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Each step I take feels like walking a mile. I make my way across the room, gun pointed at the ground, before peeking around the doorframe and into the hall.

Nobody is upstairs.

“I’ll fucking kill you where you stand if you think about going up those stairs,” Royce says, his voice strained but with a deadly note underneath.

I may not know who he’s talking to, but if I were them, I wouldn’t want to cross him.

His words are followed by a pained groan that has my chest clenching tight. If I was smarter, I might have thought about going out the window with Bianca and leaving Royce to deal with whatever the hell this is.

Nothing would’ve happened to us if he had never kidnapped us.

There’s a part of me that can’t leave Royce to deal with this alone, though.

He’s the father of my child, even if I wish he wasn’t.

I fight the urge to rush down to him, stepping back into the closet and easing the door shut. Bianca comes first.

But what if that means that I have to help Royce to help her?

I’m torn as I try to see her soft little smile through the darkness but can’t. The two halves of my heart at war with each other.

I take a deep breath, trying to shift in the closet, searching for more space that isn’t there. The walls feel like they’re closing in around us as I scoop Bianca up and hold her tight.

If someone comes through that door, I’m going to kill them.

I have to.

For Bianca, I will do anything.

CHAPTERNINE

ROYCE

My heart sinksin my chest as footsteps tap against the creaking floorboards above me.

Gia.

She’s left the safety of the closet I forced her into and now she is walking straight into danger.

I shift, twisting to look up the stairs as she appears at the top of them like an avenging angel.If I lose her and Bianca now…

Jace glances past me, a slow smile spreading across his gaunt face. “There you are, Gia. The men told me they couldn’t find you when they swept through the house.”

Stupid woman.

She should have just stayed where I told her to stay. This would all be over sooner. Jace had no idea she was here. They didn’t find her.

And here she comes offering herself to them on a plate.

If she had learned to listen to me at any point in her life, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. She would be safe with our daughter and I wouldn’t be bleeding all over the fucking floors.

After this is over, she’s going to learn what happens when she disobeys me.

I shift to look at her, trying to shove myself to my feet, but the bastard shot me in the leg and my head is spinning from the blood loss. “Get the hell out of here, Gia.”

Gia’s eyes are wide, her lips parted slightly as she keeps the gun aimed at the ground. “What the hell is going on here? The pair of you fucking idiots scare the living hell out of me and my child, and then I come down to see what’s happening and you’re sitting here?”

“We’re not having a fucking tea party!” I grab the banister, gripping it tight and gritting my teeth as I haul myself to my feet. I’m torn between lunging for Jace or lunging for her.