MOLLYMatt was outside my bedroom door, and I’d blasted my fan, telling him not to bother me for a few hours. I was going to take a much-needed nap.All my craziness. All the times I reacted to situations and ended up making things worse. Most of those times, I hadn’t made a conscious decision. I’d only felt the switch happening, and then bam, I was reacting and doing stupid things to put my loved ones in danger.This was different. I was choosing to do something stupid, but I was doing it to save someone I loved.So, I snuck out using the secret exit.Ashton shouldn’t have told me about it because it was going to be my personal front door. Also, it was just plain awesome because there was a tunnel that went under a whole other building. It came out to a side street, but because no one thought I knew about it, and I doubted Ashton thought I’d use it, I totally used it.The same gray sedan that we’d used to pick up my dad was waiting for me behind a dumpster. I ran over. “Go, go, go.”

MOLLYNea drove for a while. She and Jess were talking, but we couldn’t hear much in the back. My phone was buzzing, and I answered, already knowing it was Ashton.“We’re in the back of a vehicle.”“I’m aware.”Oh, boy. His voice was already grim. He was not happy.“I’ll call when we’ve stopped—”“We’ve been following you for the last three blocks. Tell Nea to pull over in the nearest parking lot.”“What?” I looked up, peering through the window, and there he was. Ashton was glaring at me from the front seat, right next to Elijah, whose mouth was twitching. “How’d you find us?”“I put a tracker on your phone, remember? Tell her to turn off.”“Oh, okay.” I twisted back around. “Nea! We have a ride. Pull over.”“What?” Both she and Jess said that at the same time.I motioned behind us. “The cavalry found us.”“What?”Jess cursed. “There’s a parking lot. Go there.”She hit the turn signal, moving over, and once she had stopped, vehicles swarmed us. Literally. One went in front. Two went

MOLLYMy stomach fuzzies were on drugs. I could barely stand still, but Jess, total cool. All cool. She was the definition of cool. We were in a back room in one of the towers, and I kept moving the flowers around. Dress was perfect. Hair was perfect. Makeup was on point. Shoes were on. So, flowers. They needed to move from the left. That wasn’t right. To the right.Back to the left.No. They looked better in the front—“Stop, my beautiful sunshiny boss and soul sister.” Sophie moved in, taking the flowers from me and putting them on a counter.I sucked in my breath. “That’s a perfect location for them.”Her smile was a little tight. “I know. You’ve put them there seven times in the last hour. You need to calm down. You’re not the one getting married.”My hands were tingling, so I began wringing them, shaking them out. What were the tingles from? Why was I all tingly? The fuzzies had begun to invade the rest of my body. The fuzzies usually only came out to play when Ashton was around,

MOLLYOh, god.Not again, but again.All that flashed through my head in the space when Ashton let me back down, and bang!Bang!He cursed, pulling up my panties, then fastening his own pants. He had a gun out, and where did he get that gun? But he had it pointed down, and he took my hand, pulling me to the back of the shed.I looked around, hearing the screams but knowing I had to follow Ashton.Another scream. God. That was Jess’s mom.And another—that was Sophie.I started to turn, to run for her, but Ashton caught my hand. “No. No, babe.”I could hear Sophie crying. A guttural scream left me, but Ashton yanked me against him, clamping a hand over my mouth and wrapping an arm around my stomach. He was hurrying backward, carrying me with him, and he had the gun in his hand. “Ssssh. Please, Molly. Please.”I was crying, already knowing I was about to lose someone. I didn’t care if it was me. Just not someone else. Please.I stopped fighting to get free, and Ashton put me back down at

ASHTONI was going to murder whoever was doing this, whoever was putting my loved ones at risk, whoever dared to bring this fight here. Here. My compound. My family’s compound. The one I loathed.I raced from building to building, tearing open every door to find everyone.Marco and Remmi were in a back closet.Avery and Elijah found me when we moved to another building. They helped take my primo and Trace’s sister to another safe room.I kept going. I had to keep going.Everyone had to be safe. We couldn’t lose anyone.I swept through the staff building now.Trace was inside, holding a gun up and aimed right at me. He cursed, seeing me. “Thank god.”I grated out, “We need to find the rest.”“Molly?”“They’re safe. They’re in my office.”I turned, my gun in hand, and I kept going. Always keep going. Always.Never stop. Never stop fighting.“Ashton. Jesus.” Trace touched my arm. “You’re shaking.”Avery’s radio sounded. There was another barrage of gunfire before a voice came over, yelli