Page 82 of Guarded from Treachery

Masked. All in dark clothes. With a flinty, malicious gaze.

And another gun. This time pointed at me.

Fear surges through me so quickly, I’m breathless from it.

No.

This can’t be happening.

How? The store is locked. There’s only one entrance and Erik’s standing in front of it.

Unless. What if Matt and Erik aren’t okay? What if they’re hurt? Or…

No. I can’t think it.

Tears sting my eyes. A tremor shudders through my body.

“Don’t even think about moving,” the second man growls. “Or talking. If you do—” He jabs the gun at me, and I barely smother a yelp of fear. “We’ll start shooting.”

Rhiannon’s expression is hard. Angry. But carefully calm. “You don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, but I do.” His teeth bare in a rictus of a grin. “And you”—he gestures at me with the gun again—“are going to be our payday. You’re not getting away this time.”

“That’s right,” adds the first man, his gun still aimed at Rhiannon. “And if you don’t come with us willingly, we’ll have to shoot your little friend, here.” His eyes narrow at me. “You wouldn’t want to be responsible for your friend getting killed, would you?”

My heart stumbles. Stops.

A moment later, a burst of clarity brings it to life again.

They don’t know who Rhiannon is.Whatshe is.

And as my hand inches towards my ear, I remember something else.

Something Matt showed me several weeks ago, when I asked him what would happen ifhewas ever in trouble.

“We all have rings,”he explained, showing me the plain silver band on his right hand.“Just like your earrings, they have trackers in them. And a little button we can push to trigger an alarm.”He took the ring off and placed it in my hand.“See where the little indentation is? It’s hard to push, because we don’t want to set it off accidentally. But if I push it, the team will know.”

And Rhiannon has one, too.

“Don’t fucking move,” the scarred-eyebrow man snarls in an undertone. My hand freezes midway to my ear. “I’ll shoot your friend. Don’t fucking test me.”

Logic tells me Erik and Matt will come right away.

But pure fear tries to convince me otherwise.

What if they’re hurt? What if Rhiannon tries to make a move and they shoot her?

What if they take me? And then?—

Oh, God.

What if they take my baby?

18

MATT

“When are you going to ask her to move in?”

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