Page 24 of Crossover

“Go with him. He’ll keep you safe until I get Ivy.”

Indecision warred on her delicate features. “But Steve said…Ivy needs me,” she cried. “I can’t just leave her!”

“If you go in there, Ivy dies,” I said, hating the bluntness of my words but knowing she needed to hear them. “They brought you here as leverage to force her to cooperate. Once they have what they want, you’ll both be disposable.”

The mother’s chest heaved up and down.

“Who’s they?” she asked.

What a fantastically infuriating question. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out, but first, I need to stop whatever they’re doing to her right now.”

A fresh avalanche of horror cascaded down her face as her attention darted towards the building, then back to me.

“Let me help.” Her voice quivered. “I can create a distraction.”

“No.” I softened my tone. “If they manage to trap you, Ivy won’t leave you. You know that. The only way I can extract her is if she knows you’re safe.”

She swallowed, her lip quivering as she glanced in the direction of the building once more. She hesitated, torn between her desperate need to save her daughter and the knowledge that she might be the very reason Ivy couldn’t be saved.

“Ivy needs you to do this. Please.”

A strangled sob escaped her lips as she finally nodded, her whole body shaking with the force of her love and her fear.

“I’ll do anything to save my daughter. Please, bring her back to me.”

Hunter placed a gentle hand on her back, his eyes constantly scanning for threats. With one last anguished look, she allowedhim to guide her away, but not before looking over her shoulder at me.

“Get my daughter out of there.”

I would. Even if it meant sacrificing everything.

12

IVY

The man with the blowtorch raised his weapon, the flames dancing like wicked tongues, casting sinister shadows across his face, its hiss filling the room with a menacing promise of agony.

He can’t do this. He can’t burn my skin until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I wanted to believe I was strong, that no amount of suffering could tear the names from my lips—especially Grayson’s brothers. But with the searing heat inching closer to my skin, a sickening wave of doubt washed over me. What if I wasn’t strong enough to keep my mouth shut? What if names escaped my lips between my screams and my last act on earth would be one of betrayal?

The thought sickened me more than the impending torture.

This can’t be happening. This has to be a nightmare.

How long would they burn me? How much agony would I have to endure before my heart finally gave out, unable to bear the torment any longer?

I needed to stay strong, to grab hold of my resolve like a lifeline in a raging sea.

To protect Grayson and his family, no matter the cost to me.

Tears streamed down my face, the salt stinging my cheeks as I pleaded with him, my voice cracking with each word.

“Please, I swear no one in my life is a danger to you.” The acrid smell of my own fear mixed with the slight scent of burning rubber from the torch. “I thought you wanted to wait for Grayson to watch?” What a desperate attempt to buy time.

“He doesn’t have to be around forallof it,” Daniel replied.

“My mom?—”

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