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“Levi Taylor owns a stretch of property north of the city,” Lucky announced. “It was originally set up in a trust under another man’s name—one with a completely different last name—which is why it took me so long to find it.”

The entire team had gathered at Chase’s apartment, since it was only a few blocks away from the scene of Scottie’s abduction. Logan had managed to talk Natalie into going back home after Archer and Lucky called their wives and asked them to go sit with the expectant woman so she wouldn’t be alone so close to her due date.

That was an hour ago, and they still had zero fucking leads…until now.

Chase immediately stopped pacing his living room floor, his attention shooting to the other man standing a few feet away.

“You’re sure it belongs to Taylor?”

“According to this, yeah.” Lucky nodded. “The guy’s foster dad left it to him after he died a few years back. It’s an undeveloped area within the forest near Swamp Creek. There aren’t any houses I can find, but current satellite images show an old shack not far from the creek’s bank.”

“Probably an old fishing shack,” Logan mused.

“That has to be it.” Chase held Lucky’s gaze. “That has to be where he’s taking her!”

“It fits,” Lucky agreed. “CCTV footage showed the van traveling in that direction before it cut off.”

“Then what the hell are we waiting for?” Chase turned and started for the door. “Let’s get our asses on the road and?—”

“Hold up, brother.” Archer didn’t budge from where he stood. “That’s a decent drive to make on a whim. If we’re wrong…”

The former SEAL didn’t finish the thought, but he didn’t have to. If they did this, if they drove to that piece of land, and Scottie wasn’t there…

There’s a damn good chance I’ll lose her forever.

Chase opened his mouth to respond, but Logan’s phone chose that same moment to start ringing. Their former team leader pulled the cell from his back pocket, giving the screen a quick glance before holding it up for all to see.

“It’s Knox,” he announced, referring to the Seattle detective helping them.

“Put it on speaker,” Chase told his friend.

With his phone held out for everyone to hear, Logan spoke to the detective on the team’s behalf.

“This is Hayes,” he answered the call. “You’re on speaker with me and the team.”

“We found the van.” Knox announced, bypassing a formal greeting. “Plates and front-end damage match. It’s definitely the same one that hit your truck.”

Chase’s heart flew into his throat. “Where?”

“Side road, just after a turn between Timber Creek and Swamp Creek. I’m sending Lucky the coordinates now.”

They found it!

“Swamp Creek?” The other man’s words sank in fully. To Lucky, he started to ask, “Didn’t you just say Taylor owned land near?—”

“Swamp Creek.” Lucky’s curt nod confirmed.

“And Scottie?” He marched closer to where Logan was standing. “What about?—”

“She wasn’t there.” The man’s words shattered Chase’s hopes. “The deputy that stumbled onto the scene said the van was empty when he got there. There was no sign of your girl or Taylor.”

Empty?

If no one was in the van, then…where the hell was Scottie?

“What else do you know?” Logan asked before Chase had the chance.

“Not much, since I got the call two minutes before I contacted you. The only other thing I do know is that the van was left in the middle of the road. Deputy Collins said it looked like it had been forced to make a sudden stop. Driver’s door and the back doors were left wide open, and the engine was still running.”

The fuck?

“She got away.” Van’s deep voice sounded for the first time in a while. “That’s the only thing that makes sense. Scottie got away, and Taylor ditched the van to go after her.”

“The place is nothing but trees.” Lucky flipped the tablet in his hands around so they could see the satellite image of the area.

“If she did escape, those trees would’ve been her best chance at losing Taylor,” Van added. “It’s where I would’ve gone if I were her.”

“Tell your people to start searching those fucking trees now!” Chase ordered Knox despite having no authority over the man. “We’re on our way!” He and the others headed for the door to leave.

While they made their way across the apartment’s wood floor, Knox added a rushed “ But… ”

Chase opened the door, freezing when heard the ominous word. “But what?” he practically shouted into Logan’s phone.

