You kidnapped a child?

I stood between trees in a lonely forest in the middle of nowhere, knowing Jace and his men stood at the opposite side, hiding behind trees.

I shakily ruffled my hair to look rough— a little undone but still alluring.

The sound of approaching engines had my heart slamming against my chest at an irregular rate. I let out a loud breath, pressing a hand against my belly and praying I wouldn't get myself killed with the stunt I was about to pull.

If these men were anything like Jace and his crew, then they wouldn’t be that hard to fool.

I started to race into the middle of the road, throwing my head behind me like I was being chased, tears staining my eyes, letting the black mascara Jace made me apply run down my face as I threw myself in front of the black, sleek, shiny car like I didn’t see it coming.

I shut my eyes tightly as tires came to a screeching halt. This time, the horrified pants leaving my mouth were beyond real. Doors flung open, and three men in identical black suits walked towards me.

A crippling fear rippled through me and alarm rang in my brain. My head tipped up to get a good look at the men approaching, and nothing about their stoic faces gave away any expression.

One single thought raced through my head as I stared at them with my chest heaving:

These men are nothing like Jace and his goons.

“Is everything okay?” one of them asked, his hands folded in front of him, but he made no more move toward me.

I snapped back from my thoughts, crawling toward the men, panic sizzling through my veins.

“Pl-please help me!” I cried out.

“How did you get here, ma'am?” the man calmly asked again.

I ignored my pounding heart and nodded, discreetly seeing Jace’s figure heading toward the big bus behind their car.

“I-I-I don’t know. I-I don’t remember,” was all I could come up with, but my tears were real— from my raw fear and frustration.

“Raphael, we need to leave,” I heard another man bark.

“We can’t just leave her like this. We almost ran her over,” the first man argued.

“Her and her problem are neither of our business. Don will not be happy to know we stopped in the middle of nowhere, regardless of the reason—especially with children,” the other man said roughly again.

Children?

My heart raced harder at the thought of children being present. There were no kids in sight.

My eyes zeroed in on the bus behind us all.

Jace wasn’t out yet. My fingers began to shake uncontrollably, and more tears spilled from my eyes. I didn’t want anyone getting hurt.

“Pl-please, just help me to a hospital,” I croaked out.

“Raphael, get in the car,” the other man said sternly, his eyes slicing through me like he knew I was up to no good.

If I thought Jace was scary, this stranger upped the bar.

Everything began to happen so fast, it almost felt like a figment of my imagination—if not for the blood coating my face.

The sight of Jace getting down from the big bus with a struggling child in his arms left me paralyzed and frozen.

What in the fuck!?

He had his palm against her nose and mouth. She looked no more than seven.

I couldn’t process the sight or the thought of what he was doing, neither could I stop staring in his direction in shock.

The men in front of me all turned toward my line of sight and, in seconds, guns from nowhere were drawn—too quickly, Multiple horrifying shots filled the air, and all three of them lay on the ground, unconscious.

My heart almost dropped onto the ground along with their bodies. Screams of children sucked the air from my lungs, and my head snapping towards the bus.

Oh my goodness!

My wide eyes still remained fixed on Jace and the child in his arms. I could barely hear him yelling my name.

One of his men raced to my side and roughly dragged me by my arm towards our ride.

I was placed in a different car from Jace and the child he took. The adrenaline from the men around me made me stiff and tense, my mind still in shock from the deaths I had just witnessed.

The ride back to the house felt much faster.

I threw myself out of the car in a rush, ignoring the cursing men behind me. My mind racing, my body shook violently, and for the first time in my life, it was not from fear—it was rage.

Rage was all I could feel. It swallowed me whole.

By the time I got inside, Jace stood in the middle of our living room. The cries of the little girl now came from upstairs, excitement pumping out of his every pore, increasing my rage.

“Jace,” I yelled, startling him.

“Are you fucking insane? A child? You kidnapped a child?” I asked, panting heavily.

“Tell me I’m mistaken, tell me I’ve got it all wrong. She is a fucking child!” I threw my hands in the air, trembling from anger.

“Calm the fuck down,” Jace waved me off.

“You killed people, Jace! They probably have family waiting at home. You promised no one would get hurt!” I screamed at the top of my voice.

In a fast move, Jace snatched me by my hair and slammed my back against the wall, knocking the breath out of me as pain flooded through me.

“Watch your fucking mouth. Exactly—I did. If you weren’t being so stupid, it would have remained that way. I told you to distract them, not give them a fucking clue by looking in my direction, crazy. It’s your fault they’re dead. You killed them, not me,” Jace snarled.

My rage dissolved so quickly at his words, like it was never there.

“Now, if you want that baby of yours to remain alive and well, you'd better go up those stairs and shut that child the hell up while I work on getting my ransom—before I do it myself.”

I didn’t wait for additional orders before I staggered up the stairs, tripping on my own feet a few times.

I took a deep breath in front of our room, my heart aching at the sound of the child’s cries.

I peeled the door open, and the nagging feeling I’d had all morning—that something terrible was about to go wrong—weighed down on me with vengeance. What else could possibly go more wrong than Jace kidnapping an innocent child and killing three people?

“Hello.” The sound of a child, so scared, left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Jace had gone as far as binding her wrists and tiny feet. She had a cloth over her eyes.

“Hi,” I whispered, moving closer to the shaking child on the bed.

“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I promise,” I said as quietly as possible, but she only remained stiff and quiet.

“C-can I touch you? I’m just going to take the cloth off your eyes.” After a long moment, she nodded.

I slowly peeled off the cloth, forcing a pleasant smile onto my face, guilt gnawing at my chest.

It was my fault she was here. I helped kidnap a baby.

My bottom lip trembled at the thought, and I swallowed harshly.

“Hi,” I repeated nervously, bending until I reached her height on the bed.

“I want to go home,” she said, her tiny lips trembling alongside mine, her entire face red and puffy from crying.

“You will. Soon,” I promised.

The two of us fell into silence for more than fifteen minutes, just breathing as I found a comfortable spot beside her.

“What’s your name?” her tiny voice suddenly asked.

“Giselle,” I smiled—a real smile. “What’s your name?”

“Lauryn, but my daddy calls me Lynnie,” she replied, her mood brightening for a second.

“Oh, you have a daddy waiting at home for you?” I whispered.

“Yes. He’ll be very angry when he finds out your friends took me,” she said with such certainty that my heart skipped a beat.

“How old are you?” I asked, ignoring her comment.

“Seven. I’ll be eight soon, in six months.” She said with a big smile, like this was a question she enjoyed answering.

“That’s amazing.” I laughed, and we fell into silence again.

“Giselle,” she called after a while. “When can I go home?” I ignored the lump in my throat.

“Soon, sweetie. Soon,” I answer quietly, unsure.

“I’m scared.” My heart broke at her words.

“I’m scared too,” I said, feeling light for the first time in a very long while.

“Do you want to know what I do when I’m afraid?” nodded quickly, her large grey eyes watching mine.

I placed her tiny hands on my belly, and we both speak to my unborn child for the longest time. I not only managed to distract her but also myself. Listening to Lauryn’s giggles made life seem bright and pure again—until we both lulled to sleep.

I jerked awake at the sound of a loud slam and a scream from downstairs, all traces of sleep eluding me.