“Not to worry. We have a few questions for him,” he explains.

  As we step outside the room, footsteps fall on the concrete. Max turns on his torch, shining it up the right corridor.

  Lily’s dad, Maverick, sprints towards us, his eyes widening as he gets closer. “We need to get out of here, now.”

  “What’s going on?” I ask, leaning against him when he goes to my other side.

  With Maverick on one side and Max on the other, they help me down the hallway. “The place is rigged with explosives,” he replies.

  I stop dead, and for a second, I feel like I’m going to pass out at hearing the news. “Liam. You have to find Liam. We can’t leave without him.”

  “He’s okay,” Maverick assures me, and both of them take my weight as we move quicker. “Malik has him in the car outside.”

  “How bad?” Max asks.

  “Bad. He needs a hospital ASAP,” Maverick tells him, his voice grave.

  We reach the end of the hallway that has wooden stairs leading up through a hatch. My stomach cramps as they lift me up.

  The cold breeze cocoons me as I hit the top, and I wince at the light blinding me.

  This is it.

  This is the freedom I’ve been praying for ever since they took me.

  I’m finally safe.

  It’s bittersweet, and yet there’s a foreboding that doesn’t leave the pit of my stomach.

  Everything blurs as lights explode behind my eyelids, and the strength I had been clinging on to leaves. The last thing I remember is falling.

  Falling into darkness that has been working it’s hardest to make me succumb.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Eli

  There’s an unease inside of me, a fear so great it threatens to unman me. Rebecca is out there, alone and scared, and I have no clue what has been done to her or our baby.

  I slam the palm of my hand against the back of the seat. I’m angry, livid that it took me this long to realise she’s been missing.

  I should have gone to her that night. Her home, a place she loved like a haven, had been ruined, and I never even bothered to ask if she was okay.

  “Can you drive any slower?” I spit, throwing myself back against the seat.

  We’ve already been stuck behind a lorry, waiting for it to reverse into a loading bay. We don’t have any more time to waste. We have to get to Rebecca.

  “If I go any faster, I’m going to get pulled over,” Jaxon snaps.

  “Take the next left. We’re nearly there,” Wyatt announces.

  We hit an old factory estate and drive over a broken metal gate. “That was padlocked when I first came here. I had to go in by foot,” Ben tells me.

  “There they are,” Wyatt announces, and I shove my head between the seats. Up ahead is the Carter’s car, and Malik, who races away, waving someone down.

  Jaxon slams on the break, and I don’t wait for the car to stop before I’m piling out.

  “Come on,” Malik yells. “There’s two minutes left before it explodes.”

  I race to his side, and his ashen expression causes dread to fill me. “Where’s Rebecca?”

  “She’s here,” Maverick yells, carrying her limp body in his arms.

  “Get back in the cars,” Malik yells. “The place is rigged with explosives.”

  I run back to the car, opening the backseat for Maverick to climb inside. I run around to the other side, only slightly aware of Ben getting into the other car.

  “Drive,” Maverick demands as I close the door behind me.

  I run my hand over Rebecca’s matted hair as Jaxon gets us out of here. “Rebecca? Wake up, babe. Wake up,” I call out, and place my hand at her throat. Her pulse is there, steady, and I turn to Maverick for answers. “What happened to her in there?”

  “I don’t know,” he answers, his voice grave. “She passed out when we got out of the bunker.”

  Bunker?

  My mind can’t catch up with the information, not when all my focus is on Rebecca.

  “What did he mean by explosives?” Wyatt asks, and before he’s even finished the last work word, the earth shakes beneath us.

  Holy fuck!

  The car jolts as I turn to glance out the back window. Black smoke fills the air. The distinct sound of metal, glass, and other materials crash to the floor, blocking out the sound of delayed explosions happening around us.

  “Holy fuck!” Jaxon hisses, slamming his foot down on the accelerator.

  I turn away from the flames and smoke. “Please, please be okay,” I pray, taking Rebecca’s hand in mine.

  Please, let both of them be okay.

  She stirs, and I move wayward hair from her face. “Becca? It’s me, Eli. Can you hear me?”

  I place my hand on her leg and feel dampness there. Maverick clears his throat, not moving his gaze from the headboard in front of him.

  “I think her waters broke. Max told me it looked fresh when he got her untied.”

  “She was tied up?”

  His jaw clenches as he finally meets my gaze. “I’m speaking from experience when I say this; you don’t want those images in your head. They will haunt you.”

  I swallow past the lump in my throat and turn my attention back to Rebecca. Her hair is matted, her skin is dirty, and her clothes look years worn. There’s a blue tinge to her cracked lips and faint bruising on both cheeks. “Rebecca? Can you hear me?”

  She groans, and her hand twitches against mine. “Eli?” she calls, her throat scratchy and raw.

  “It’s me. I’m here. Everything is going to be okay, I promise,” I declare.

  “Tired. So tired.”

  “We’ve got you. I promise, we’ve got you,” I tell her, wishing she would open her eyes, if only for a moment.

  Please be okay.

  All the way to the hospital, I chant the words over and over, not moving my gaze from her.

