“We were never good people, Keenan. What did you expect? We were doomed from the moment we were born. I may have been a killer, but at least I’m not a fucking coward.”

“So not wanting to turn out more like you makes me a coward?”

“No.” He stalked closer as he spoke, maybe hoping to intimidate me, but I didn’t back down as expected. After all, it was he who had taught me how to make people fear me rather than me to fear anyone. “Running away from your responsibilities makes you a coward. You left them behind and didn’t look back.”

“Them?”

I was sure confusion was written all over my expression, but the loud vibration of his phone distracted him.

Deep, angry lines formed along his forehand as he stared down at his phone. He was so engrossed in his phone that he completely forgot about the gun pointed at his head.

When the infamous vein appeared on his forehead, I finally lowered my arm. He angrily punched at the screen before bringing the phone to his ear.

“Keiran!” I could hear what sounded like Lake scream over the phone.

“What’s going on?” All that could be heard over the line was the sound of Lake crying. She was saying something, but I could barely understand her and when Keiran cursed into the phone, I knew his patience had run out.

“Fuck, baby. Stop crying and tell me who hurt you.”

“Not me,” I heard her groan. “It’s Sheldon.”

My heart rate tripled and then quadrupled its pace when I heard Sheldon’s name. She was hurt?

I didn’t realize my fist was balled and my nails were digging deep into my skin until I felt the first drop of blood.

I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, and by the time I cleared the murderous rage clogging my senses, Keiran had ended the call.

“What’s wrong with Sheldon?”

“Keenan…”

“Fucking tell me or I really will kill you.”

The gun shook in my hand as I watched him take a deep breath and scrub his hand down his face in a clear sign of agitation. “She’s been shot. She—”

My fist connected with his face before I even realized I had moved.

CHAPTER SIX

SHELDON

“YOU DIDN’T HAVE to call him.”

My voice trembled with the many emotions I was currently feeling. The physical pain was nothing compared to the feeling of being completely helpless.

“Are you kidding me? Do you know how much shit he is going to give me for waiting as long as I did? You were shot in the head and unconscious for almost twenty-four hours. He’s going to kill me!”

“You and I both know Keiran is too selfish to deprive himself of you, and I wasn’t shot in the head. It grazed me.”

“Sheldon, Kennedy is missing. We need to tell him. The sooner, the better.”

“She’s right, honey. If anyone knows who was behind her kidnapping, it would be him,” John spoke up. He only just arrived a few hours ago. Lake had to call him when she couldn’t get in touch with Keiran. Fortunately, I regained consciousness in time to stop—no beg—her from calling him before I’d spoken with the police.

We all knew what would happen when Keiran found out Kennedy was gone. He just might kill me along with the bastards who took her.

If she was ever found.

“Oh, God.” Sobs forced their way through me as I thought of the monsters that had stolen Keiran when he was an infant. Lake rushed over and started rubbing my back. I knew she was just as scared as I was though she was better at hiding it.

I and everyone else were deadly sure the kidnapping was related to Keiran’s past somehow. Who else would attempt a random, careless kidnapping in broad daylight unless there was something big to gain?

Mitch.

It had to be him. He’d done it once with his own son. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t do it to Kennedy. He’d once again managed to escape and stay hidden for four long years.

Keiran never stopped searching even though we all believed he was likely dead after owing so much debt with no way to pay.

Panic ensued as my imagination ran rampant with thoughts of where my baby might be and if she was okay or suffering for reasons that she couldn’t understand.

Every second she was gone I died a little more inside.

And to make matters worse, the father of my child could be returning with Keiran, and he had no idea she even existed. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer that Keiran hadn’t caught up with him before the phone call. It might have been selfish, but I would do anything to protect my child.