Page 22 of Hero's Heart

Two faces were peering up at them, both pale and bearing the marks of exhaustion and fear.

That was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was that they both had the same long, dark hair and similar delicate features that he’d seen in Marissa’s file on the plane.

There was no fucking way these two women weren’t related. Sisters, definitely. Hell, possibly twins.

The only immediate difference was their eyes: one had soft brown eyes that glared at them with irritation, while the other’s clear blue eyes widened in wary hope.

Bear realized the same thing and looked over at Callum, shock in his own eyes. Callum could only shrug because he had no fucking idea what was going on.

There were two Getty sisters here. Even if they had stuck to Dustin’s plan and gone straight to the exchange site, he should’ve told Callum two sisters had been taken. Was there a second exchange planned? Not having this info could’ve been potentially deadly.

“Thank God,” the brown-eyed woman—that had to be Marissa, according to the file—hissed. “Get me out of here now!”

“Marissa Getty?” Callum already knew the answer, but since they seemed to have dropped into the middle of aTwilight Zoneepisode, he thought he better confirm.

“Yes,” she said, her tone sharp. “Get these ropes off me. Now. My father will pay you whatever you want, but we need to go. Leave her—she’s not important.”

Callum blinked, momentarily stunned by the words. Why would Marissa be saying to leave her own essentially twin behind? He shifted his gaze to the other woman, who was watching him silently. Her lips pressed into a thin line, those striking eyes filled with terror, she looked like she wanted to say something but held back.

“Who’s she?” Bear asked, already cutting through Marissa’s bindings with a knife.

“I’m Sloane,” the blue-eyed woman said quietly. “Her half sister.”

“That’s not important,” Marissa snapped, rubbing her wrists. She jumped up and immediately grabbed Callum’s arm, clinging to his side. “She’s fine. Just focus on me. My father would never forgive you if something happened to me because you wasted time on her.”

Callum stared at her, frowning. Why the hell would she suggest leavinganyonehere, much less her own blood? “We’ll get you both out.”

He heard the tiny sigh of relief from Sloane. Jesus. She had actually thought they were going to get only Marissa out?

What in the actual fuck?

“We have to hurry,” Marissa said, her voice rising slightly. “We can’t waste any time. You’re here for me.”

Technically, they weren’t supposed to be there at all. But this whole situation was fucking weird. Something was definitely wrong here.

“Quiet,” Theo hissed, his sharp eyes scanning the cellar.

Marissa huffed but lowered her voice. “I mean it. Just get me out of here.”

Callum turned to Sloane, ignoring Marissa’s death grip on his arm. “Are you okay to move?”

Sloane nodded quickly, her expression grim. “I’ll keep up.”

“Good. Stay close. I’m Callum. Theo and Bear.” He pointed to each man respectively.

They were barely out of the room before shouts echoed from above, followed by the sound of boots pounding against the wooden floor.

“Damn it,” Bear muttered, raising his weapon.

“We’re blown,” Theo said, moving to cover the staircase.

Gunfire erupted, deafening in the confined space. Callum shoved Marissa and Sloane behind an overturned table, as Theo fired up the stairs. A guard tumbled forward, collapsing in a heap, but more followed. Sounds were coming from the west, evidently from one of the secondary tunnels.

“We need to move. Let’s go.” Callum kept his voice even despite the roar of the gunfire. Bear and Theo could hear him through the comms unit without shouting.

Bear and Theo fell back, still firing up the stairs as Callum motioned for Marissa and Sloane to start heading down the dark tunnel.

Sloane went with no problem, obviously understanding the need for quickness and stealth, but Marissa clung to him as she passed by. “Don’t leave me! You can’t let them get me! You don’t know what I’ve been through. One of them groped me. Touched me.”

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