The damn thing was silent several seconds before he heard the detective say, “It’s a big area, Boyer. And there’s only so much manpower available at a moment’s notice, by both county and city. I just think you need to prepare yourself for a less than favorable outcome.”

Meaning the chances of the authorities finding Scottie alive weren’t good.

“Fuck that,” he growled back. To his team, he added a sharp, “Let’s go.”

Knox’s people may not be able to find her, but I sure as fuck will.

“I’ll pull up real-time satellite images on the drive there,” Lucky offered as he and the others exited the apartment behind him. “Any luck, we’ll catch some movement and be able to pinpoint her location.”

“You can hack into a satellite?” Logan questioned the man’s claim.

“Done it before.” Lucky shrugged.

“You have? ” Both Archer’s and Logan’s surprised voices filled the elevator as the men of Eagle’s Nest rushed to squeeze themselves inside the metal cart.

“When?” Archer sent an incredulous look in Lucky’s direction.

The computer genius slapped the button to take them to the building’s first floor. “You see, I’d tell you, but then I’d have to…well. You know.”

The conversation continued, but Chase’s frantic thoughts turned to Scottie. Was she okay? Had she been injured in the crash? Had that bastard, Taylor, hurt her?

His hands curled into a pair of white-knuckled fists at his sides as his heart ached to the point of physical pain. The woman he loved—the mother of the child they had created out of love—was somewhere out there in those fucking trees. Scared. Alone.

And she had no way of knowing he and his team were on their way to find her.

Please hang in there, sugar. I’m coming for you!

The group of five made it to their unmarked, full-sized SUV in record time. Van drove, while Chase took the front passenger seat. Archer, Lucky, and Logan all piled into the middle bench seat to save time.

They headed north, and Van pushed the vehicle as fast as it could safely go. Chase’s head pounded like a motherfucker, but his overwhelming worry for the woman he loved made him feel as though he was losing his mind.

Needing to focus on something other than the very real possibility of losing both her and their unborn child, he forced himself to return to the team’s earlier conversation.

“You said Levi Taylor was in the system as a kid?” Chase looked back at Lucky from over his shoulder.

“From the time he was four until he aged out, yeah,” he confirmed.

Keping his head down, the man focused on the tablet clutched tightly in his fists. With a tap of the glass, the image changed to split-screen.

One half still showed the aerial view of the trees near where the van was found. The other became filled with a slew of digital information.

“Says here, our guy bounced from home to home until he was twelve. Juvie records show an early indication of possible psychosis. Hurting and killing small animals. That sort of thing.”

“Christ.” Chase covered his rugged jaw with his hand and momentarily squeezed his eyes shut.

That was the kind of man they were dealing with? That was the kind of monster who had Scottie within his grasp?

“Tell me about it,” Lucky shared his despair. “Whoa, wait. That’s weird…” The man frowned. “All the trouble young Levi got himself into suddenly stopped shortly after he turned twelve.”

“Any idea why?” Logan asked from his spot behind Van’s seat.

“From what I can tell, that’s when the family welcomed a second foster kid. Another boy, two years younger than Taylor. His juvenile records are sealed, so it’ll take me a minute to see the specifics, but it looks like Taylor cleaned up his act when this other kid was just getting started. But then…Oh, shit.” Lucky’s expression flattened, then. His aqua blue eyes slid up to find Chase. “Pretty sure I just found the connection between Taylor and Scottie.”

“What is it?”

The brilliant man’s intense stare locked with his as he asked, “The name Dustin McVey ring a bell?”

Chase’s already nauseated gut tightened with dread. “You want to say that again?”

“McVey?” Archer looked around, waiting for more from no one in particular.

Logan gave the man a clueless shrug, as Chase began sharing what he knew.

“Dustin McVey is the twisted asshole who stalked Scottie before she moved to Seattle. Happened about a year ago. Scottie said McVey first saw her when she was a contestant on a reality cooking show. Apparently, the guy became obsessed and began terrorizing her to the point the studio hired a bodyguard to help keep her safe.”

