“He’s Axel’s father. My uncle. I never met him growing up, and I guess that was for good reason.” I forced myself not to glance over at the body lying on the ground mere feet from us. “Axel had briefly told me he wasn’t good news, but I never would have expected him to come after me for money.”
“Money?”
I explained what Rob had told me he wanted out ofthis. “But it was no secret my dad was poor,” I added. “Even if they weren’t part of each other’s lives, they didn’t exactly have the best upbringing, and that seemed to carry over into both their adult lives.”
“Maybe he thought you got money out of the land.” His hands rubbed up and down my back. “He was desperate. But all I know for certain is that he wasn’t getting out of this alive.”
“I just… I don’t—” I shook my head, nuzzling into his chest. The man had never met me, and suddenly he wanted to steal my inheritance? Take my baby? All for some cash? None of it made sense.
“Shh,” Beckham hushed. “Don’t waste any more energy on him right now, okay? Focus on me.”
I hadn’t even realized I was shivering until I forced every thought of Rob into a locked box in my mind.
“Feel the fire?” Beckham asked quietly. His strained biceps seemed to be fighting a tremble of their own.
“Your jacket?—”
“Keep it, baby. I want you warm.”
My lips rolled together in a tight line in an attempt to hold in the choked sob climbing my throat. My adrenaline was waning, and with it came the biting cold and the realization of everything that had happened.
“He wanted our baby, Beckham.”
His entire body turned to stone, and I swore I heard his jaw crack over the popping of the fire.
“He was going to hold me here until I delivered.” I trailed off, thinking of every worst-case scenario if that had happened. “Is he okay?”
Beckham knew I meant the baby.
“He’s okay,” he murmured into my hair. “He has to be.”
Because it wasn’t only me who loved this baby anymore. It was Beckham, his family, Ellis. Even Wyatt. I’d dreamed of having other people caring for him and loving him as much as I did, and now it was true. I just needed him to be okay so he could see it every day of his life.
I nodded against Beckham, repeating his words over and over again in my head.
At some point, he had lowered me to the floor, and I’d shut my eyes in his lap. I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep, but the sound of a distant motor had me shooting up, panic slicing through me like a knife.
I gasped for air, my heart a blistering thump in my chest as I blinked my eyes into focus, willing the heavy sleep out of my mind.
Where was he? Would he hurt me this time? Try to take my baby again?
Beckham’s hand found mine, and I jumped, swiveling my head to face him.
“Parker, it’s me. He can’t hurt you. You’re okay.”
His reassuring tone and the concern in his eyes had me releasing a heavy breath. My head hung while my heart feebly tried to calm itself.
The revving outside turned louder, like whoever it was was getting closer. Beckham stood, bringing me with him, and I stayed behind his back as he crossed to the window to peek out.
“It’s the police,” he muttered, breath fogging up the glass.
That must’ve been who he’d called. I hadn’t had the right mind to wonder or even ask.
Beckham opened the door, and the gust of frigid air that came with it had me wrapping my free arm around myself. I wasn’t ready to be cold again. All I wanted was Beckham’s bed and his arms wrapped around me, his sweet kisses and reassuring murmurs lulling me into a deep sleep.
I didn’t want to be out here, frozen and scared and unsure what our outcome was.
If I lost my baby?—
