Page 84 of Parker

Because every time he closed his eyes, he was right back there. In his car speeding away from that fucking prison, Asher’s life-altering words replaying over and over on a loop.

They took her, Parker. She’s gone.

Those words had sliced straight through his soul like a razor-sharp dagger. After skidding to the stop at the shoulder of the road he’d been on, Parker had listened in horror as Asher recounted what had gone down at his house.

They’d been in the Great Room talking when a bomb took out the room’s west wall. Stunned by the blast, Asher had lost consciousness for a couple minutes, but it was all the time the bastards had needed.

With Quinn gone and no immediate way to help her, Asher’s attention had gone where it was needed most…to Sydnee. He’d sat with her until the ambulance came, and once he knew his fiancée was going to be okay, Ash had tried calling him.

Multiple times.

But Parker had already handed over his phone to the intake officer at FCI and was already in that room waiting for a man who never showed.

“We’ll find her, Park.” Asher muttered beside him. “You just have to give it some time.”

In an abrupt move, Parker shoved himself to his feet and paced along the front of the spacious conference room. Seconds later—once he felt as if he could speak without ripping his well-meaning friend’s head off—he reminded Asher of the reality of the situation.

“It’s been two fucking days. Twodaysthat Quinn’s been out there somewhere, going through only God knows what. And all we’ve done is sit on our asses.”

“I know it seems that way now, but—”

Parker lost what little patience he’d managed to muster up. Halting his steps, he turned and finally faced his friend for the first time since the man’s arrival.

“I’ve gone through every second of my security footage from that day. I’ve watched it over and over again, convincing myself that the answer is there; I just haven’t found it. But all it shows is what we already know. The dark van pulling up to my gate, two masked men dressed in black disabling the electronic lock, and then blowing a fucking hole in the side of my house.” With a forceful huff, he added a sardonic, “Oh, and let’s not forget the climactic ending where you see one of the bastards tossing Quinn’s limp body into the back of that fucking van before the sons of bitches took off!”

His voice boomed through the air on that last part, getting louder and louder as the image he described became clearer and clearer in his mind. It was one he’d remember until his dying day.

“So we keep looking,” Asher offered calmly. “And we don’t stop until we find her.”

That plan was all well and good, but…

“She needs me, Ash.” The heartbreaking words cracked, the heat that had been there replaced by a desperate whisper. “She needs me, and I can’t do a fucking thing to help her.Me.” Another sarcastic scoff. “Some genius I am, huh?”

A painful knot filled the base of his throat as tears stung the corners of his eyes.

“I get it, man.” Asher stood and walked slowly toward him, his haunted eyes clouded by his own hellish memories. “Everything you’re feeling right now? It’s the same shit I felt when Syd was taken from me.”

Parker opened his mouth to deny the man’s claim, but his friend wouldn’t allow it.

“You feel helpless,” Asher challenged. “Hopeless, even. Like you’ve lost the very best part of you, and you’re terrified you’ll never get it back.” He stopped a few feet away. “But I’ll tell you the same thing the guys told me. You’ve gotta keep your head on straight and your shit together. Because you’re right. Quinndoesneed you and being pissed off at the world isn’t going to do a damn thing to help us find her.”

He wasn’t pissed off at the world. That was part of the problem.

Parker dropped his hands back to his sides, his shoulders falling under the weighted pressure of guilt and regret. “I never should have gone to that fucking prison.” He blinked away another round of threatening tears. “I should have been the one home with Quinn. It should have beenmethere, not you and Syd.”

If he hadn’t left her, they wouldn’t have gotten hurt. And maybe…maybe Quinn would still be with him.

If she’d been with me, I wouldn’t have lost her.

Asher took another step in his direction. “This isn’t on you, Park. I know that shit’s going through your head because it went through mine, too. But what happened to Quinn…to me and Syd…that wasn’t your fault.”

Parker looked through the other man, hearing his words but refusing to accept their truth. “If I’d told her the truth, she would have been with me.” A decision he’d regret for the rest of his life.

“Goddamn it, Collins!” Asher’s angry voice brought the man back into focus. “You were trying toprotecther. You saw an opportunity to do that and did what you thought was best.”

“That’s just it. I did whatIthought was best.” He smacked a hard palm against his chest. “Just like I always do.”

His friend frowned. “Okay, you lost me.”

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