Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Get in with the baby,” Micah says.
“What? No. I need to go to my sister.”
“You need to go home with our son where it’s safe. When we get Ellie, she’s going to need you.”
I want to argue, but he’s right, and I don’t want to waste time when I know he’ll never let me put myself in harm’s way. So instead, I pull him into a quick hug, telling him that I love him and to please bring Ellie home.
He nods into my hair. “I love you, and I will.”
And then Colton and I get into the car with one of the guards, and I pray my husband comes back alive with Ellie in tow.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ELLIE
“Please! No!” I scream, trying with everything in me to shake my body enough that the doctor won’t be able to cut me open. “Please,” I beg. “Don’t do this! It’s not time!”
The doctor gives me a look of sympathy, and tears fill my eyes, knowing he has no choice. Either I was imagining that he said he would get help, or he was unsuccessful. Either way, he’s numbed me from the waist down, has prepped me for a caesarean delivery, and is about to cut me open and tear my baby out of me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
“I’m waiting on the other nurse to arrive,” he says to Eleazar. “She’s the pediatric nurse. We need her to—”
“I’m done waiting!” Eleazar barks. “Cut her open now!”
“Please! You can’t—”
“Shut up!” Eleazar slaps me across the face so hard, I nearly black out. “Shut her up!”
“I don’t—” the doctor begins, but Eleazar cuts him off.
“Shut her up, or I’ll kill your entire family.”
The doctor nods and grabs something from the table. When I glance over, I see it’s a needle.
“Please don’t,” I whimper.
“I’m sorry,” he mutters almost incoherently. “This will put you to sleep,” he says a bit louder, “so you won’t feel any pain.”
I swallow nervously, staring at him as he sticks me with the needle. A few moments later, everything begins to turn hazy. I try to keep my eyes open, but they’re too heavy.
There’s a loud bang followed by several more bangs, and I want so badly to see what’s going on, but my eyes give up, closing of their own accord as everything around me fades to black, and I pray that my baby’s okay.
Lincoln
From the moment I got the text from Micah telling me they have a lead as to where Ellie might be, followed by his location, everything kicked into overdrive.
I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but I knew my brother wouldn’t fuck with me, so I followed the location until it led me to a back road with fresh tracks.
But instead of taking that road, I kept following where Micah was leading me. When I saw his vehicle, I pulled up and got out.
“Where are we? Where is she?”
“I think she’s down the road we passed.”
“How the hell do you know?”
“A nurse tipped Sienna off. She drove down that road, but I kept going. She wrote that Ellie is in danger.”
“So, what the fuck are we waiting for?” I start heading back to my car, but Micah gets out and catches up to me.
“Stop. We don’t know what we’re walking into. This could be a trap. Whoever has her is most likely armed, probably with an army of men who’ve been told to shoot without question. We need to be smart about this. I sent Max the location, and he’s gathering information.”
Fuck, I know he’s right. But the idea of us being so close to Ellie and unable to get to her has me shaking.
“Yeah?” Micah says, putting his phone to his ear as two more vehicles arrive with our men inside. “Okay, thanks.”
He hangs up. “He was able to hack into a satellite nearby. There’s an abandoned house about a mile back. Two guys are guarding the front door, two in the back. He can’t see inside, but...”
“But the chances of this being a coincidence is slim. Ellie’s got to be in there.” For the first time in a damn month, I have hope that we’re going to find her.
“Yeah,” Micah agrees as we’re handed Kevlar vests and weapons.
We go over the game plan, with the goal to get in and get out with Ellie—as well as the nurse who Micah believes put her life on the line to deliver the message to Sienna—and then we pile into two vehicles, leaving the others here. Since driving up would tip the guards off and risk Ellie’s captor doing something crazy, we pull over halfway up the road and park, getting out and walking the rest of the way.
Because they’re not expecting anyone to be approaching by foot, we’re able to surround the area. We take out the guards quickly, and Micah and I run in, knowing our men have our backs.