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“What?” I snap into the phone when I finally get the fucking fire alarm to stop.

“Location, date, and time have been confirmed. We’re heading out tonight.” Declan’s voice comes through the phone.

I glance toward the direction Sarah went. I contemplate between telling her and offering her the chance to come with and not saying anything about it.

“I’ll be there,” I grunt, then hang up.

After making sure the stove won’t go up in flames again, I head toward our bedroom.

“Sarah?” I ask, pushing open the door.

She stands by the window, staring at but not seeing the city below. “ Mo réalta?” I whisper, gently setting my hand on her shoulder.

She startles, meeting my eyes.

“You okay?”

Her crystal blue eyes are filled with an emotion I can’t identify as anything other than deep-rooted pain.

“I can’t lose you,” she whispers.

“You’ll never lose me, baby,” I say, enveloping her in my arms. She sobs into my chest and my heart cracks at the sound.

When I realized she was triggered by the food I was burning, I felt like absolute dogshit. Realistically, I know there wasn’t anything I could do to stop her trauma from taking over. But the fact that my actions caused her to relive the night she lost her entire family makes me hate myself.

“I can though. You can get bored of me, or something can happen to you. Either way, I end up losing you.”

I pull her away from my chest, holding her at arm’s length. “First, nothing would ever make me bored of you. I need you like I need oxygen.” Her eyes widen. “Second, nothing will happen to where I will no longer be around.”

I can see she doesn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I’m not sure how to make it any clearer that I am always going to be here. That I’m just as much hers as she is mine.

“It’s you and me against the world.” I lean down, forcing her eyes to remain trained on mine. “I love you, Sarah.”

A gasp bursts from her lips. She stares into my eyes, jaw slackened. “I love you so fucking much. You are like the brightest star shining in the darkest of nights. You light up my world in an unbelievable number of ways.” A tear spills from her eye and I brush it away with my thumb. “There is no me without you, Sarah. You are it for me.”

There. Hopefully she sees the truth of those words in my eyes.

I can’t be without this woman.

There is only one Sarah in existence that is everything I’ve ever wanted, and it’s her.

Her eyes travel across the features of my face. Wordlessly studying me.

“I love you too.”

My lips crash against hers the moment she finishes her sentence. “I love you. I will spend the rest of my existence showing you how fucking much I love you,” I say between kisses.

Elation has my heart soaring.

I knew she loved me but hearing her actually say the words is unlike anything I’ve ever felt.

We get lost in each other. We make love slowly and passionately. Love radiates off us both as we stare into each other’s eyes and find our release at the same time.

* * *

Despite my protesting, Sarah chose to ride her blacked-out Ducati to Paige and Declan’s. She bought the damn thing just before Liam and Emily flew to Ireland last year to visit her mom. It had been the first time Emily had been to Ireland since she’d been abducted.

When I saw the bike, I immediately knew it was Sarah’s. Her impulsive nature still astounds me.

After getting lost in each other, I told Sarah about Declan’s phone call. She immediately packed a bag, leaving no room for argument about her coming with us.

I glance out the window as I roll to a stop at an intersection. Sarah’s bike coasts to a stop next to me and she wiggles her fingers in my direction. I don’t even need to see her face to know she’s beaming underneath her helmet.

When the light switches to green, she takes off like a rocket. Soon she is out of sight.

“Fucking, Sarah,” I say, shaking my head.

Sarah is dismounting her bike when I make it to the estate. She shakes her hair side to side when she lifts her helmet off her head. The sun reflects off her long, golden hair. My cock thickens at how the leather riding gear molds to her body.

She sets her helmet on the seat of her bike then strides toward where I parked. I shut the driver’s side door and lean against it with my arms crossed over my chest, soaking up the sway of her hips as she saunters closer.

“Hi, baby,” she purrs, lifting to her toes and pressing a kiss to my lips.

I squeeze her plump ass, pulling her close so she feels just how much she’s affected me.

She moans, planting another kiss to my lips before pulling away.

“Down, boy,” she smirks.

“Never.” I smack her ass when she turns to walk toward the front door of the mansion.

Once inside, Declan takes us to the dining room where Paige, Emily, and Liam are seated. The six of us go over what the plan is. Emily and Paige will be staying here with enough armed guards that not even a mouse will be able to sneak past. We will be bringing those we rescue here, where Emily and Paige will help get them as comfortable as possible.

Sarah and I will be teaming up to go inside the auction. We’ll be dressed to the nines in a suit and formal dress, scoping out the space, trying to find where they are keeping the girls and women. Liam will be leading a team that will be manning the perimeter of the entire property, ensuring no one slips through our fingers this time.

Declan and his team will be the ones breaching the building. They will be flooding inside from all entries. The idea is to take them by surprise and overwhelm the crowd, giving them less of a chance to escape.

“Are we all in agreement?” Declan asks, turning his gaze to Paige who nods. She smiles up at him with so much love and trust. The shit they’ve been through is something no one should ever experience. I’m happy beyond words they found each other.

Emily and Liam confirm they agree with the plan. Emily has been doing so much better since being in therapy and taking medication to treat her anxiety and depression. She still experiences nightmares which luckily are becoming less frequent as time goes on. When she’s having a particularly bad time, she says she sees some of the women she was trapped with.

Paige has also been attending therapy and writing in a journal when she’s out with her horse, Lily. She also still has a thirst for blood, which Declan is happy to satiate. The underground world knows her name and fears her just as much as they fear Declan.

The next couple of hours are filled with everyone prepping for our mission and the arrival of who we bring back.

Paige started an equestrian therapy foundation in hopes of helping other people who have been through similar situations of sexual abuse and human trafficking. So she tends to the horses, talking to them about the girls and women they’ll be meeting.

“Ready?” Declan and Liam step to my side where I stand, inspecting the weapons I plan to use.

“Just about,” I reply, loading the backup magazines with bullets and placing them inside their case.

Sarah steps to my other side. She changed into a pair of jeans and a hoodie for the flight to El Salvador, where the auction is taking place.

I’m not sure how far of a reach the Cartel has, but it’s clearly farther than I expected. They are present in almost every country around the world, so I hope we can pull this mission off and put a stop to Vladimir’s reign before it’s too late.

One of the men help me load the gun cases into the back of one of our SUVs. Declan and Liam say goodbye to Paige and Emily with promises of returning home, then we climb into the vehicles and ride toward the private airstrip.