“What did you say?” my mother suddenly asks, her voice sharp and indignant.
I know that tone—it’s the same one she uses when someone guesses her real age. Mom likes to appear younger than she is, and she doesn’t let Ethan call her “Mom.”
“You heard me just fine,ma’am,” Ethan’s friend replies, putting an icy edge on the last word like a blade slicing the air.
She stares at him for a few seconds more, then opens the door and catches me eavesdropping. But I’m not sure she even sees me—her face is twisted with fury.
I should apologize to Amos for spying on them, but instead I just stand there, about five feet away, staring at him without a word.
He doesn’t ask what I’m doing. Feeling a little braver, I take a step into the library.
Amos looks at me the way I imagine a predator looks at its prey...and my whole body reacts like someone just plugged me into a live wire.
I’m trapped by his eyes. They look darker now, and they hold me in place like invisible handcuffs.
His stance should be intimidating, too. He looks aggressive, even though he hasn’t moved.
Maybe it’s just who he is. Maybe Mom’s not entirely wrong to call him a savage. There’s definitely something primal about him.
“What do you want, girl?”
It’s the first time he speaks to me. When we were introduced, he just nodded.
“I—”
Before I can say anything, my brother walks in, calling out to him—but when he sees me, he frowns. “Lilly, what are you doing here?”
“I was looking for the bathroom and got the doors mixed up.”
God, I suck at lying. I lived in this house for twelve years! How could I confuse the doors?
“You should get back to the party, or Nora’s going to start breathing down your neck,” he says, and I just nod, practically running out of there. “Let’s get out of here, man,” I hear Ethan say behind me. “The storm’s getting worse, and I’ve already picked my companion for the night. She’s got a friend who’s dying to meet you.”
I walk faster, not wanting to hear Amos’s reply.
I’m such an idiot.
What the hell was I thinking? Ethan’s friend is a man, not some college boy. I’m just a clueless girl—no way someone likehim would ever be interested in me. Best thing I can do is get my head out of the clouds and both feet back on the ground.
Chapter 1
Two Years Later
Somewhere in Maine, United States
“I don’t want anyone left standing.”
“The FBI will want to question them,” Blood says beside me, outside the house we’re about to raid, somewhere in a godforsaken corner of Maine.
“The FBI had more than enough time to save him, and they didn’t. Feds work by the book—and in this case, that didn’t do shit. We make our own rules.”
I’ve taken part in hostage rescues before—back when I was still active in our private security firm, and long before that, as a special forces soldier. I couldn’t tell you how many victims I’ve helped free. But nothing stokes my rage like someone preying on the vulnerable—whether it’s kids or the elderly.
Even criminals have a moral code. Some line they don’t cross. But the bastards we’re dealing with now? They don’t care about anything.
“Why are we even getting involved? From what we’ve dug up, they’re more of a gang than a real organization, Amos.”
“Because they target defenseless old people. This is the fifth kidnapping in seven months. Ransoms were paid in all of them. Not one victim made it back to their family. That shit ends tonight.”
