Page 108 of Rescued Dreams

“You get money when I get money. Got it?”

Cherry slid into the front seat.

Nicholas was taking her from here, leaving destruction in his wake. Cherry was the getaway driver. No one would suspect a pregnant woman—apparently not even Kane and Maria. They’d been suspicious of her but let her go. Which had turned out to be a good thing, considering they’d discovered Ridge at the bottom of the stairs. Left for dead.

If he could be saved, they would be able to do it.

Meanwhile, she would be long gone.

Nicholas opened the trunk of the car. “We’re getting cozy for the ride. But I’m sure we’ll both enjoy it.”

Cold washed over her, and she shuddered.

But as long as her friends weren’t the target anymore, wasn’t this better? Not her preference for the outcome, but she could handle whatever Nicholas was going to do to her. What counted was that the twins got free of this situation.

Nothing that happened to her mattered.

Not if they lived.

THIRTY-SIX

Ridge leaned against the doorframe, gasping, trying not to collapse onto the floor. Maddie and Ella stared at him from inside two cages. To their left was an empty one, and beside that, Olivia Tazwell sat holding her arm to her chest.

“Is Ridgey okay?”

Of course Maddie was more concerned with him than with her own situation.

Kane and Maria crouched in front of the cages and broke off their discussion about how to defuse the device on the cage’s padlock.

“I’m okay, Mads.” He would be better when everyone was out of here. Not just everyone except Amelia. “It hit the vest.”

“You don’t look okay,” Ella said.

“He’s okay,” Kane said.

Ridge needed to reassure her but couldn’t muster up the energy to do more than stand here, using the doorway to hold himself up. Bruised ribs and a gunshot that’d slammed into his chest? Yeah, they were probably broken ribs now.

Olivia said, “I got shot once. It was a through and through.”

“What does that mean?” Maddie glanced between him and Olivia.

The cop said, “It means the bullet went in the front and out the back. It was high enough on my shoulder that it missed anything vital.”

“It went in and came out?” Maddie wailed.

Olivia shifted, gritting her teeth. “That’s a good thing. A bullet is dirty. Wearing a vest? Even better.”

Maddie said, “Where’s Amelia?”

Ridge wanted an answer to that question but didn’t have it in him to respond to Maddie.

Kane said, “Soon as you’re out of here, we’re gonna go find her.”

Maria did something to the mechanism, then pulled it off the padlock, tossing it aside.

Ridge had lost a good amount of time lying on the floor, almost passing out. Able to hear Amelia being dragged away by Nicholas. He’d wanted to run after her but couldn’t move, let alone be the one who rescued her.

If it was going to happen, it would be Kane who saved her.