Laila listened with half an ear, scrambling for the front seat of the cab, where the childproof locks wouldn’t stop her from escaping.

  “Yeah, that’s Laila. She’s losing her shit.” He paused, one hand on the wheel, the other holding her in the back seat. “I’ll have her there in less than ten. Is there anyone who can calm her down?”

  “I do not want to be calm. I want to save Trees! He has risked everything for all of us, and you cannot allow Ramos to take him.”

  Matt went on as if she hadn’t just screeched in his ear. “Good thinking. I’ll have her there as soon as I can. Then I’ll double back and help you if you need.” A pause. “Yeah. See you there.”

  “Double back now and I will help you!” Laila insisted. “Why waste time?”

  “We’ve covered this. Let me focus.”

  “On a deserted road?”

  “On watching our surroundings so that if those assholes in the van come after me to find you, I can get you away safely.”

  “I do not care about myself.” She had escaped before. Sometimes it took biding her time and arranging help, but she could do it again. Trees had never known the extent of Victor’s cruelty. She didn’t want him to know it now.

  “You will if they take you. Then you’ll be in no position to help anyone.”

  That shut her up. Laila wanted to refute him…but couldn’t. Still, she refused to give up on Trees.

  Matt’s phone rang again. He pressed the device to his ear. “Talk to me.” A pause. “Nothing?” Another pause. “No idea where they went? Fuck.” Then he looked in the rearview mirror again.

  Laila whirled to find the dark blue truck on their tail. Ghost. That must be who he was talking to. “Did he find anything?”

  She knew she was being foolish, but she couldn’t seem to stop hoping and praying that the other man had found some clue about who had taken Trees. The concern on Matt’s face dashed her hope.

  “We’re working on it,” he told her. When she opened her mouth to demand again they return to the scene, he cut her off. “But he’s already gone. So is the van.”

  Laila’s terror ratcheted up again. Barely thirty minutes ago, she had been in his arms. Now he was most likely Victor Ramos’s prisoner and would probably die for the great sin of trying to save her. Dios mío, she had to do something. She had to contact Victor. Yes, and make a deal. Trees’s freedom in exchange for hers. Trees would be angry, but it was for the best. The world needed him. He was a hero. Everyone but her sister had given up on her long ago.

  No matter what, don’t put yourself in danger. Trees’s demand rang through her head.

  Laila shook her head. She couldn’t heed her promise to him now. She couldn’t live with herself if she had the means to save him and she selfishly did not. Besides, her misery didn’t matter, only Trees staying alive did.

  “Any idea which direction the van went?” Matt asked into the phone.

  She couldn’t hear the answer, and it was killing her. She would do anything to know…

  As the inky night rolled past the windows, leading them into a sleepy residential neighborhood with older houses farther apart, her thoughts scrambled with possibilities. Then Matt screeched to a crawl in front of a blue house with white trim and black shutters. He turned down a dirt path that flanked the structure, rolling behind it to sandwich the truck between the back porch and a tall privacy fence. Other vehicles were already parked out back, including one she vaguely recognized riding in when she’d first reached the States last September.

  Matt killed the engine but made no move to open his door—or hers. Ghost pulled up beside them, hopped out, then made his way to her. Finally, Matt disengaged the locks and slid out as Ghost wrenched her door open and all but dragged her from the back seat, carrying her as if she presented no challenge at all, despite her squirming protests. He might be on the wiry side, at least compared to Trees, but he was ridiculously strong.

  As they approached the rear of the house, Matt sidled up behind them, gun poised for battle, just in case.

  The back door opened. Joaquin Muñoz stood waiting, weapon in hand as he scanned their surroundings, too.

  As soon as Ghost set her on her feet in what looked like someone’s living room, Joaquin shut and locked the door. Matt remained outside. An unfamiliar man sidled up to Joaquin, dressed in an impeccable suit, despite the fact it was well past midnight. She wasn’t fooled by his attire. This man was lethal. He made Laila nervous.