“Jesus.” Logan shook his head in disbelief. “What happened?”

“He broke into her hotel room. Shot her bodyguard while trying to abduct Scottie.”

Joining in, Archer asked, “How’d she manage to get away?’

“Bodyguard got a shot off, too,” Chase explained. “Police were called, and McVey was arrested. Judge sentenced him to a twenty-five-year stint at a mental institution in SoCal.”

“He still there?” Van’s black gaze bounced between the road in front of them and Chase.

Chase nodded. “Lucky double-checked the night I first caught Taylor watching us outside the restaura?—”

“Uh…hold that thought …” Lucky cut through, catching the attention of everyone in the SUV. A beat later, they heard a frustrated, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

The man’s uncharacteristic outburst threw new flames on Chase’s already frazzled nerves.

“What?” He stared back at the man sitting in the seat behind him. “What did you find?”

“When I first looked into McVey for you two weeks ago, the mental institution’s intake system showed the guy confirmed as a current resident.”

“Yeah…and?” Chase prodded, his patience non-fucking-existent at this point.

Before Lucky could respond, Van piped up with a cynical, “Let me guess. The asshole was either released or escaped, and the hospital failed to let the public know before now.”

It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened. Hell, Lucky’s wife, Ellie, had recently dealt with that very scenario after a killer she’d once helped to convict escaped federal custody.

“McVey didn’t escape.” Lucky quickly shot down that possibility. “According to the updated records, the guy died a few weeks ago after being attacked by another patient.”

The ever-present dread in Chase’s gut swirled to the point he thought he might be sick. “That’s why Taylor went after Scottie. To him, she’s the reason McVey was in that place.” He swallowed against the rolling waves of fear. “To him, Scottie’s the reason?—”

“McVey died,” Van summed up their target’s most likely motive. The look on his tanned and rugged face said he agreed with the horrifying summation.

Just like that, everything finally clicked into place. They had the who. The why. And, though they still had to work hella fast to narrow it down, the where.

All that’s left now is to find my Scottie .

After that, Chase’s goal was simple. Once he had Scottie back in his arms, and he knew she was safe, he was going to make sure Levi Taylor didn’t lay a finger on her or anyone else.

Ever. Again.

Scottie ran, refusing to slow for even a second as she forcefully made her way through the forest’s thick foliage. Keeping her bound hands out in front of her, she pushed away the countless limbs and leaves creating a barrier between her and the non-existent path she was following.

The hiding place she’d found earlier had worked…until it didn’t. For what felt like the longest stretch of time, she’d kept herself curled into the smallest, most invisible ball she could manage.

Scottie had been so sure he’d see her. That he’d find her and drag her away to her death. She’d nearly cried out with terror knowing he was going to find and, ultimately, kill her.

After all, that was her abductor’s end game.

In his eyes, her death would be his retribution for her stalker’s murder. So-called justice for a man whose delusions about the two of them had nearly destroyed her sense of safety.

But since she had no plans of dying today, Scottie had done the only thing she could. When she heard the man hunting her growing closer to the cluster of trees where she’d been hiding, she’d picked up a nearby rock and thrown it in the opposite direction.

The redirection worked exactly as it had been designed. The kidnapper had assumed the noise had come from her, and he’d immediately turned and headed that way. Once he’d put several yards between them, Scottie had forced herself to move, once again going on the run.

And she was still running. Still terrified. Lost in a sea of seemingly endless trees as she desperately searched for a way out.

According to her watch, nearly an hour had passed since she’d last heard him in the distance. But still, she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop.

Scottie did, however, allow herself to slow down. If she cramped up or lost all her steam, she risked having to stop altogether. Stopping would only put her at greater risk.

Her feet crossed over the forest’s carpet of dead leaves, roots, and dirt. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she wasn’t huffing and puffing quite so much, Scottie realized the air had grown a bit cooler. Thicker and damp.