  Everything feels surreal. It all happened in the space of a few hours, but for Rebecca, it must have felt like a lifetime. I shouldn’t have let her walk away that day. We’ve spoken about scenarios like this before. We promised each other to not walk away unless it’s to calm down, and we promised to listen to each other. I didn’t listen. I got angry instead, and in the midst of it all, I hurt the only woman I’ve ever loved.

  It isn’t until Jaxon pulls up outside the hospital a short time later that reality hits me.

  “Oh God, Rebecca was in that building.”

  Jaxon turns, one arm behind the passenger seat. “Go. I’m going to park the car and meet you inside.”

  I jump out, in a daze, and follow Maverick, who’s carrying Rebecca inside. I rush to the front desk, giving the nurse a run-down of what happened. The parts I can’t explain, Maverick fills in, and I’m glad he’s here.

  I’ve always been good in a crisis, but right now, I’m useless. All I can think about is Rebecca and our baby being okay. I don’t know what I’ll do without either of them.

  “Sir, follow me. We need to examine her,” a nurse announces, before turning to me. “You’ll have to take a seat in the waiting room.”

  “I’m her fiancé, and the baby’s father,” I tell her. “I’m not leaving her.”

  We take a step to follow her, when Max’s voice booms through the reception area. “We need help! My friend has stopped breathing.”

  Maverick pales as he turns towards his brother’s voice. Malik and Max hold Liam up as nurses and doctors rush to their aid.

  “Follow me,” the nurse calls, and we both come unglued, following her to the back. Maverick gently lowers her to the bed, and immediately, she’s swamped with doctors and nurses. We step back as they work.

  “I’m going to check on Liam,” Maverick tells me, and I numbly nod, my eyes on Rebecca.

  I’m not sure how long I stand there before a nurse comes to stand in front of me. Her lips move rapidly, but I can’t hear a word. I can’t hear anything over the sound of my own heartbeat.

  Her hand rests on my bicep, and I shake myself out of it. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “We need to rush your fiancé into surgery. The baby is in distress, so they are going to need to do an emergency C-section. Has she taken something? We can’t get her to respond.”

  “What? What’s wrong with them?” When they begin to wheel her out, I go to follow. The nurse puts a hand to my chest, stopping me, and I glare down at her. “What are you doing? I’m going with her.”

  “We need you to wait in the waiting room. But we really need to know if she’s taken something. We can’t get her to respond, and it can complicate things during surgery.”

  “She was kidnapped. I don’t know if they hurt her or if they gave her something. She mumbled she was tired in the car, but that’s it.”

  Dumbstruck, it takes her a moment to reply. “I’ll let them know.”

  “Please, let me be with her. She needs me.”

  “I’m sorry, we can’t. If you wait here, I’ll have someone send for you shortly.”

  She leaves and I stand back, pulling at the strands of my hair.

  How is this happening?

  She wanted a water birth. She wanted Evie and her dad there. She wanted me to record the entire thing so she could watch the video back.

  “Where’s Rebecca?” Jaxon asks, coming to stand in front of me. He grips my biceps when I stumble forward. “Eli, talk to me.”

  “They’ve rushed her into surgery. What am I going to do? What if something goes wrong and I lose one or both of them?”

  “Hold it together a little longer. Everything is going to be okay.”

  It has to be.

  “Her dad and Evie should be here,” I tell him, still in a daze.

  “Already called them. They are on their way.”

  “And Liam?”

  He grimaces, turning away. “It’s not looking good.”

  I step back until the back of my legs hit a chair. I sit down and put my head in my hands.

  Please, let them be okay.

  *** *** ***

  A few months ago, my life was a constant state of waiting. Waiting for her to choose me, to love me and need me as much as I need her.

  The wait was worth it because I got everything in return. I got Rebecca. I got our life. And I got all the good things in between.

  It was worth it because I knew I was never an option to her. I was her choice, and she only needed to catch up.

  But now?

  Now, the wait is the hardest thing of all.

  She’s been gone for almost an hour and a half. Thirty minutes ago, the nurse came to update us. She told us they were finishing up with surgery and someone would be down to talk to us shortly.

  Yet time seems to be moving slower.

  The door is pushed open, and Max and his older brother Maverick file in. “Any news on Liam?” Jaxon asks.

  “No, fucking wankers won’t tell us anything,” Max snaps.

  Maverick pulls the table closer, sitting in front of me. “The police are waiting to speak to you.”

  “They can keep fucking waiting,” I grit out. I don’t have time for them, especially after Tom informed us they didn’t take him seriously when he phoned to report Rebecca missing.

  “Well, we need to get our story straight,” he replies.

  Tom, who is sitting to my left, growls low in his throat. “What’s there to get straight? Andrew Black kidnapped my daughter and now she is in hospital. Again,” he remarks, rubbing the palm of his hands down his thighs. “God, I hate hospitals.”

  Maverick watches him for a moment before replying. “We get that. But do you think Andrew will do time for this? He was never there. There’s no proof he had those men working for him. And I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not going down for the four deaths in that building.”

  “What do you need me to say?” I ask, because like him, I don’t want to go down for a crime I didn’t commit.

