“Mom.”

Elliott’s voice.

I could hear it, but it sounded like she was speaking from the end of a very long tunnel.

“Mom.” Her tone more annoyed this time, with an edge of anger I’d never heard before.

Had I passed out in Hudson’s bed? Drank more wine than I’d thought?

I peeled my heavy lids back, a pain lancing down my neck as light blazed. I clenched them shut before trying again. A thick fog slowly lifted until I locked eyes with a pair of pale green ones.

“Elliott?” I pushed myself up from where I’d been lying down. On a cold, threadbare carpet. Stains littered it in sporadic bursts, and I pulled Elliott to me before my brain could catch up.

“Mom,” she said, sighing as she flung her arms around my neck.

I flinched, a searing, white-hot pain shooting through my skull.

“Sorry,” she said, pulling back slightly.

I kept her tucked into my side as I fingered the back of my head. A hard lump had formed there, tender to the touch.

Too fast, memories flashed in my head.

Hudson leaving.

Todd in the parking garage.

Then the darkness.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, my hands smoothing down Elliott’s arms as I searched her.

“No,” she said. “None of them have touched me.”

“Them?”

“The two men.” She eyed the closed door.

“Did they say anything to you?”

“Not really—”

“Look who’s up,” Todd’s voice cut over Elliott’s as he kicked open the door. “Thought I heard a little too much chit-chat going on in here.” He tossed an apple back and forth between his hands as he leaned against the doorframe. “You know,” he said, waving the apple at me. “That little bit with your head?” he tsked, shaking his head. “Didn’t have to happen.” He sunk his teeth into the apple, the crunch loud enough to make me flinch. “If you hadn’t come at me like some damn mama jungle cat we’d already be on step two by now.” He chewed, his eyes never leaving mine. “But we lost precious daylight waiting for you to wake up. So the game has been delayed.”

I narrowed my gaze, scanning the dingy room for any kind of weapon I could use.

The room looked like the same cheap motels he’d made me stay in when I was pregnant.

I’d never wanted to set foot in another one again, but I recognized the signs easily enough. Stained, ripped carpet. The stale scent of sweat paired with the too-sweet cloying scent of drugs, topped off with bodily fluids. The skittering of roaches as they scaled the half-rotten baseboards.

Elliott was never meant to see this lifestyle.

My rage helped mask the pain in my skull.

“Game?” I managed to ask.

“Yeah,” he said, crunching on that damn apple like he hadn’t taken us against our will. Like this wasn’t a crime that would get him sent straight to prison.

The notion almost made me smile.

Almost.

“You two,” he said, waving a finger between us. “Are me and my partner’s meal ticket.” He swallowed, wiping some of the fruit’s juice off his chin. “I thought about how you could repay me,” he said, looking at me. “All those years I took care of you. I knew I’d need some compensation—”

“You never took care of me,” I cut him off. We’d been starved and scraping for food or money wherever we could. If I ever managed to hold a job, I had to hide the money so he wouldn’t snort it. “All you cared about was stealing cars. Robbing liquor stores. Or hit—”

“You,” he interrupted. “Belonged to me. You should’ve behaved as such. Then you ran like a coward. And now? Well, now you’ll make amends. Or at least play a part in it.”

I tucked Elliott closer, noting how she was staring into Todd’s eyes…piecing together a puzzle I’d never wanted her to.

“I don’t have money,” I said, completely flabbergasted on how he could be so blasé about what he’d done. “Let us go,” I continued. “Let us go, and I won’t report this. We can chalk it up to desperation and call it a day.” I tried to match his calm.

He furrowed his brow. “You have money.”

“I don’t!” I almost laughed hysterically. “I don’t. If you’d seen my place you’d know—”

My words died in my throat.

He’d picked us up outside of Hudson’s.

Oh, God.

He snapped his fingers, crouching to my level where I sat on that disgusting floor. “There it is,” he said. “She finally catches up.” He took another bite, spraying half-chewed apple on my cheek when he continued speaking. “The girl I knew moved up in the world and caught herself a real player.” He swallowed hard. “A player worth millions.” He trailed a finger down my cheek, wiping away the fruit. I recoiled from his touch. “He’ll pay well to get your sweet ass back,” he said, then shrugged. “Though I can’t remember if you were that sweet or not.”

I nearly snarled at him.

“We’ll know in about—”

“You’re him,” Elliott spoke, stopping him, and I cringed with my entire body.

He tilted his head at her, smirking.

His eyes—her eyes—locking on her.

The exact pale green—she’d gotten none of my gray.

“You’re…you’re…”

“The word you’re looking for, kid, is father.”

A stinging breath shook from my lungs.

Elliott snorted.