She paused mid-step when she heard something different than before. A steady, rushing noise she hadn’t heard before now. Something that sounded a lot like…

Water!

Hope flourished, and Scottie did stop. But only so she could try to get her bearings and find the direction of the source.

There!

To her right, Scottie noticed several chunks of daylight shining through the trees. There had to be a clearing there. A river or creek or…something to give her some sense of direction.

If she could get there and follow it downstream, she’d eventually make her way back to civilization. At least she prayed that was the case.

With no other choice but to follow that plan, she renewed her previous pace and took off running. Scottie watched her step as best she could while also focusing on her current path. In addition, she did her best to keep an eye out for the man who was after her.

He didn’t strike her as the type to simply give up and walk away.

Stepping through the last of the foliage, she made it out onto the grassy bank of a small creek. It looked to be about fifteen feet wide, but there was no way to know its depth. Scottie was a decent swimmer, but decided to stick to her original plan of following the creek’s southern path.

She turned and started to walk that way, praying it wouldn’t take long to find someone who could help. For the first time in a while, Scottie let her mind wander back to Chase.

God, she hoped he was okay. He had to be. For her, there was no other choice.

The image of his still and bleeding form filled her mind’s eye, and her chest grew tight with worry. Then she reminded herself of how strong Chase really was and the fact that he’d been a Navy freaking SEAL.

If anyone could be knocked down and get right back up again, it was him.

A sort of peace began to trickle its way in, and for a moment, Scottie truly believed she was going to be okay. But just as she was confident everything was going to work out in the end, something hard and strong slammed into her from behind.

The air was painfully forced from her lungs as the man she’d been running from tackled her to the ground. Their bodies twisted and turned, rolling together down the slope of a steeper section of the creek’s soft bank.

Scottie screamed with all she had while trying to fight her way free. Her terror-stricken voice echoed loudly throughout the nearby trees.

Locked together, a literal battle to the death ensued. She continued screaming at the top of her lungs in hopes that someone somewhere would hear.

The man flipped her over onto her back. Scottie’s legs shot out in several hard, vicious kicks. She dug her fingernails into any exposed skin she could find.

His hands. Neck. She even reached out and clawed at his face.

At one point, Scottie knew she’d at least caused him some pain, because he jerked his head back with a hiss. A twisted satisfaction filled her racing veins, and she couldn’t help but inwardly grin.

“You stupid bitch!” The man punched the invisible smile from her face.

Scottie’s head flew to the side as pain erupted within her skull. The unexpected blow left her on the precipice of unconsciousness, giving her attacker all the advantage he needed.

Through her blurred and fuzzy vision, she saw the man push himself up to his feet. He reached down, using the plastic ties still forcing her wrists together to aid in his effort to drag her away.

She did her best to fight him off, but he’d hit her damn hard. Still struggling to regain her full vision and strength, Scottie was unable to do anything but wait as the bastard forced her entire upper half into the cold and rolling creek.

Lying on her back, her lungs barely had time to capture any air before her head, shoulders, and chest were forced below the water’s shallow surface.

Rocks from the creek’s bed dug into her head and back, but the frigid temperature shocked her into a more alert state of mind.

Taking advantage of her renewed strength, she pushed against him enough to come up for a much deeper breath. Scottie pulled in as much life-saving oxygen as she could, her lips clamping shut half-a-second before she was shoved back under the water.

It became a sadistic dance between a killer and his victim. The push of pure evil versus the push for good to prevail.

In the end, she knew it was a fight she couldn’t win. But she refused to give up. For herself and her baby. And for Chase and the future they’d been so very close to achieving.

I’m so sorry, Chase. God, I love you. So very, very much!

Her lungs burned with the need for oxygen she couldn’t find, and she could feel herself growing weaker because of it. Scottie’s legs refused to kick as hard as before, and her bound hands no longer pushed against the man intent on ending her life.