  Maverick doesn’t reply and instead, turns to Tom. “What is said between us remains between us. We pulled your daughter out of that hell hole. Remember that.”

  “And your daughter is the one who technically knocked one out,” Max points out. “And I’ll deny being the one who trapped him with the same cuffs they had her trapped in.”

  “I get it,” Tom snaps, his expression ashen at the news. “I don’t care what is said as long as my daughter remains out of it. She has no part in this anymore.”

  I turn to Maverick. “Why can’t we just deny being there?”

  “Because Max noticed Rebecca’s car. He said he saw her driving when she came to the farm to see you,” Maverick replies. “We are on camera bringing them both into the hospital.”

  Max clasps his hands together. “So, when the police ask, Tom called you, and that’s when you both realised Becca was missing. You pinged her phone, and we all decided to go with you. When we got there, a man with tanned skin was beating up another guy. I tried to stop him, but he ended up falling down the bunker hatch. It’s how I cut my head.”

  Maverick stares at his brother. “How did you get that?”

  “Doing what we went there to do,” Max snaps. “Can I finish with the story?”

  Maverick swings his hand out. “Go ahead.”

  “Since you can’t fully describe what was down there, you were outside watching to make sure no one else was there.”

  “You said four people?” Tom points out.

  “Yeah, and my brothers took out the three with Liam. But we aren’t telling them that. We’ve told them the guy we thought we restrained from hurting anyone else, got out. Malik caught him sneaking out of the bunker after they got Liam into the car. That’s when the explosives were activated. Maverick ran down to me and helped me with Becca. I left a guy handcuffed to the wall so the police could speak to them.”

  “So, what am I telling the police?” I ask, getting confused with everything thrown at me.

  “You are going to tell them a guy was beating on another when we arrived. I stopped him, and that’s how I cut my head. When Maverick checked on the guy who had been beaten up, he declared he was dead, and that’s why we told you to wait to make sure there was no one else there,” Max begins. “You never saw anyone else until Maverick and Malik came out with Liam a short time later. You helped us get him in the car because he was badly beaten. Then suddenly, the guy we thought we had restrained got free and told us he was going to blow the place up. He pressed something on his phone and then tripped back. He hit his head on a beam. We didn’t wait to see if he was okay because we saw there was less than three minutes, and you heard Max yelling he found Rebecca.”

  “And Becca? What is she meant to say?”

  “The truth,” Max replies, and a haunted look reaches his eyes. “And I’ll tell them the truth. When I got there, her attacker was passed out on the floor. I saw how bad she looked and that she clearly wasn’t there of her own free will, so I handcuffed him with the cuffs they had her locked up with. I didn’t know about the bomb, and I never had time to go back and help him.”

  “And the police are going to believe you?”

  He snorts. “Please, they were screaming my innocence.”

  “No, they were fed up of hearing you talk,” Maverick replies.

  “Mr Hayes?”

  I stand when the nurse enters the waiting area. “Is she okay? Can I see her?”

  “If you would follow me, the doctor would like to talk to you.”

  Dread fills my stomach, and Tom grips my shoulder, wheezing. “Not my girl. Not my baby girl.”

  “Sir, she’s stable right now but they are still running tests.”

  “And the baby?” Mum asks, gripping my hand.

  “Your daughter is being checked over by a paediatrician. You’ll be able to see them both shortly.”

  So many emotions flood my system, threatening to drown me.

  A daughter.

  We have a daughter.

  “Please, take me to them,” I plead.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Eli

  The sun is setting over the horizon, leaving the room with a warm glow. Machines beep, and there’s a low hum of voices outside the private room Rebecca is sleeping in.

  I cling to the knowledge she’s sleeping because I can’t accept anything else.

  Our daughter is a day old, born nearly five weeks before her due date. At five pounds, she’s a healthy weight for a premature baby, but still needs to be monitored in NICU. Due to the circumstances, the doctors were happy to have her brought to Rebecca’s room. She’s still attached to a few monitors, but the nurses wanted to give her skin-to-skin care—at least for a little while.

  And she’s tiny.

  So fucking tiny I’ve been scared to move in case I hurt her. Her pink skin is a bright contrast against the tattoos on my chest. Her tiny fist rests against my left peck as she sleeps peacefully against me.

  She has no clue about the horrors her mother faced before she arrived. She’s innocent, and I hope she remains this way for as long as possible. I want her to flourish, to believe in fairies and fairy tales. I want everything for her.

  My mum had been right about one thing. You’ll never understand a parent’s love until you hold a child of your own.

  A mother’s love is sacred. It shows no end or mercy for those who try to come between a mother and their baby. And although I might not know the facts, I know Rebecca did all she could to ensure our daughter’s survival. She showed no mercy and fought like hell to get them both out of there. It shows in her chipped nails, in the bruises around her wrists and ankles. It shows on her face.

  She’s a warrior.

  Just like our daughter.

  As a father, I couldn’t wish for anything more for our girl. She has two parents who would die for her. And even though I’ve only been a dad for a little while, I know my love for her will never die.

  Her mum might have brought her into this world, but together, we will make sure all our daughter’s dreams come true.