The ache in his chest intensified until he felt bogged down with emotion. Sorrow. Fear. Anger.

Oh God, he couldn’t lose his father. Not Dad. And his mom. Oh God. It took everything in him to stand there, steady, and not break as he stared at the closed door to the room.

Garrett turned to him, and he saw that his brother fared no better than he did. They were both supposedly so tough. The older brothers. Leaders. Sam felt like a fraud.

Then Sophie reached out and touched Garrett lightly on the arm. It was a simple gesture that softened some of the raw grief in Garrett’s eyes. Garrett reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

“Thanks,” he murmured.

Sam nodded toward the door. “Let’s go in. I want to see him as soon as I know how Rusty and Sean are doing.”

When they entered, Sam saw Rusty seated in the far corner, her face splotchy and her arms hugged around her drawn-up knees. Sean was standing across the room, hands shoved into his pockets, and two of Rio’s men stood guard just inside the door.

When Rusty saw them, she shot to her feet. Fists clenched at her sides, she stormed over to where Sam stood.

“You promised you’d keep them safe! You left them!” she accused, her voice ravaged by tears.

She turned her furious stare to Sophie and then back again at Sam. “This is all her fault, isn’t it? She’s the reason you took off and why you left them unprotected. They could die. They could all die.”

Sam moved from Sophie so she was behind him, and he reached for Rusty. She tried to pull away, but he hauled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her.

She struggled but he held on, and finally she went limp against him and broke into heartrending sobs. She wept against his neck, and her entire body shook uncontrollably.

“Shhh,” Sam said as he stroked her hair. “Dad’s going to make it, Rusty. You know how ornery he is. Can you imagine a heart attack ever taking him out? It would require a tank, and even then my money would be on him.”

“What about Marlene?” she sobbed. “They believed in me. They’re the only people who ever gave a damn about me.”

Sam swallowed back his own tears and hugged her fiercely. It was the first time he’d ever reached out to Rusty in the almost year she’d been with his family. He and his brothers tolerated her much like a splinter. Annoying but there. They’d indulged Marlene’s motherly fits over her just like they indulged her mothering everyone else in the world. But they hadn’t ever accepted her. Only Marlene and Frank Kelly had done that.

“We’ll get her back, Rusty. I swear it. We’ll get her back.”

He led her over to the sofa against the wall and eased her down. She covered her face with her hands as though she were ashamed that he’d seen her cry.

“Rusty, look at me,” he said gently.

Slowly her chin lifted and her haunted eyes found his.

“I know you’re angry. I am too. But Dad needs you to be strong for him, especially now that Mom is missing. I swear to you I’ll bring her home.”

“You swore you’d keep us safe,” she said bitterly.

Sam sighed. “Rusty, you’re old enough to know that shit happens. Playing the blame game gets you nowhere. If it makes you feel better to blame me, then by all means do so. It won’t change a damn thing, though. If I have to move hell to find my mother, then that’s what I’ll do.”

Tears crowded her eyes again and her face crumpled. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just so scared. If I lose them ...”

She broke away and buried her face in her hands.

Sam pulled her against his chest again. “You will always have a home,” he said quietly. “No matter what.”

She jerked her head up and stared at him, tears sloshing over the rims of her eyes. “Do you mean that?”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.”

She smiled, really smiled, and it occurred to Sam that it was the first sign of true joy he’d ever witnessed from her. She was always so reserved and on guard. Way tougher than a girl her age should ever have to be.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I need you to promise me something now.”

She cocked her head. “What?”

“You don’t go anywhere, even to the bathroom, without an armed escort. No exceptions. I can’t focus on getting Mom back if I have two people to rescue. Okay?”

Her face fell at the mention of Marlene, but she bit her lip and nodded. “I promise.”

He rose, leaving her on the couch. Before walking away, he reached down and squeezed her hand. “I’ll be back. I need to see Dad.”

Sophie was standing where he’d left her. She was pale, her face drawn, and she looked like she’d have preferred to fade into the wall.

Garrett was absent, probably gone back to see their father already. Rio stepped into the waiting room, and Sam went to meet him. He reached for Sophie and pulled her into his side when he stopped in front of Rio.

“Watch over them for me,” he said in a low voice. “I’m going back to see Dad and then we have to put our heads together.”

“Steele and I are working on it,” Rio said. “Sean coordinated with the local and state police and they set up roadblocks within an hour of her abduction. If I had to guess, I’d say they left by air. There were reports of two helicopters in the area and we’re trying to run down information on both.”

Sam reached up to touch Sophie’s cheek. “Stay here with Rio. Don’t go anywhere without him, okay?”

Sophie looked uneasy as she glanced over at Rio, but she nodded.

Sam glanced at Rio one more time and Rio nodded. Then Sam walked out of the room and to the door that led to the glass-enclosed rooms in the intensive care unit.

It took a moment for a nurse to answer his summons, and when he told her he was there to see Frank Kelly, she informed him there were already two visitors with him.

Sam ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I just got here. I have to see him. My brothers are with him. I’d like to be there with them. Please.”

Her face softened and she glanced back toward the nurses’ station. “Come with me.”

He followed her to the far end of the unit, to the last cubicle on the right. She paused at the door and motioned him in.

“I can’t let you stay long. If the charge nurse comes back, she’ll insist on the two-visitor limit.”

“Thank you,” Sam said.

He nudged the already ajar door and stared at his father lying motionless on the bed, wires and tubes and machines everywhere.