She felt them fall limply into the water. The efforts put forth by her legs and feet no longer effective in their efforts to help her break free.

This was it. This was how she was going to die. And as Scottie began to let herself become lost in the cloud of darkness surrounding her, she found herself thankful for the chance to at least live out her greatest and most precious dream.

Even if it were only for a fraction of time, she’d known what it was like to love. Truly love. And she’d been loved.

By her mother. Her grandparents. And though it hadn’t been for nearly long enough…by Chase.

I…love…you…

The unspoken thought was the last thing to whisper through her fading mind when suddenly, the man holding her under the water was gone. At first, Scottie thought she’d crossed over to whatever was waiting for her on the other side, but then?—

A large hand fisted the front of her shirt and forcefully yanked her weakened form upward. Her head and shoulders broke the water’s surface, and not a moment too soon.

Scottie gasped and coughed, her mouth gaping like a fish out of water as she sucked in as much air as her starving lungs would allow. This went on for a handful of seconds before she managed to open her eyes to see what the hell had just happened.

It didn’t take long to figure it out.

Van, Chase’s teammate, was holding her steady with his hands on her shoulders. Concern filled the man’s dark, almost black stare as he asked her if she was all right.

She opened her mouth again, to thank him for saving her life. But the sound of a large scuffle pulled her attention to her right, and Scottie’s heart nearly stopped when she realized it was Chase.

He’d just rolled on top of the man who had damn near killed her. A murderous rage painted his handsome face red, while his fists pummeled her attacker over and over again.

He’s going to kill him if he doesn’t stop.

Lucky rushed over to her as Van used a knife to carefully cut her wrists free. “Oh, thank God! Are you okay?”

A million little pins and needles began poking her hands and fingers as the circulation in her extremities began restoring itself back to normal. Rather than answer the man’s worried question, Scottie pushed herself to a stumbling stand.

Her legs trembled beneath her, and she swayed more than once, but she didn’t stop until she was kneeling on the ground next to the man she loved.

“Chase,” she spoke softly, putting a hand on the back of his strained shoulder. “Stop. You’re going to kill him.”

He hit her kidnapper one more time.

“Chase!” Scottie said his name louder that time, needing to keep him from killing in her honor.

She didn’t want that for Chase, despite the crazed lunatic’s violent actions toward her. Mostly because she assumed he already had plenty of other ghosts from his SEAL days to contend with.

I can’t be the reason he adds another one to his collection.

“Ch-Chase,” she choked again, coughing to clear her strained throat before letting him know, “I’m okay!”

She was scared out of her wits, and the reality of how closely she’d come to death hadn’t fully sunk in. But for now, Scottie was alive. The rest, she’d deal with later.

Chase froze mid-swing, his wild gaze flying straight over to hers. He blinked, and it was then she realized he finally saw her.

“I got this, brother.” Logan took control of the jerk lying unconscious on the ground. “You take care of her.”

With her next breath, Scottie found herself being pulled into Chase’s arms.

“Jesus, baby!” His strong, comforting hold became impossibly tighter. “I thought I lost you forever!”

“I thought so, too.” Tears spilled over, falling in waves down her cold, wet cheeks. “H-how did you even?—”

He slammed his lips to hers in a kiss Scottie knew she’d remember for the rest of her days.

“I love you!” he blurted the second their mouths parted ways. “ Both of you. So fucking much!”

It wasn’t until he placed a gentle palm over her soaking wet belly that the last half of what he’d said finally sank in.

Scottie felt her heart kick the inside of her ribs.

“Y-you…know?” She swallowed hard, her throat scratchy and tender from her earlier screams.

“About the baby?” Emotion poured into the blues of his eyes. “Yeah, sugar. I know. And I get why you were afraid to tell me, but Scottie, I…” His strong voice cracked as his gaze shone with a well of unshed tears. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be with you. To marry you, and”—he glanced down a moment before his focus returned to where it was before—“to have a family with you.”