She actually snorted.

The smirk melted off of Todd’s face.

“You may have helped make me,” she said, pure disgust on her face. God, we’d need an emergency therapy session after this. “But you are not my father.”

A muted smile crossed Todd’s face. “I am. I’m the only one you’ve—”

“Hudson Porter is my father,” she spoke right over him, fearless and bold as ever. “You’re nothing but the man who hurt my mom. You’re…you could never be the man Hudson is.”

Todd’s eye twitched.  

His shoulder flinched.

And I saw it coming before he’d moved.

Still, I wasn’t fast enough. My limbs heavy, sluggish.

The asshole drugged me.

His fingers tangled in her shirt as he hauled her off the floor, jarring her slightly.

“You have a mouth as bad as your mom’s, you little brat,” he said. “Now, you can take the easy street, or the hard one—”

In a blink, I was on my feet, my head swimming with pain that felt distant because of the adrenaline swarming my veins.

A breath, and his hair, all the greasy clumps of it, were twisted in my fingers. I yanked his head back so fast he lost his balance, instantly dropping Elliott.

She hurried backward, but I didn’t relinquish my grip.

I was no longer a weak girl, cowering in the corner of one of these cheap motels, fearing for the next time he kicked.

I was the mother of an incredible girl.

I was the woman who had come from nothing, just so I could give her everything.

And I would not let him subject her to what he’d put me through.

“You worthless, spineless, piece of garbage,” I said, rotating my wrist and using all the strength I possessed to yank him to the floor.

He yelped, his own hands flailing at where I held him by the roots of his hair. I blocked his hands with my free one, and drew my heeled foot up, right over his balls, and snapped my leg down.

“Gah, fucking bitch!” he screamed, his hands dropping to protect his junk.

So I dropped my knee against his exposed neck instead. Pushing it just enough that he stopped flailing, enough that water filled his eyes as his mouth gaped. God, I wanted to keep pushing until there was nothing left.

And before I could be horrified at that thought, I was yanked backward.

I spun within the embrace, digging my nails into the cheek of the man who’d grabbed me.

The unknown.

The partner who had hit me over the head.

“Bitch,” he hissed, spun me around and locked his arms around me so forcefully I couldn’t move.

Elliott made a step toward me, but I shook my head. This man was much stronger than Todd. And I wouldn’t catch him by surprise.

Todd limped to standing, glaring at me.

“You’ll pay for that,” he said.

“No,” said the man holding me. “Her man will,” he continued. “He’s agreed to the drop.” He held a phone out to Todd. “That’s the place.”

Todd rolled his eyes. “‘Course the fucker would want it at the arena.” He touched his balls again like he needed to make sure they hadn’t stuck to the spiked heel of my pump.

I wished.

“Couldn’t even be drawn away from his precious game for more than ten minutes to save you,” he said. “Sure you mean that much to him?”

“He’s paying,” the other man said. “Good enough for me.”

Todd huffed. “Fine. Get them in the car.”

Cold terror iced my veins as we were shoved into the back of their car.

But some relief pooled into my blood at the thought of them driving us toward Hudson.

I glared at them both from the backseat, Elliott tucked against me.

They had to be the dumbest criminals on the planet—taking us to him. Taking us toward safety, toward where no doubt Hudson had called the cops. At the very least, he’d beat them both to a pulp with his bare hands.

Idiots.

Not that I would ever point it out.

The twenty-minute car ride felt like an eternity, my mind swirling at the time gap I’d lost. Being knocked out and drugged for long enough that I’d missed an entire night and half the day. And by the time Todd’s partner was hauling us out of the backseat, my muscles were aching. The tension in my body a living, breathing thing as I calculated how to get away from them. Get lost in the crowds no doubt filling the arena because of the game.

I didn’t doubt Hudson would be there, but I couldn’t trust Todd’s word.

Couldn’t trust that this wasn’t all some part of their sick, spineless attempt to get money.

“He’s on the ice,” the partner said after he’d run toward the main stadium seating.

My heart lurched.

He was still playing?

No...Hudson wouldn’t do that. Not if he knew we were in danger.

“Good,” Todd said, shoving me a bit. “Now we just have to wait until the game is over.”

Heart pounding, I made sure Elliott walked in front of me as they led us down concrete stairs and through a set of doors that filed under the arena. Thankful that they at least didn’t touch her. Just me. I was fine with that. I would do anything to keep her from getting hurt, though the emotional scarring this would do…

I turned to glare at Todd, let him see the rage that churned because of him.

They stopped so suddenly in the middle of the tunnel-like hallway I thought that Todd might actually be scared of that ice-cold rage I shot at him.

