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Her glare pierced him through the chest directly to his heart. “You’re right. It’s not my fault. It’s yours. If anything happens to Mathias and Marlowe, you’re the one to blame. Their blood will be on your hands. I hope you can live with that because I know I definitely won’t be able to. You find my kids. You bring them home to me. And after you do, you walk away from us and stay away. I want nothing more to do with you.”

“Bridget, please —”

“Zane.” Sam suddenly appeared in the door. From his guarded expression, he realized he had interrupted something, but obviously what he had to say couldn’t wait. “You’d better come inside. The Williamses are talking. Bridget, your parents are here. They convinced the Williamses to spill their guts. Oh, and Zane, your sisters are here.”

He expected his sisters to arrive. Zoe touched base with Maggie every day, and when she couldn’t be reached, Zoe probably checked in with Zaylee and Zaida to see if they’d heard from her. Once they realized no one had spoken to their mother, they rallied together to show up at the house. He probably had a few missed calls from them as well. He’d hoped he had more time before they showed up. They would demand an explanation, and he didn’t have enough information to give them one.

“Thanks, Sam. We’ll be right there.”

Bridget started to storm passed him to go inside, but he grabbed her upper arm to stop her.

“We’ll finish this later. I want to explain—”

She refused to glance at him, and when she jerked her arm, he released her. “There’s nothing left to say. When this is over, I expect you to walk away from us and never look back. That goes for your friends too. I don’t need you or anyone else to take care of me or my kids.”

Zane watched her disappear inside and tried to shake the feeling that he’d lost something special. This was more than finding out Sydney would never return his feelings. This was more than losing a lover. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but his gut told him he’d likely never find anything like it again.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bridget walked into the house and straight into the waiting arms of her mother. She buried her face in Audra Kincaid’s hair and found comfort in the strawberry scent of her shampoo. She felt her father’s comforting hand patting her back like he used to when she was sick as a kid. The gesture was too much for her. She didn’t deserve their comfort. Not when her choices put her niece and nephew in danger. They would take her children away even if the court didn’t, and she deserved it.

“It’s all my fault,” she murmured, her words muffled.

“Stop that,” Audra admonished. “Mr. Knight told us everything when he called to tell us about the flight. How can any of this be your fault?”

Bridget pulled away, forcing herself to peer into her mother’s kind eyes. “I brought this into our lives. I chose to move here and befriend these people. It’s all backfired and put the kids in danger. Jennifer and Dean trusted me, and I let them down.”

Wyatt Kincaid wrapped his arm around his daughter’s shoulders. “Come with me.”

He led her to the back of the house into her bedroom. Audra followed close behind, and they all settled at the foot of the bed with Bridget in the middle and her parents on either side.

“I spoke with Mr. Knight when he called. He arranged for a car to pick up me and your mother to take us to the airport. He had a private plane waiting, and he had a car waiting for us at the airport as soon as we landed. He arranged for someone to get our bags and bring them here so we wouldn’t have to wait on them. This whole time, he and his wife are calling and texting us all the details about your situation and what they think happened to Mat and Lowe. He also provided me with background on who they are and what they do.”

Bridget shook her head as more tears slid down her cheeks. “You don’t know everything, Dad. I didn’t know everything until a few minutes ago. It’s all so crazy.”

Audra placed a hand on her daughter’s arm. “We do know everything, sweetheart. Mr. Knight told us he was sharing private information not known to the general public because of safety reasons. We assured him he could trust us with his privacy. We only wanted to know what happened and how we could help.”

“I also checked them out.”

Bridget stared incredulously at her father, taking in his white hair, still thick and wavy as when it was its original dark brown, the deep lines around his eyes and the self-satisfied expression on his face. He wasn’t the most tech-savvy person she knew, so his response floored her.

“You checked them out? Do you even know how to do that?”

“I helped him,” Audra confided.

“The how doesn’t matter. What I found does. They’re veterans, Bridget. All of the ones I’ve found online served very distinguished careers in the military. They are men and women I would have liked to serve with when I was in the Army. The work they do is dangerous. But shutting them out of your life doesn’t protect you from danger. Protecting your heart from ever getting close to other people won’t save you from being afraid or hurt. You won’t ever make all the right choices with your life or with the kids. But moving them here and trusting these people are choices you got right. If anyone can bring our kids home, it’s these folks. I trust them. You should too.”

“I don’t know what they told you, but it’s obviously not—”

“They told me the truth. I’m not some naïve, old man, sweetheart. I know good folks when I meet them. There’s one guy in the room in there who’s worked himself into a frenzy over your niece. If he finds the people who took her, he’ll probably rip them apart. He’s big enough to do it too. I’m glad he’s on our side.”

Brick, she thought with a smile. “He and Marlowe have a special friendship. I think she has a crush on him.”

“I can see why. He’s cute.”

Bridget gaped at her mother, who just grinned. She shook her head, appreciating her parents’ attempts to bring her off the ledge. If only their words erased the guilt eating at her…

“I hate feeling useless. I don’t know what to do.”