Page 99 of Storm and Tempest

She whipped around to look at Ramon. “Don’t.”

He lifted his hands.

“What did they send you?” Jax asked. “Pictures of Kenna, or something else?”

She scrunched up her nose.

He took another step toward her. “Pictures of you?”

“I got rid of them all.” She gasped. “I wrote a program that went through every website, whether it’s indexed or not. Even the deep web. I took down every terabyte of data that had to do with me. I got rid of all of it. But they had—” Her breath caught in her throat.

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t want to tell her that it was unlikely she’d have ever been able to delete electronic pictures or video of the time she’d been held and abused. “I’m so sorry, Maze.”

“They said they’d publish it online and tell everyone I work for Kenna, and all kinds of?—”

“They were going to ruin all of us?”

She nodded sharply. “And they sent me this.” She tapped the screen of her iPad and turned it so he could see the screen. Audio kicked on, and he heard a heartbeat.

The sound of an ultrasound machine reading the heartbeat of a baby.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Faster than he’d have thought it would be. Stronger. He stared at the image of his baby, kicking and shifting in the womb. The baby’s head, and the little prominence of the nose. He could see the limbs and a couple of places where it looked translucent.

Jax sucked in a sharp breath.

Ramon squeezed his shoulder. “Did they threaten the baby?”

Jax stared at the video, unable to speak. They’d sent this to Maizie and not him. Because this life was a weapon they could use against people who cared about Kenna and wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her and her unborn child.

Maizie probably nodded, because Ramon squeezed Jax’s shoulder. Pain roiled through him, but for the first time it wasn’t something he thought about getting rid of with the right substance. He thought about Kenna and what she must be going through alone, and how he had their friends—their family—around him. He wasn’t going to give up, because he wasn’t alone. He was part of a team.

“They can’t know I told you.” Maizie backed up and slumped into a chair. “They’ll kill her.”

Jax tore his gaze from looking at the baby. “They won’t kill her. They need Kenna alive. That’s why they’re working so hard to divide us to keep us from finding her.”

Maizie’s gaze widened. “I meant they’ll killher.” She pointed at the iPad.

Jax stared at the young woman.

Ramon said, “It’s a girl?”

Maizie nodded. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you, or Elizabeth, or someone. But they said they’d destroy everything. They said Amara couldn’t be trusted and that your father was one of them.” She swallowed. “They said I would destroy everything.”

“Their goal is to divide us. To get us to doubt each other’s loyalty, split us up, and keep us from working together. Because they know that if we act as a team, we’ll find her.” Tears burned in his eyes. “We won’t stop until we find her.”

Maizie looked around, nervousness in her stiff movements.

Jax took the iPad and went to a chair so he could watch the video again. He found the Share icon and sent it to himself as well. The fact everyone else had information about his wife and he’d been sent nothing wasn’t lost on him. It made him wantto rage that they’d been keeping all this from him, knowing he would want to see it. That the life of his wife and child were being threatened and he had no idea.

His stomach clenched.

They’re alive.Dominatuswants them alive.

He had to remember that, or it would kill him wondering if, when he found her, it would be too late.

Hollace and Bear came over, dragging stools to sit. It put them at eye level with Maizie and made them less imposing so they weren’t towering over her.