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It was going to be a long walk, but he had the crutch, and Mike liked to think he was a strong bad-ass kind of man. But as he and Daryn headed toward his parents’ ER, he knew the truth.

It was all an act. He’d been trained to act despite fear. But that didn’t mean fear didn’t exist. His sister had been his immediate concern because he could do something about helping A.J.. At least that was what he’d told himself.

But now? He had six brothers and his parents to find. He’d heard his brother Houston’s voice on a radio someone had found. Houston was safe. Six more brothers to go. His hand tightened on Daryn as a crowd of people almost separated them. He wasn’t about to let this woman go. Especially as there was another storm brewing above them.

“Stay close, baby,” he said as lightning flashed. And she yelped. “I’ll get you someplace safe.”

He had meant nothing more.

She was beyond exhausted. Daryn pushed it away. She would shower at Shelby’s, rest. Try to forget. Once she knew Mike’s leg was going to be ok. That he, they, were ok.

“Tell me her story. Tell me how the two of you met?” Mike pulled her close as they just kept walking. He was limping. He had to be hurting so badly. But he kept her close as the rain started again. “Why did your brother train one of the richest women in the city on search and rescue techniques? It’s a rather odd hobby for the tea and caviar set.”

His questions immediately transported Daryn back to that time. Some of the darkest days of her life. The memories threatened to choke her. But he needed to understand… Shelby—and Daryn.

“First, it goes no further than you and me.” She was trusting him with one of the worst nights of her life. She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake. She hoped he understood what she was about to give him. “It changed us, what happened that night. Inevitable, I guess.”

“You, too?”

“I was there. I just… wasn’t hurt as badly as she was.” Daryn fought the tears. Tonight… tonight would be enough to bring it back, of course. Bring it out of the box in which she’d shoved it. “Darrell found me in time that night to stop it. Then he went looking for Shelby. I’ll never forget what those men did to her. Men who should have protected her. And the ones who just watched. Darrell said they were still wearing their TSP uniforms.”

“Back up. I ran her name myself back then. There was no report with her name, just a traffic ticket. I know that.”

Bitterness she couldn’t contain filled her. She’d looked, too. And looked. There were still people looking. “That’s because the men who attacked her—they were TSP . She’d called a friend to come and get her. Because we got separated. On purpose. Because that was the game they played then. Luring unsuspecting college girls to their place for their version of fun and games. Not ours. Where they hurt them. I don’t know if they ever raped a woman, Mike. But that night… they could have. And Shelby had told them no . They didn’t like that at all. I got lucky. I got away after they separated us. After they hit me. I got into a closet and I hid until my brother came for me. But Shelby… she couldn’t.” Tears mingled with the rain. “Darrell couldn’t find her in that house, that crowd, right away.”

He stopped walking. “She was assaulted.”

“Yes, but not in the way you mean. But that was next on their agenda. I’m sure of it. Slapped, hit, the way they cut her. They never got her clothes off, but the damage was done anyway. She called Logan Lanning. He just lived right up the road and would have done anything for her. He loved her, I think. Her brother showed up a few minutes later. He helped me help Shelby. The stab wounds were superficial. She was barely even scarred. But the damage they did to her up here,” she touched her head. As she just remembered. Remembered the damage of that night, damage that could never fully go away. “She’s terrified of the TSP now. Like a conditioned response, with full-blown PTSD, I think. She used to shake and pale every time we saw a patrol officer walking by. She goes to therapy now, and it’s helped. She uses Logan’s money to hide. And you and Callum—you brought it all right back up again just when she had finally started to heal. I hated you both for that. For a long, long time.”

How could she not have? Shelby had finally started to heal, just to have the TSP swoop in and destroy her all over again. Her friend had deserved so much better.