Page 102 of Silver Linings

“And what would those claims be?”

“That’s not for you to worry about right now. My only concern is getting the baby into a safe environment. Once that is done, then we will process formal charges of neglect and abuse against your wife and she will have a chance to defend against that in court. But for now, I really must insist that you hand the baby over to me and prepare her things to go with her to the foster family.”

“I thought you said you were going to investigate the claims made against us.”

“Not against the both of you. Against Mrs. Brooks.”

Gunner growled.

“I’ll leave. Sage can stay with Gunner and I won’t see her.”

“No, that’s not how this works, Mrs. Brooks. We need to remove the child from this household.”

“Lily, come over here with Sage.” Gunner could tell he was about to lose control. He wanted to run out of the building with them, but there was the small, reasoning part of his brain that knew it would be the wrong move in that situation.

He looked down at his girls as they snuggled into his side. Pressing a kiss into Lily’s hair, he shattered as her hand wrapped tightly into the material of his shirt.

“I don’t want to let her go. This isn’t right.”

“It’s okay, Lil. Sebastian is sending over a lawyer. He’ll get this all straightened out.”

“I really must insist that we take the child right now.” The child service agent reached for Sage, but Gunner stepped in front of Lily, pushing her and the baby behind him.

“Wait just one second. Why would we not be allowed to consult our lawyer? You are attempting to take our infant child out of our home in the middle of the day, based on allegations we may not know or refute, and you won’t let our lawyer make sure that your paperwork is in order? Our daughter is solely breastfed and needs to be here with her mother. She’s also recently been sick and is still recovering from that.” Gunner placed his hand on Lily’s arm. “Take Sprout to the kitchen and call Hank Porter. Explain what his deputies are trying to do and ask him to come to the apartment.” He handed her his phone.

Gunner watched over his shoulder as Lily and Sage made it to the kitchen. Good. Now it was just him standing in the doorway, boxing in these two deputies and the social worker. Something in his gut told him this wasn’t right. The deputies looked around nervously, pinning the social worker with their gazes, as if waiting for her to give them an order. When her head slightly nodded, Gunner reached into his belt and pulled his weapon.

“Lily! Run!!” Gunner yelled and prayed she would follow his orders. When he heard her feet hit the floor and fade out into the hallway, his heartbeat steadied. It was clear, with two guns now pointed at him, and the deputies shouting for him to lower his weapon, exactly what was going to happen. But he’d given Lily time to escape, and the guys would take care of her.

“I’m not lowering my weapon until the sheriff gets here. So you might as well stop shouting.”

“Lower your fucking weapon right now or we will shoot you,” the younger looking deputy said. There was no hesitancy in his voice. No slight shaking of his hand as he was getting ready to pull the trigger. It wasn’t the first time that man had been in a tight space with a gun pointed at him. The clear thought flickered through his mind of who these people really were just as he watched the guy squeeze the trigger on his gun.

Gunner fired at the man closest to him, before the force of a bullet slamming into his side threw him back against the wall. By the time he’d regained his footing, the three intruders were running across their living room and out of his line of sight.

Fuck! He needed to get his feet back under him and follow them, but every time he tried to stand, the room swam. He looked down at his side and saw blood pouring from the wound. Sliding down the wall, Gunner pressed his hand over the injury and prayed someone had been close enough to hear the gunshots go off.

“Lily?” Her body nearly slammed into Hawk as soon as she was down the stairs. “Whoa, slow down, beautiful. What’s going on?”

“They’re trying to take Sage. Gunner made me call Hank, but I couldn’t get through to him and then I was in the kitchen and I just heard him yell my name and he told me to run, so I held on to Sage and came down here as fast as I could.”

“Okay, try to take some deep breaths.”

Lily’s heart was beating out of her chest as Hawk guided her into Montgomery Defense. “The only people who can access this room are the guys and myself. Not even Mae can come in here, although I’m happy to go get her to sit with you if you want?”

Lily didn’t reply. She just gently shook her head back and forth, still struggling to get her breathing under control.

“Okay, you and Sage just stay right here for the time being and I’ll go see what’s going on upstairs.”

Two muffled bangs sounded from above them and Lily cradled Sage closer to her as the baby startled awake and began screaming. “Hawk? Were those gunshots?”

“Stay here. Don’t move from this room until Gunner or I come to get you.”

Before she could argue, Hawk was running out the door. Lily had only a second to decide. Right before the door snapped closed, she pulled on the handle and walked frantically towards Mae.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Can you please watch Sage for me? I won’t be gone long. I just need to make sure Gunner is okay.”

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