Page 124 of Unlawful Seduction

She nodded, completely out of breath. “He took him.”

“Slow down. What are you talking about?” I lifted my head, able to see over the majority of the crowd.

She was gasping for air. “This guy came out of nowhere. He scooped up Brady when he was coming from the bathroom. Mallory ran after them as soon as she realized what had happened. Marjorie went to find security. What is going on? Who would want to hurt little Brady?”

“Stay right here in case they come back.” I didn’t have time to coddle her. “Which way did he take Brady?”

“Toward the Ferris wheel.”

Fuck. I took off running, zigging and zagging my way through the crowd, almost knocking several people to the ground. There was no sign of them, the Ferris wheel on the backside of the carnival. I’d scoped out every entrance and the lay of the land because that was my training.

I rounded corner after corner, keeping the Ferris wheel in sight. What the hell did the fucker have planned?

As soon as I made it to the gate where the line began for the ride, I heard a scream. Mallory. My blood immediately boiled. With no time to waste, I bolted through the crowds, searching the entire area. She was scrambling to get to her feet, too many bystanders hovering around her. I yanked them aside until I had her in my arms.

“Baby, it’s me.”

“Beckett! Brady is gone! Our son is gone.” Mallory was close to being hysterical. “That horrible man took him. Why? Why?”

“It’s okay, baby. Where did the asshole go?”

She gasped for air, pummeling her fists against me before pointing up at the Ferris wheel. “Save him. You need to save him.”

“I will. Keep everyone back.” I pushed away from her, staring up at the ride. Well, fuck. The two of them were in a compartment that was heading to the top. I rushed toward the attendant. “Don’t let anyone else on. There’s a little boy who was taken from his mother.” There were still a few riders, enough to be concerned about, but I had no time to waste.

“I can bring it down,” the guy said.

“Don’t. Not yet. He’ll toss the child. Get security here.”

The man was like a deer in the headlights, but nodded.

Gio meant to take my life from me as he believed I’d done to him. Fuck the man. With few other choices, I moved to the structure, starting to climb.

I heard gasps coming from down below as I crawled up the interlocking pieces.

The weapon was ready to fire, but I’d need to be extremely careful or innocent lives could be lost. “Get down!” I yelled to the remaining riders. Fortunately, they all reacted to my demand, the passengers crowding onto the floor of the capsules, which would protect them to some degree.

Brady was crying, Gio laughing as I continued climbing.

“Stop right there, buddy. If you don’t, the boy will die.” Gio’s voice rang loud and clear over the roar of the people below.

I lifted my head. “You’re not taking my son away from me.”

“Like you did mine?” He was staring at me with utter hatred on his face. “What’s wrong, Beckett? You didn’t think I’d find out or survive the explosions?”

Exhaling, I stood quietly as I calculated the distance. “As if you cared about your son.”

“I guess we’ll see how much you care about yours.” He laughed insanely.

I climbed a little higher and suddenly, Brady was lifted off the seat, Gio acting as if he was going to hang my little boy over the edge.

I stopped, throwing out my hand. “It’s just you and me, buddy. This has nothing to do with Brady. I don’t give a shit about the Valenti regime. You can have it.”

He laughed again, the bitterness coming through. “You don’t get it. Do you? I’m a dead man anyway. The Russians are taking over. You just couldn’t let me take my rightful place.”

He’d been scarred by the fire, but his injuries weren’t that severe. That was an indication he’d sensed what was coming. “You were happy Lucian was killed.”

“Yeah, so what? Did you know he told me that day he was changing his mind about Ava?”

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