But it wasn’t me he was looking at with wide, panic-stricken eyes.

It was Hudson.

Then who did he see on the ice?

Like a giant he stood, Hudson’s arms crossed over the other, a small black bag fisted in his hand. The cool, chaotic calm on his face? It was more terrifying than anything I’d ever seen before—not that I was afraid of him. No, that power inside him, the one that made him the best protector on the ice, the bruiser who ended fights, the strength that fueled the heart of the team? It was beautiful and awestriking, and it was both terrifying and so wonderful to see him standing there, ready to pay for us, to fight for us, that I almost cried.

It had only been last night that my scars had driven him away.

And I hated that I’d been afraid he wouldn’t show.

Wouldn’t want any part in this madness.

But he was here.

And that spoke more than any words ever could.

“You’re supposed to be on the ice,” Todd snapped.

“Nothing more important than what is right here,” he said, his voice a lethal calm.

“You got the money?” Todd snapped.

Hudson didn’t look at him, instead he focused on Elliott, some sort of silent communication I couldn’t follow because one second she was in front of me and the next she’d sprinted to him. He immediately shoved her behind him, forming a protective wall before her.

I did cry in relief at that, but the partner only yanked my hair, flaring the lump on my head so much I yelped.

“You got it?” Todd asked again.

He chucked the bag at Todd’s face. He unzipped the bag and nodded toward his partner. “Smarter than you look,” he said to Hudson, and then the partner released me. I hurried over to Hudson, who cupped my cheeks, his eyes scanning my body.

“I’m okay,” I whispered. “We’re okay,” I said again.

“There’s more,” Hudson said, never taking his eyes off me but his words clearly directed at Todd.

They paused where they’d turned around to head back up the stairs with the money.

Todd smirked. “You want to play this game again, Porter?”

Hudson positioned me behind him, making a show of drawing his watch to his face.

“You want to give me more money? Have to say she’s not worth it.”

Hudson growled, dropping his watch. “I never said anything about money.”

“Then more what?”

“Three, two,” Hudson counted down the seconds. “One.”

Four people rushed past us in civilian clothes but speaking in cop terms. It took my brain a minute to catch up, to realize that the cuffs they were locking Todd and his partner in were real. That Hudson had in fact called the cops and made sure they’d get caught. Get sent where they belonged. Hopefully for good.

“Shea,” he said after they finished taking our reports of the incident and hauling them away. “Shea,” he said again.

I blinked away the tears, sucking in the first real breath since that morning.

“I didn’t mean it,” I said, my words coming in sharp bursts. “I was going to call and tell you before they came for us. That I’d never be afraid of you. That my anger over the fight wasn’t because of you but because of me. Because of my past with…” I glanced in the direction they’d taken Todd away and sighed. “It was me. All of it. And I’m done with letting my past control my future. Done with it all, Hudson. Please...give me another chance. Let me prove to you that I can be rational and trusted. That I’d never—”

He covered my lips with his, kissing the breath out of me as he hauled me against him.

“I know,” he said against my lips. “I know. God, Shea,” he said. “I thought I’d lost you. When you didn’t show up to the game…I thought you’d left—”

“Never.” I shook my head, burying it in his chest, inhaling the scent of him. Drawing it in for warmth and strength and solidarity. “Not of my own will,” I added.

His hold tightened on me. “They were idiots,” he said.

“Yes.”

“I wanted to put them in the ground for touching you. When I heard on the tracker…” his eyes fell to Elliott, who was finishing up her report with a female officer. “I wanted to find them and bust down the doors. Wanted to rip them apart with my bare hands.”

I shuddered at the rage in his voice.

“But you didn’t,” I said.

“Much to Lukas’s dismay,” he said, sighing. “I’m not Liam Neeson.”

“Thank God,” I said. “The last thing I need is for you to be arrested because you played hero like in a Die Hard movie or something.”

“Yippee Ki-Yay,” he teased, the bad joke easing the strain of the day.

“Funny,” I said.

“Speaking of funny but incredibly serious,” he said. “Let’s go get married.”

I rolled my eyes at the joke he continuously made and sagged against him.

He held my weight easily, the events of the day catching up to me.

“Let’s go get that bump checked out,” he said, smoothing his hand over the back of my head.

I nodded, and he held out his free arm for Elliott, who ran to it with no hesitation. He tugged her against him, kissing the top of her head.

“Thanks,” he said to her.

“For what?” she asked, glancing up at him.

“For what you said about me.”

I gaped up at him, a smile on my lips when I finally understood. They’d been listening in on the tracker. He knew what he meant to her, and to me, and…he’d shown up.

“And I always will,” he said, and it was only then that I realized I’d said the words out loud.