Page 71 of Single Mom's Firemen

I feel the burn in my side. The surge of electricity shooting through me with such power that my heart feels like it’s gonna give out.

“MAMA!” Luna screams.

At hearing Luna’s terror, Sammy begins to scream too.

I can barely see. I fall in the man’s arms, my body twitching as the burn in my side intensifies. I glance down and see the taser slipping back into his jeans pocket. I want to cry out for help yet I can’t move. I’m shaking, my whole body contracting in raw pain, every muscle twitching.

“Hurry, I got the kids,” Colby’s voice has my head turning with a whiplash motion.

“No…” I manage as I watch him come out from the back of the same car.

“Come on, before anybody sees you,” Colby tells the baby-faced man.

I’m dragged away from the sidewalk while Colby takes hold of Luna and Sammy. I hear him trying to soothe them, and I desperately want to do something, anything to stop this from happening. But the world fades into a sea of white, my flesh and bones aching as my view shifts and turns. Through my blurred vision, I can see the two cops running toward us, guns drawn, but they’re too late.

“Daddy’s here, honey,” Colby says to Luna.

“What’s wrong with Mama?” she wails.

“She’s gonna be fine, I promise. Let’s get you home.”

“Stop,” I moan, but the man roughly shoves me in the passenger seat of his car while I hear my kids in the backseat with Colby. “Stop…”

“Drive! NOW!” Colby snaps at my kidnapper.

“Relax, it’s done,” the guy says, getting behind the wheel. “Those two will never catch up to us.”

I’m as limp as a wet noodle, unable to do anything while Colby’s henchman drives off with us.

I think of Wyatt, on his way over to the gelato shop.

He won’t find us there. He won’t find us anywhere.

29

Eric

I’ve got a bad feeling.

Chase gets busy with the coffee machine, looking to kill some time while we wait for Wyatt to bring Halle and the kids back. “What the hell was she thinking?” my brother asks, shaking his head as he waits for his coffee to brew, sugar ready on the side. “Going out on her own like that.”

“She’s tired,” I tell him. “I can’t exactly blame her. All this hiding. No privacy whatsoever.”

“Well, given the circumstances, it’s the only way to keep her safe.”

“Detail wasn’t far from her. She’s fine, and the kids are fine,” I remind him. “Wyatt’s picking them up in just a bit.” But my own words ring hollow in my mind. Something is off, I can feel it.

“I don’t like this,” he says, his brow furrowed. “Dammit, Eric, we already almost lost her twice. Three times, if you count the diner fire. Colby is hell-bent on hurting her or worse. We can’t take any chances.”

“And you can give her an earful once she gets here while I take Sammy and Luna out by the pool,” I shoot back.

“Where is Wyatt?” Chase asks as he brings my coffee over and joins me in the den. Outside, birds are singing in the trees that surround our backyard. It seems peaceful but I don’t know what it is about this calmness that genuinely irks me. “They should be back by now.”

I check my phone. “He hasn’t called.”

As if summoned, his name pops up on my screen.

Chase stills. I don’t like the ominous look on his face. Probably because he’s my twin, likely mirroring my own uneasiness without even realizing it. I answer the call. “What’s up, Wyatt? Where are you?”

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