  “Who is he?” she asked Muñoz.

  “Trevor Forsythe. He’s with us.”

  Maybe Muñoz had brought Trees more help. “You are all going to find Trees now, yes?”

  Laila knew better than to believe they would let her come along. But she had other ways of helping. She just needed time to think of a crafty approach and some privacy.

  Muñoz shook his head. “My brothers have already searched the scene. So has Ghost. These guys were good. We couldn’t find anything.”

  She turned to look at the operative in the ski cap with the unusual eyes, then back to Trees’s boss. “So you intend to do nothing? He is your employee. He risked his life because you assigned him to protect me, and now he may die horribly because of it. You cannot—”

  “Of course we’re doing something. We’re working on it now.”

  Matt crashed inside a moment later, carrying Laila’s bag. She ran to the duffel and dragged out her phone, just in case Trees had somehow reached out to her.

  Nothing.

  She bit her lip to stifle a cry. Tears served no purpose. She had to stay strong and think.

  Laila hardly noticed when Matt stepped outside again. But the disturbance when he walked back in, Trees’s go-bag in hand, had her head snapping up. The sight of it crushed her all over again, and it was foolish. Of course no one had hit Trees merely to rob him of whatever worldly goods he’d had in his vehicle. Victor wanted Trees under his thumb because he wanted revenge. He wanted to torment her again. He wanted to snuff Trees out as revenge for his brother’s death.

  She had to stop him.

  Matt dropped the duffel on the floor. “Hunter and Logan are coming up the drive. Deke isn’t far behind.”

  “Deke?” Muñoz was clearly puzzled. “Is he coming for support?”

  Matt shrugged. “Where should I put Laila?”

  “You will not put me anywhere. If you are making plans to rescue Trees, I insist on helping.”

  “He’s our operator, and this is our area of expertise.” Muñoz scowled.

  Laila assumed he meant that expression to be intimidating. She had neither the time nor patience for his male posturing. “Do you have six years of experience dealing with Tierra Caliente? I do.”

  The room fell silent.

  Ghost raised his brows in a silent signal of agreement. “She’s got a point.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Muñoz ground his teeth and pointed to a stool at a breakfast bar overlooking the kitchen, on the far side of the living room. “Sit there.”

  Laila did, clutching her phone, her mind racing. Every moment she didn’t think of a clever plan was another moment Victor had to kill Trees. She needed to be pulling herself and her thoughts together, crafting a scheme.

  Before she could, Hunter and Logan entered through the back door, immediately making eye contact with Muñoz. “We weren’t followed. No one’s out there. What the fuck is going on?”

  Logan looked her way. “Laila?”

  “Men in a van. They crashed into Trees’s truck. He rolled. He was hurt. They dragged him out—”

  “We know,” Logan cut in. “Is there anything else we don’t that we should?”

  She frowned, thinking back over the last few hours. But those were memories she would share with no one. Trees’s loving touch, the selfless way he gave her pleasure, the patient way he handled her fears… Then she remembered something else and hopped off the stool. “Let me see his bag.”

  “What for?”

  Laila wasn’t sure who had asked the question, and she didn’t care. The shock and panic that had seized her brain were finally losing their grip. In their place was pure determination. She would do whatever it took to save Trees.

  When she reached Matt, he held the bag again. She didn’t want to wrestle him for it. He would win. But surely he could grasp how she might help without putting herself as risk. “Please.”

  He glanced over her head at Trees’s bosses. Someone must have nodded because he handed her the bag.

  She took it to the nearby table and unzipped it in a rush. The scent of him clung to his clothes and wafted out, making her knees weak. Making her want to sob again. She only managed to hold on to her emotions through sheer will and plowed through the contents until she finally found what she was looking for and held it up triumphantly. “Victor Ramos’s phone. He is probably the one who took Trees. If I reach out to him—”

  “Hold up, Laila,” Hunter cut in, his eyes so intensely blue, like Logan’s, they were almost startling. “We don’t know that Ramos took Trees. Remember, he shot Geraldo Montilla twelve days ago. It’s possible that’s who orchestrated this abduction for revenge.”