Fresh tears fell with the water dripping from her hair. “I’m not even sure…I mean, I fell from the back of that van, and then that m-man…” A giant knot formed at the base of her throat. “It’s so early, Chase. What if…what if I did something to hurt the baby?”

He kissed her again with all the gentleness and care of a man who treasured the woman he loved. “We were brought back together for a reason, Scottlynn.” He used her given name. “And if there’s one thing I’m sure of…especially after today…it’s that you and I can handle anything that comes our way. As long as we’re together.”

God, she loved this man.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the second I took the test.”

“Shhh…” He brushed a few strands of her soaked hair away from her eyes before tucking them behind her ear. “Remember what I told you the night I proposed? No more letting the past steal whatever time we have left together.” Chase leaned his forehead against hers. “From now on, from this moment forward, all we need to focus on is our future.”

Our future.

Scottie had thought it had been lost to them both forever. But now…

A loud commotion stole her attention. She and Chase—along with the rest of the men on his team—looked up in time to see a slew of uniformed officers making their way through the tree line.

Their guns were in their hands. Their intense stares quickly assessing the situation. Logan motioned for the one closest to him to come over and cuff the man responsible for it all. And once he did, Scottie knew her nightmare was officially over.

Several minutes later, she was walking beside Chase, surrounded by the other four men on his team. Together, they were making their way back to the team’s SUV, which was apparently parked much closer than the van in which she’d previously escaped.

Chase filled her in on what she didn’t know about her kidnapper. The working theory was when ten-year-old Dustin McVey came to live with Levi Taylor’s foster family, Taylor—who was only twelve at the time—began grooming his new little brother as his sickening sidekick.

From what Chase and the others surmised, Taylor could control his mental instability far better than McVey. Which explained why Taylor had been able to hold a job and come off as a productive member of society while McVey ended up murdered in a state-run institution for the criminally insane.

In the end, they both lost their freedom. McVey having paid for his sins with his life. Taylor was already on his way to the King County Jail where he’d sit all alone in an eight-by-eight cell until he was either sent away to prison or a place like the one his foster brother spent his remaining days.

Either way, it was over. No matter where the asshole ended up, she was safe. All thanks to the man doing his best to hold back his anger over what she’d been put through, including the bruise she could already feel forming on her face.

“H-How did you guys even find me?” Scottie needed to know.

“That’s another long story.” Chase’s mouth lifted into a heartwarming smile. “Basically, Lucky worked his tech magic, we figured out which part of the forest you were in, and Van broke every land speed record known to man to get us here.”

“Thank you.” She said the words to Chase before looking around at the others. “All of you. If you hadn’t shown up when you did…”

Archer shot her a quick wink. “We’re just glad it ended the way it did.”

“Me, too,” Scottie chuckled.

It seemed odd to be laughing and smiling at a time like this. But then she realized this was the perfect time to smile. The best time to laugh. Because she was alive, and she and Chase were in love. And…she prayed…still expecting their very first child.

The black and tinted SUV came into sight as she and the team made their way out of the trees. They were only a few yards away when Logan’s phone began to ring.

“It’s Nat,” he announced as he answered the call. “Hey, baby, we got her! Scottie’s safe, and the man who took her is in police custody, so we’re on our way back to the—” He stopped dead in his tracks, his hazel eyes growing wide with surprise. “What? When?” His expression went from surprise to concern. “Are Ellie and Cassie still with you?” A giant look of relief fell over the frantic man. “Okay, good. Have her and Ellie drive you to the hospital. I’ll meet you there. And Nat?” The man waited a beat before adding a heartfelt, “I love you.”

“The hospital?” Chase asked as soon as Logan ended the call. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I hope. Natalie’s water just broke!” The man’s lips spread into a wide, almost shell-shocked grin, his overwhelming excitement shining through as he hollered out, “Well, hot damn! We’re gonna have ourselves a baby!”