“We’re here to get D. Do you know who she is?” Biting on his lower lip, the kid slowly nods his head. “Do you know where they’re keeping her?” This time, he shakes his head, and although not being any closer to finding Hadley must frustrate Beck as much as it annoys me, he doesn’t let it show. “We have a friend who is going to get you out of here, but I need you to do something for me. Do you think you can do that?”
The boy hesitates before nodding his head again, and Beck smiles reassuringly at him. Who knew he was so good with kids. I wouldn’t have a clue what to do if he wasn’t here. “Good. I need you to stay here.” The boy’s eyes widen, but Beck continues on, quickly reassuring him, “Nobody will be able to get in here. The code didn’t work for the guard who was in here with you, did it?”
When the kid shakes his head, Beck explains, “That’s because we changed it. If you stay here, I’m going to tell my friend where you are, and he’s going to come get you. You’ll know you can trust him, because only the good people will have the code to open the door, okay?”
The kid's gaze lifts to mine. I give him what I hope is an encouraging nod, and when he looks back at Beck, he silently nods.
“Good man. You’re going to be alright, kid. My friend will be here soon to get you.”
Beck gets to his feet, and with one final look at the wide-eyed kid, we get back to our mission of finding Hadley.
My brain is still trying to process the fucked up shit we just saw as we make our way back to the main corridor.
“Hold up a sec,” Beck says, throwing his arm out to stop me. “Let me see the blueprint again.”
Pulling up the map on my phone, I hand it over to him, and his lips thin as he presses them together, analyzing the map.
“What is it?”
“I remembered something Hadley once said.” He lifts his gaze to look at me. “Those rooms back there were too small. The way she described her visits with Lawrence…she told me he would get her to make drinks for him, and he liked when they ate together.”
My lip curls back on a snarl. “Like a fucking date?!” What the hell is wrong with that sick fuck?
Ignoring my angry outburst, Beck continues on with his train of thought, “It sounded like she was in an apartment. Not a small room, like the ones we just saw.”
Catching on to what he’s saying, I lean in to look at the map with him. Zooming in on one of the unlabeled areas that is hidden at the back of the building, away from everything else, it looks like it’s one relatively large room.
“There. That must be where Lawrence took her.”
My blood boils with anger, renewing my determination, and I take off toward that part of the compound, ready to take down any fucker that gets in my way.
Blood rushes in my ears, and my thoughts are only on holding Hadley in my arms again as I run to the far end of the building. I can just about hear Beck’s footfalls as he races beside me; my focus is so fixed on finding Hadley that I don’t even realize we have company until I hear a gunshot, and a second later, a weight slams into me, knocking me off my feet. I go crashing to the floor, the impact forcing the air out of my lungs.
A fist crashes into my face, and the tangy taste of blood floods my mouth. Snarling, I slam my knuckles into the asshole’s side. I shove him off me, and roll over until I’m straddling him, delivering another blow to his head. My fists connect with his face, over and over, until he’s nothing but a bleeding pulp beneath me. Lifting my gun out of the back of my pants, I flick off the safety and point it at his head. With my finger on the trigger, I take a deep breath and pull. The shot rings out, and blood splatters me, but I’m barely aware of it over the whooshing of my pulse in my ears.
Panting heavily and still in shock, I lift my gaze, finding Beck fighting off two more guards. Stumbling to my feet, I go to help him, but he sees me.
“Hadley,” he shouts, delivering a round-house kick to one of the guards. I hesitate a second longer, and he spares me a glance. “I got this, go get our girl.”
I give him a curt nod and, swiping a dribble of blood from the corner of my lip, I race away from the fight, to the steel door at the end of the corridor that should have our girl locked behind it.
Entering the code, I pull open the door and step into an empty corridor. There’s nothing here except a single door at the far end of the hall, and I rush toward it. Holding my gun in my right hand, when the keypad flashes green and the door unlocks, I quietly open it and hold the gun in front of me, freezing at the sight before me.
My eyes dart from the dead man to the deranged, blonde-haired, blood-soaked angel straddling him, as she drives a knife into him like someone possessed.
Stepping forward, my gaze falls back to the dead body on the floor, and this time, I see past the blood, taking in the lifeless eyes of my father.
“Baby Davenport.” The words are barely more than a whisper, coming out on the end of a shocked gasp, but they break through whatever trance she was in, and with the knife held above her head, ready to plunge into my father again, she freezes.
She lifts her eyes to mine. “Cam?” Her voice breaks, and studying her closely, I notice how thin her face has gotten. Her eyes look dull, her cheeks sunken, and tears track down her face, mixing with the blood spatter. She should probably look nightmarish, like some sort of born-again demon, but hovering over the dead body of her very own monster, knowing she conquered her fear—that she fucking saved herself—she looks like the fucking queen of hell.
The knife slips from her grip, clattering to the floor; and in the next second, I’ve closed the distance between us, falling to my knees beside her. Her lips crash against mine, and her thin arms wind around my neck as my father’s blood soaks into my pants.
“It’s really you,” she murmurs in wonder, her warm breath tickling my lips. My hands roam over her, unable to believe she’s really in my arms, relatively safe and sound. “You came for me.”
Cupping her face in my palms, I drink her in. “It’s really me, baby. It took too long for me to sort out my shit and let you in, I’m not about to lose you now.”
She leans in, fusing her lips to mine once again. With every clash of our tongues, my fear and worry abate, replaced with an overwhelming need to hold her close and never let her go again. My arms wrap around her, and I mentally note how much thinner she is as I effortlessly drag her into my arms, not giving one single shit that she’s drenched in blood.
“Cam,” she moans, grinding against me. Her sultry tone goes straight to my crotch, and I pull back, highly aware of how fucking inappropriate all of this is.
Refusing to put any distance between us, she follows me, her lips chasing mine.
“Hadley—”