  His assertion took her aback. That possibility made everything a hundred times more dangerous. And it terrified her even more. “You are right.”

  “We need to do some fact finding and recon, figure out what we’re dealing with. Ghost checked the scene. So did Logan and I. No hint of who did this. No witnesses. We talked to the Lafayette PD. There are no traffic cams on that rural stretch of road. So we’ll have to figure this out by rattling some cages and seeing who howls. Let me have that phone, Laila. I want to examine it.”

  She didn’t love that idea, but he might be able to find something she couldn’t, so she complied. “Trees started to study it…”

  Then he had seen the real video of her with Victor at the motel and come to apologize. After that, they had been too busy making love to focus on the danger coming straight for them.

  The realization threatened her hard-won facade.

  Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door. Matt, who was closest, scowled, then looked out the little window. “What the hell is Kimber doing here?”

  The woman Geraldo Montilla had held captive. Why would she come?

  Matt didn’t wait for an answer, just yanked the door open. A tall woman with auburn hair and a willowy body, rounded slightly with curves given to her by childbirth, entered and scanned the room. When Kimber’s gaze settled on her, a smile lit up her face. “Laila?”

  She nodded. “Hello.”

  What else could she say? She didn’t want to be rude, but…

  “I couldn’t stop her from coming,” said an imposing blond man with a buzz cut and a bad attitude who stepped into the room behind her. In one arm, he cradled a baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket and dripping bows. With his other, he held the hand of a little boy who looked somewhere around five.

  Suddenly, Kimber stood in front of her, looking hopeful and uncertain. “I know you don’t know me. But I’ve been begging my husband and my brothers to let me meet you in person for days.” She surprised Laila by taking her hands. “To thank you. I wouldn’t be home and reunited with my children—hell, I probably wouldn’t be alive—if not for you. If there’s anything I can ever do for you…”

  A dozen things crossed her mind. Laila had no plan…but it seemed she finally had an ally. None of these overprotective, testosterone-driven men would let her help, but this woman gripping her fingers tightly just might. “I spent years with those animals. I know how horrible they can be. I could spare you what I endured, so I was happy to do it.”

  “And I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart. My brothers suggested that you might be missing your nephew, so I brought my children…”

  “Against my wishes,” Deke called across the room. “You’re supposed to be in hiding.”

  “Those lowlifes don’t want me,” Kimber called back. “They merely wanted someone to use as leverage.”

  Because Montilla wanted to punish EM Security for rescuing and harboring Valeria. And he wanted Jorge. Always back to that eternal, unavoidable problem that had no solution…unless the drug lord died.

  Kimber hustled across the room, lifted her sleeping daughter and took her son by the hand, then returned to Laila. “I wanted you to see the lives you made better with your heroic gesture. I know you risked yourself, and I wanted to show you all the grateful people. This is Cal.” She urged the boy closer. “Well, Caleb, but that’s my father’s name, so we call him Cal. Less confusing. He’ll be five in June.”

  “Hello.” Cal stuck out his hand politely, eyeing her as a child does a stranger he’s unsure about. “Nice to meet you.”

  The boy had manners, and he was absolutely adorable with his mop of sandy hair. He had incredibly blue eyes, the same shade as his father’s. Someday, he would be a heartbreaker.

  “Hi,” she said as she shook his hand.

  Laila didn’t want to seem rude, and Kimber bringing the children was a lovely gesture, but she was impatient to help Trees—before it was too late. The men were now clustered on the other side of the room, clearly plotting without her.

  She couldn’t let that stand.

  “And this is Sierra.” Kimber handed the baby to her. “She’s almost eight months old.”

  Laila looked down at the precious face with the bowed lips pursing and smacking in her sleep. A bolt of envy pierced her. How she would love to have a son or daughter with Trees, to know the motherly instinct to protect and devote her heart to… Her eyes watered again. She sniffed the tears away.

