, fiddling with a monitor sitting on the counter. His shirt pulled taut across his back, and Lauren could see the clear outline of a gun tucked into his waistband. She’d assumed he was armed from the beginning, but still, the sight of it left her mouth dry. He was still muttering even with his back turned. She took the opportunity to twist desperately in her seat, but the bindings held firm. “If it were up to me,” he said, “then you’d already be fish food. As long as you’re out of the way, who gives a fuck.”

Lauren sucked in a breath. She had to make them think she was still valuable. She looked Bellamy in the eye, jutting out her chin and hoping to hell she looked brave. “Brayden knows the truth. All of it. I told him. Victor will need me if he ever hopes to have Brayden back.”

A grin spread over Bellamy’s face. “Brayden knows he’s the son of a whore, does he?” Lauren jerked back in the chair as if she’d been physically hit. God, it had certainly felt like it. Bellamy’s grin grew wider at her reaction, sliding across to reveal teeth that looked sharp enough to bite. If she ever got out of that mess, her nightmares from when James died were going to have nothing on her new ones. “Victor knows all about you and the fireman. He always did, and he doesn’t give a shit. He needs someone to carry on his legacy, and Brayden will do just fine.” He leaned over, so close that Lauren tried to squirm away as his lips touched her ear. “Once you’re out of the picture, Victor will be free to tell Brayden whatever he likes. It won’t be long before the boy comes around.”

“What’s in it for you?” she bit out. Bellamy flinched. Good. She may not be able to lash out at him, but maybe her voice right in his ear would give him a headache. She’d take whatever the hell she could get before it was all over.

“A handsome payday. What else? I couldn’t give a crap about your little family spat. If Victor’s happy, then everyone’s happy, including me.” He stepped back, pacing across the room. “I shall have to thank Matt for that, actually, before I kill him.” He chuckled. “You see, my dear, the entire thing is such a delightful coincidence. Mancini has police everywhere.” Bellamy turned, nailing her with a stare. “And I do mean everywhere. Everywhere except in Monroe, where my idiot cousin wouldn’t see the writing on the wall.” He sniffed. “He was noble and all that shit. Wouldn’t give way for money, like anyone who actually had a brain.”

Lauren’s eyes widened. She’d known Victor’s empire was vast, but she hadn’t considered that it extended outside of Philly. Even if some miracle got them out of the situation, would there be anywhere they could go that would be safe? She looked in horror at Bellamy, but the man was clearly caught up in his own grandiose story and barely noticed her. “I paid a little visit to my cousin one weekend. You might have heard of him. Gary Rossi. Detective Gary Rossi of the Monroe police force. When he refused to see the error of his ways, I paid a visit to his family and set their house on fire. Imagine my surprise when I recognized one of the firemen attending the call.” Bellamy leaned back against the counter, arms crossed against his vast chest. “Victor was very pleased with that development and put me in place to watch your boyfriend. You see, you were just a delightful little surprise at the end.”

Lauren’s muscles strained in her arms as she pushed against her bindings. “Matt won’t ever let Victor find him again. He’s too smart.”

Bellamy waved his hand through the air. “Silly girl. It’s being taken care of as we speak. But I don’t care. I don’t need him.” He leaned over and flicked on the monitor resting on the desk in front of him. A grainy image appeared on the screen, and Lauren’s heart felt like it had stopped dead in her chest. There on the screen, lying hunched up in a ball on the ground was her son.

The chair rocked as she pulled fiercely against her bonds. “You bastard!”

Bellamy chuckled again, making her see red. He plucked his cell out of his pocket. “Now, now. You’ll need to behave yourself or you’ll force me to do something you’ll regret.” He tapped the screen and then spoke quickly into the phone. “Show her.”

The door to the room Brayden was being held in swung open, and the boy jerked to his feet. “No!” Lauren cried out.

“He can’t hear you. He’s all alone. Just like you.”

Lauren watched the screen in horror as a man approached her son. He grabbed ahold of Brayden’s arm, twisting painfully as a grimace crossed the boy’s face. Lauren swayed, and the world seemed to tilt a little when movement on the screen caught her eye. Back all those years ago, she had thought that God had done wrong by her, taking her baby’s father away and leaving her all alone to raise him. As she watched the screen, she couldn’t be more thrilled that she’d chosen a giant of a man to father her son. At only ten years old, Brayden was up to the shoulder of Victor’s goon manhandling him. She also thanked God for the years of after-school activities at the local YMCA when she’d been working, when Brayden grabbed the arm of the main restraining him, twisted his body, and pushed against the man’s wrist, forcing him to let go. It seemed like it happened over minutes, but in reality, the whole thing was over in just a few seconds. Lauren thought she couldn’t be prouder of her son until he leaned forward and rammed the man’s stomach with his body, forcing the man to lose his footing. The man fell, thumping his head on the wall.

Pride filled her as Bellamy pulled out his phone again and started jabbering into it. He was pissed.

It took Lauren less than a second to make up her mind. Brayden was safe. As much as he had just pissed Bellamy off, her captor wouldn’t dare go against Victor and harm her son. He would be fine. But he had shown Lauren exactly what she needed to do. If her ten-year-old could manage it, then so could she. The fear fell away as thoughts of the couple of classes she’d joined in on rushed through her mind. Lauren sucked in a breath and then pushed herself forward with all the force she could manage. The duct tape shredded as easily as paper. Without pausing to catch her breath, she raised her arms high above her and then brought them down hard over her chest. A quiet puff of air was the only noise she made as her wrists impacted her chest and the zip ties broke, sending small shards of plastic flying across the room. She held her breath, but when Bellamy didn’t move, she squatted down, snapping the ones at her ankles. Whether it was Brayden’s bravery, the distraction he’d caused, or both, he’d just saved both their lives. When they got home, he could have ice cream for dinner every day of the week, as far as Lauren was concerned.

Her gaze quickly spun around the room. Unlike Brayden, Lauren didn’t think she’d be able to take down her captor with a hard shove. He was much larger than the man guarding Brayden, and about as muscular as Matt. Her heart finally started beating in her chest again when she spied a long, broken-off piece of wood lying in among the crates in the corner of the room. She looked back over at the screen. Brayden was still there, but now a new henchman was restraining him with the same damned zip ties. It was now or never. She bolted, forcing her feet to sprint across the room despite the numbness from her own restraints. The movement must have caught Bellamy’s eye, as he twisted, taking his turn to be surprised as she slid across the room. She picked up the wood and held it high above her head.

Bellamy halted his steps, but that fucking grin never left his face. “I commend your efforts, Dear.” He reached behind himself, and Lauren didn’t hesitate. If she could take Bellamy out, then maybe that would be what Brayden needed. Maybe he could break free in the confusion. Even if she didn’t survive, she had to try. She moved, swinging the wood at his head just as Bellamy pulled out his gun and fired.