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Jolie’s stomach turned over.

Creep Two nudged his friend. “Where are the other two?”

Creep One shrugged. “I was outside with you. How the hell should I know?”

Creep Two rolled his eyes and walked toward Jolie. He lifted his gun and brushed it along the side of her jaw, making her shudder again. “Where are the rest?”

She didn’t answer.

His eyes narrowed, and he brought the gun up to rest the muzzle on her forehead.

Fear consumed her. She didn’t want to die. She hadn’t told Ford she loved him. They hadn’t started their lives together. Hell, they hadn’t even slept together. And that was going to be amazing. No way was this jerk robbing her of that opportunity.

His expression brightened, and she realized he was enjoying her fear. His voice spat at her. “You’ve got what’s mine. I want it back. If you return it, I might just let you live. I think you could warm my bed just fine. And there might even be a little something in it for you once I’m done.”

“A little something like a venereal disease?” She shouldn’t have said that, but the words had just popped out. At least she hadn’t asked if his penis was the little something he was offering.

Creep Two’s eyes hardened, and he pressed the gun harder into her head. “Or you can die slowly and painfully after we’ve all had a turn with you and your friend here.”

Her throat tightened up and she couldn’t swallow, never mind speak. Why hadn’t that happened ten seconds earlier? Then she wouldn’t have made everything worse. Again.

Refusing to let the tears form in her eyes, Jolie forced her fear under control. She’d be brave like Ford. Like her brothers. They’d faced death many times in their careers. She didn’t want them to be ashamed of her, and she wasn’t going to cower. Maybe she should have used the penis line, anyway. Better to go out with a bang.

Better not to go out at all.

A siren sounded in the distance.

Creep One swore and Creep Two eased off on the pressure of the gun. She didn’t dare move a muscle.

Creep One backed toward the door. “Where the fuck are the others? We’ve got to get out of here.”

Creep One swore. “I’m not leaving without my property. Where is it, bitch?”

She’d forgotten all about Ford’s duffel that she’d slipped on. She had her back to the counter, so neither of the creeps had spotted it yet. Should she just give it to them? Would they let her and Thea go?

It didn’t sound like these two had injured Ford or Knox, but they’d said there were two more of them. They must be the men she’d heard earlier. The shots.

Where was Ford?

These men weren’t wearing masks, so she doubted they’d let them live no matter what. If they hadn’t seen the duffel, she wasn’t alerting them to it.

Creep Two smiled at Jolie. It wasn’t comforting. “If you’re not worried about yourself, how about this? If you don’t tell me where my property is in ten seconds, your friend is going to die.”

Jolie couldn’t stop the whimper at that.

She was about to tell him she had the cylinder when a loud crash sounded somewhere in the house.

And another gunshot rang out.

Ford was going to carve the asshole into tiny little pieces. Jolie hadn’t backed down, hadn’t shown fear, but she had to be scared shitless.

The bastard had his gun’s muzzle resting right on her forehead.

The jerks hadn’t even noticed when he eased the swinging door open incrementally. Ford had his gun trained on the man who pointed at Jolie’s brain, but nothing could save her if the jerk shot with the gun right there.

Knox tapped his shoulder in the pattern that let him know his buddy was going to cause a distraction of some kind. Perfect, because Ford had the asshole directly in his sights. All he needed was the gun to move. To not be aimed directly at Jolie.

When the asshole threatened Thea instead, Ford knew his chance was coming. The gun would move. He would take it off Jolie and change his aim to Thea. That would be Ford’s opportunity.