  “She is lovely. You have been very blessed.” Laila handed the baby back to Kimber.

  “And I have a future, thanks to you.”

  “You are welcome.”

  Kimber looked reluctant to leave. “Can I get you anything? Help you with anything?”

  “My…boyfriend has been taken by our enemies. Just now.”

  The other woman looked stunned. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I overheard that Trees has fallen into enemy hands, but I didn’t know… The two of you?” She smiled. “Good for him.”

  “I need to know what they are plotting.” Laila pointed at the men across the room. “I doubt they will tell me, and I am going insane with worry.”

  “I’ll work on that. Let me give the children back to their father. Wait here.”

  Not as if she had a choice. “Thank you.”

  Kimber took the kids and crossed the room. When she did, Laila longed for the bit of comfort the woman, despite being a stranger, had given her. She mostly wanted Trees, but since she couldn’t have him—was worried to death about him—she intended to reach out to the only other person she could.

  Slipping from the room, Laila headed through the rest of the unfamiliar house, finding a hallway and a bathroom.

  When she turned to shut the door, she found Matt in her face. “You okay?”

  “Fine. I need a few minutes to myself.”

  “Take your time.”

  So they could make a plan without her? Like hell.

  Still, she shut the door and locked it, then pulled out her phone and dialed her sister.

  Despite the late hour, Valeria answered right away. “What is happening?”

  So her sister knew something was up. “Trees was helping to transport me to a new safe location and he was taken by three men in a van. I am scared, Val. Someone took him. I am worried they will kill him. It will be my fault. I should have killed Victor the first time I had the chance. And now—”

  “Slow down. I know you are worried, but take a deep breath. You love him?”

  “Yes. He is…everything to me. EM Security must save him—now.”

  “Do they know who has taken Trees?”

  “Not yet. But are they not supposed to be good at these things? Can they not figure it out?”

  “Laila…” her sister chided gently. “You must believe that if they had the power to save Trees this minute, they would. Your worry and impatience are driving your panic, but they kept you alive for years. Me, too. Kimber Trenton made it out, yes? There is a chance—”

  “We survived because we served a purpose to them. You as a wife, me as a whore, Kimber as a bargaining chip. Trees means nothing to them…” Then Laila realized she might be wrong. “Unless whoever abducted him means to trade him for you.”

  Her sister let loose a long, exhausted sigh. “That may very well be, and I hope that is enough to keep him alive for your sake.”

  “Hope is not enough for me. If EM Security will do nothing, I must.”

  “No.”

  Did Valeria think she would value her safety over the man she loved? That she would not lift a finger to save him? “You cannot stop me.”

  “You are right; I cannot. But I can help you.”

  “Help me?” Laila gaped. “You have Jorge to think about. You have your future.”

  “What future? I have none now. I grow weary of this life. Always in hiding. I cannot walk outside for fear of death. Poor Jorge yearns to play in a park. He wants to run and jump and play with a ball. He wants to be a boy. Yet we are perpetually trapped in eight hundred square feet twenty-four hours a day for fear of being taken and beaten and…whatever else. And now these criminals and thugs are threatening the happiness you have finally found. I cannot do this anymore. I will not.”

  Laila’s heart seized up. She had already lost Trees tonight, maybe for good. She could not lose her sister, too. “Valeria, do not—”

  “Put myself at risk?” She scoffed. “For too long, I let you risk yourself for Jorge’s benefit…and mine. I may be the older sister, but you are so much braver than me. Seemingly so undaunted. You never give up. You never stop fighting for those you love. And I have failed you in every way.”

  How could she say such things? “No.”

  “Yes. The night I escaped with that affluent doctor’s daughter with EM Security’s help? I wanted to come for you so badly and take you with me. But I knew if I was caught wandering the compound, I would be questioned and taken straight to Emilo. If that happened, I worried I would never have another chance to escape. I was pregnant. I worried it would not be long before Emilo knew, too. Then he would kill me.”