Page 70 of To Hold and Protect

Fanny’s! Kade, Harper, and Duke were in Charlotte, but Parker only had to wait a few minutes for Andrew to arrive. “Lock the door behind me, set the alarm, and don’t answer for anyone while I’m gone,” he told Andrew.

“Okay, I won’t.”

He put his hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “I mean it. I don’t care who it is or what they say, don’t open the door.” Assured that Everly was in good hands, he and Ember jumped in the SUV and with lights lit and the siren blaring, he raced to Fanny’s.

The firehouse was only two streets over from Fanny’s, so his firefighters and engines were already there when he arrived, as were Tristan and Skylar, since their loft was on Main Street, close to Fanny’s shop.

He rolled down the windows for Ember, then headed for his brother and Skylar. “Just the dumpster?” he asked as he surveyed the scene. The contents of the dumpster were still smoldering, but there were scorch marks up the back of Fanny’s building from the fire. The back door had black soot on it, too. He made a mental note to send his crew out to businesses and order any who had dumpsters backed up to their building to move them away.

“Yeah,” Tristan said. “Fortunately, one of my officers out on patrol saw smoke coming up behind Fanny’s. If he hadn’t seen the smoke, it could have been worse.”

“I’ll bring Ember in when it’s cooled down, but we know the fire’s intentional. We need to find this woman before someone gets hurt.”

Skylar glanced from Tristan to him. “I keep asking myself what she plans and what she wants.”

He nodded. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”

“Whatever it is, it involves you, brother,” Tristan said.

That was obvious by now, and he hated that he’d brought trouble to his town.

Chapter Thirty

“Wake up, honey.”

Everly tried to push away the fingers digging into her arm. It wasn’t her daddy’s fingers. He wouldn’t hurt her like that. The hand didn’t go away no matter how hard she pushed.

“Up with you,” a woman said, pulling her out of bed.

“Who are you?” It was too dark to see, but she thought she’d heard that voice before. She couldn’t remember where. “Where’s my daddy?”

“Your daddy told me to come get you. He’s hurt, and he needs you.”

“Daddy’s hurt?” How? Her daddy was a strong man. No one could hurt him. “I want my daddy.”

“I’m going to take you to him, honey. But first, I need you to drink this.”

A glass was pushed into her hand. “What is it?”

“Milk.”

“I don’t like milk.”

“Your daddy said you need to drink it if you want to see him.”

Everly wished it wasn’t too dark to see the woman’s face. But she wanted to see her daddy, so she drank the milk. It was hard because she really didn’t like milk. The woman took the glass from her, then picked her up and carried her out of her room.

Something didn’t feel right, and she tried to get down. “I don’t know you. I can’t talk to you.” Her tongue felt like it was bigger than it was supposed to be.

“We have to go,” the woman said. She took Everly to a window. “See, your father’s studio is on fire. We have to leave now.”

Was her daddy in there? “Daddy!” she screamed. She tried to get down, but she was so sleepy.

“Stop it,” the woman said, sounding mean.

Everly didn’t like this woman, and she had to save her daddy. “Let me go!” She bit the woman on the face when the woman’s arms tightened around her.

“Damn it! You little bitch. When you’re my daughter, you’ll learn to behave.”

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