Page 73 of To Hold and Protect

She wasn’t in her bed. The window was open, the screen on the floor. He leaned out it, and he thought his heart was going to explode at seeing one of the chairs from the deck table under the window. He only took a moment to watch his firefighters drag hoses through the backyard. His studio burning down didn’t matter, not when his daughter was missing. “Tristan!” He ran out of the room, searching for his brother. “Tristan!”

“In the library.”

“Send out an Amber Alert. Now! She took Everly.” Oh, God. His baby was gone.

“Are you sure she’s not in the house?” Skylar said as he ran past her.

“She’s gone. We have to find her.” He came to an abrupt stop in the library at seeing Andrew tied to a chair.

“Talk to us,” Tristan said as he cut the plastic ties.

“I’m sorry.” Tears ran down Andrew’s face. “She had a gun, and I didn’t know what to do.”

A gun? The woman who took his daughter, his reason for breathing, had a gun? “I... I...” He bent over, put his hands on his knees, and tried to suck air back into his lungs.

Skylar put her hand on the back of his neck. “Breathe, Parker. You have to get it together or you’re no good to Everly. We’ll find her.” She gave him a gentle squeeze, then left.

Right. She was right. He had to get it together and find his baby. He needed to be like Kade—fucking invincible, take-no-prisoners Kade. A warrior who refused to fail. That was who he had to be, so that was who he was. He stood, drew that air he needed into his lungs, and forced himself to focus.

Tristan had cut the ties from Andrew’s wrists and ankles, and he kneeled in front of Andrew. He put his hand on Andrew’s knee. “There was nothing you could do against someone who had a gun but comply. Tell us what happened from the beginning.”

Skylar returned with a glass of water, which she handed to Andrew. The young man drank half of it, then with tears still rolling down his cheeks, told his story. “I don’t know where the woman came from.”

“Everly’s window,” Parker said. They didn’t have alarms on the windows because when the weather was nice, they’d leave them open overnight. That was going to change. “What happened when you saw her?”

“Tomorrow’s laundry day, and since I was here tonight, I decided to get a head start. She came behind me when I was putting clothes in the washing machine. I’m sorry.” He swiped at the tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Hey, hey, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Parker said, shocked that he wasn’t bringing the house down around their heads in a rage that knew no bounds, but he was channeling Kade, who was deceptively calm even when chaos was raining down on him. “Did the woman say anything, give you a message to tell us, maybe tell you where she was going?”

Andrew shook his head. “No. After she tied me up, she walked out the front door with Everly. That’s when the burglar alarm went off when she opened the door. I’m so sorry. I was supposed to take care of Everly, and I didn’t.”

“You said she had a gun. There was nothing you could have done, Andrew.” Skylar put her hand on his shoulder while Tristan called his dispatcher, telling her to activate an Amber Alert.

Ember ran into the room, her nose sniffing the floor. She stopped in front of Andrew and alerted. That would make sense if Crystal had gasoline on her hands, then had touched him. Because she expected it, Parker pulled a treat out of his pocket and gave it to her.

He paced a few steps, then back. “We need to split up and—”

Ember trotted out of the library with her nose to the floor again. Parker followed her, hoping that she’d find some clue that would help him locate his little girl. Ember’s nose took her to the front door. She stopped, looked up at him, and whined. He opened the door, and she walked out. Was she on Crystal’s scent? He wished Duke was here. That dog could find anyone anywhere, but Duke was in Charlotte with Kade and Harper. As long as Crystal had gasoline on her, maybe his dog could find the woman.

“Is she on the scent?” Tristan asked, jogging up next to him.

“Hope to hell she is.” Ember was crossing the yard toward Willow’s house, and understanding what that meant, Parker wanted to rage at the universe. A woman with Crystal’s background and a gun had the two girls he loved? He came to a dead stop. “I love her.”

Tristan stopped next to him. “Of course you do. She’s your daughter.”

“No, I mean I love both of them.”

His brother smiled. “That’s not news. Everly’s a given. As for Willow, everyone could see it in your eyes and the way you looked at her. Come on, let’s find your girls. Skylar’s with Andrew and coordinating the search with our people.”

“Tell me we’ll find both of them safe,” he said, desperation in his voice.

“Yes, we’re going to find them and bring them home.”

That was all he cared about, and Tristan had never let him down, so he’d believe his brother. He glanced over his shoulder and no longer saw flames shooting over the roof of his studio. It was probably a total loss, but he didn’t care.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Willow heard the sirens, heard the sound of big engines that had to be the fire department trucks. That meant that Parker was there, too. How long would it take him to realize that Everly was missing? Would he think to look for her here?

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