Garrett was sitting on one side of their dad with a chair drawn up to the very edge of the bed, while Donovan was slumped in a chair on the other side. When Donovan looked up and saw Sam, he immediately got up and walked over.

After a moment’s hesitation, Sam enfolded Donovan in a bear hug.

“How is he?” Sam whispered.

Donovan drew away and murmured low, “He’s woken up a few times. First time he asked for Ma. At first I don’t think he had any idea what had happened.”

“And now?”

“He knows,” Donovan said grimly.

Sam closed his eyes. Then he nudged by Donovan and went to his father’s bedside. Garrett looked up, his eyes bleak.

Sam eased into Donovan’s chair and leaned forward until he grasped his father’s hand. It shocked him how weak and human Frank Kelly looked lying so pale in the bed.

“Dad,” he said softly. “It’s Sam. Garrett and I are here. Can you hear us?”

To his surprise, his dad’s eyelids twitched and fluttered open. For a moment he stared at Sam as if not recognizing him. Then his lips parted.

“Sam.”

It barely came out as a whisper. More as a raspy sigh than an actual word but it was the sweetest sound Sam had ever heard. Tears burned his eyes when his dad carefully turned his hand in Sam’s until he could curl his fingers around Sam’s palm.

Slowly Frank turned his head until he locked onto Garrett.

“Garrett? Is that you?”

Garrett leaned forward and grasped his father’s other hand. “I’m here, Dad.”

“Where’s Van?”

“He’s here too,” Sam said. “Standing right here behind me.”

“Get your mother back. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. You go get your mother. Bring her home to me.” Pain spasmed across Frank’s face and a tear rolled down his wrinkled cheek. “I’ve never been without her. Not in forty years.”

“We’ll find her,” Sam vowed. “You just concentrate on getting well so when she gets home you’re not stuck here in the hospital.”

Frank nodded. “Ethan and Rachel. Are they safe?”

“Yes, they’re fine. I need . . . I need to tell Ethan about Mom.”

Frank shook his head. “No. You leave them as far away from this as you can. He has no business bringing Rachel home and into danger. You boys will find Marlene. I have every faith in you.”

“I love you, Dad,” Sam said as the knot grew bigger in his throat. “Take care of yourself please.”

“Love you too, son. Be careful.”

Frank seemed to sag deeper into the bed. His face was gray, and he looked exhausted by the few minutes of talking. Alarmed, Sam called for the nurse. She came in immediately and did an assessment.

“He’s overtired. You really should leave him to rest now.”

Reluctantly Sam rose and filed out of the room with his brothers. They gathered in the family waiting room, where Steele, P.J., Cole and Dolphin had joined Rio and his men. Rusty still sat on the sofa, her hands curled tightly in her lap, and Sophie had retreated to the far corner and stood with her arms wrapped around her waist, as if protecting herself and her baby from the world.

Despite his need to talk to his men, Sam left the knot of people and walked to where Sophie stood. He had a very real need to touch her, to feel her against him. He ran his hands up her arms and then carefully pulled her into his embrace.

“Is he okay?” she asked anxiously. “I mean I know he’s not okay, but will he be?”

He kissed her lightly on the lips. “I think so. He looks bad, and he’s worried about Mom, but I think that worry is what will keep him fighting.”

Her face fell. “I’m sorry, Sam. This is all my fault. I should have stayed away longer. I shouldn’t have come at all. I knew ...” She sucked in a wavering breath. “I knew what would happen, that my uncle would come after you, but—”

He put a finger over her lips. “You most certainly should have come to me. I don’t even want to imagine you out there still running, hurting, maybe even dead by now. We’ll work this out, Soph. I don’t want you blaming yourself. Put the blame where it belongs. On your father and your uncle.”

She buried her face in his chest and clung fiercely to him. All his reservations melted away, and all he could see or feel was her. Where she belonged. With him. Him standing between her and the world.

A phone rang and Sam turned sharply to find the source. The community phone on the wall, the one for the family to use, rang loudly, interrupting the quiet in the small room.

Donovan picked it up and muttered a hello. His entire body tensed and his expression became dark and forbidding. His hand curled so tightly around the receiver that Sam could see his knuckles whiten.

Sam stepped away from Sophie just as Donovan extended the phone in his direction.

“It’s Mouton. He wants to speak to you.”

CHAPTER 24

SAM heard Sophie’s gasp behind him. A dull roar began in his ears, and he crossed the room to snatch the phone from Donovan’s hand without any realization that he’d done so.

“Sam Kelly,” he barked.

Tomas Mouton was short and to the point. “I have something you want. You have something I want. If you want your mother back alive, you’ll hand my niece over to me, and you better make damn sure she has what she stole from me.”

Sam’s lips curled into a snarl. “From you? Don’t you mean what she stole from her father? Some would argue it’s hers now. Are you taking over, Tomas? I didn’t think you had the balls to run Alex’s organization.”

A low hiss was all he heard in response, and then he heard a startled cry. Feminine. His mother.

“Sam? Sam is that you?”

His heart fell. His hands and knees shook so bad he had to sit down on the couch.

“Mom, are you all right? Has he hurt you?”

Her voice was tight with anger. “No. I’m fine, son. He wants me to tell you to do what he says or he’ll go after every member of our family.” She broke off and there was a muffled sound as the phone was taken from her again.

Sam lifted his gaze and sought out Sophie, who stood as still as a statue across the room. Everyone else had turned to look at her as well, and she only grew paler.

Then, as if gathering herself, she straightened. Her eyes went flat and no hint of emotion was reflected in the cool blue. She strode to where he sat and extended her hand for the phone.