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Hoping for the best.

Praying for Dominic.

Please come for us, she begged.

*****

As Dom, Case, Creed, and his men pulled in front of the upscale hotel in downtown Baltimore, he couldn’t believe how ballsy Bradshaw was. To have them right in the middle of the city without thought to how many people would be in the crossfire was borderline narcissistic. But not surprising.

The man always thought he was God’s gift to the universe, believing he was above the law and retribution. Dom was going to make sure he didn’t leave today a whole man.

“Remember, my woman and son are in this clusterfuck so make sure your aim is one hundred percent, or it’s your ass I’ll be coming for,” he told everyone over their com units.

“SWAT’s been called,” Case told him. They’d decided they would call the authorities once they got there, not wanting or needing them to stop the bloodbath that was likely to happen.

“Hotel’s been evacuated, and they’re none the wiser,” Ace told them. Not wanting any casualties, they thought it best to have the entire hotel cleared out. Thankfully, Ace knew the manager, and they’d kept it pretty quiet so the only occupants were those in the penthouse.

“Let’s rock and roll, people!” Case shouted as they climbed from their vehicles.

One team headed straight to the roof in case they escaped and went up. One moved to the basement for the same reason. Another would be in the lobby. They had two other teams ascending both staircases on each side of the hotel, where they would meet on the penthouse floor then storm the suite.

They were going on faith and experience to tell them that they were doing things right. That they had everything and nothing to lose all at once.

With Dom possibly paying the ultimate price.

As far as he was concerned, Bradshaw and Brooke weren’t leaving the hotel no matter what.

Signaling Creed to beat the door in with his ramming pole, Case tossed in two smoke grenades to mask their entry. As soon as they were in, they could hear coughing and cursing. Creed’s men were already dropping and zip tying Bradshaw’s men before the smoke had even begun to dissipate, while he and Case went in search of Jax and Deidre.

Clearing rooms as they went, he was beginning to worry they were wrong when he heard cursing from a door to the master suite at the end of the hall.

Fisting one hand, he brought it up to halt everyone’s forward motion, pointing to the door with two fingers. Case went first, opening the door and rolling in, landing flat on his stomach next to the bed in the center of the room.

Dominic’s eyes roamed rapidly, taking in a scene from no horror movie he’d seen. For a moment, he froze in shock. Quickly, anger took its place, and he was moving in to confront them. Creed’s men held steady at the door waiting for instruction.

Deidre was on her knees in the middle of the room, hands tied behind her back facing him. Tears ran down her cheeks, anger shone brightly in her eyes, and blood stained the front of her shirt. Someone was going to die for that. Bradshaw held a knife to her neck with a cold look in his eyes, challenging Dom to make a move.

“Daddy!” Spinning around, he saw Brooke standing in the bathroom door with a gun pointed at his son’s head from behind.

“You fucking, bitch! I warned you!” Aiming his gun at her head, he was prepared to shoot.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Bradshaw tsked from behind him.

Looking between the two, he knew he would only have one chance to shoot, only be able to save one of them.

“Don’t be a pussy, Bradshaw, do it,” Deidre taunted him, earning a sharp tug on her hair.

“Quiet,” Dom snapped at her.

“Listen like the good little bitch you are,” Brooke laughed.

Case caught his attention from the corner of his eye as he moved to aim his weapon on Brooke. She wouldn’t stand a chance with him.

“The police are on the way. This is your one and only chance to let them go. There’s no negotiating,” Dom warned them both.

Brooke laughed like her life wasn’t about to end.

Bradshaw smirked as if he thought he’d be leaving alive.