“Yeah, baby.” He covered the remaining distance between them. “It’s me.”
“Oh, god.” Emma threw herself into his arms. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“I’m here.” He cupped her face and kissed her as gently as he could. Sending up a silent prayer, he thanked God that she was still alive as he began checking her over. “Are you okay?”
“I am, now.” She nodded. “How did you even find me?”
“Better question is, how the hell did you escape?” Coop stepped up beside them. “And where’d you get the gun?”
A dark shadow crossed over her. “I pretended to be unconscious. When my guard came into the place where they were keeping me, I waited for him to get close, and I grabbed his knife. I dropped it and took his gun, and then I just...ran.”
Emma didn’t go into detail, but she didn’t have to. Trace understood what she was telling them. Between the guard and the man they’d found several yards back, she’d killed two men in order to escape.
Ah, baby. I’m so sorry.
Emma left Trace’s arms to fold into her brother’s. “Hey, big brother.”
“Hey, sis.” Coop’s eyes became damp with emotion. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“You, too.” She pulled away and looked at the entire group. “I don’t know how you found me but thank you.”
The others nodded in return.
“I hate to break up the party”—Grant spoke up—“but we need to move.”
Trevor nodded. “Change of plans. We’ll get Emma to safety and come back for Sadiq.”
“No!” She blurted firmly.
Trace glanced down at her. “What?”
“We can’t leave. You have to get that son of a bitch, now.”
“Trust me.” Trace took her shoulders in a gentle hold. “No one wants to take that bastard out more than me, but—”
“Bullshit,” Coop interrupted with a scowl.
“Let me rephrase.” Trace relented. “Weallwant to take Sadiq down. But I...wejust got you back.”
Her brother shook his head. “And we’re not going to risk losing you again.”
“We’ll take you home.” Trace told her. “Put you somewhere Sadiq will never find you, and—”
“No.” Emma stepped out of his reach. “This man had already proven he can find any of us, anywhere. He’s back at that...thatplaceright now, and you guys are the only ones capable of stopping him.”
“Ems—”
“I’m not going to be rescued from one prison just to be taken to another.” She crossed her arms and straightened her spine. “If we leave now, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. For me...for all of us. We’ll never stop looking over our shoulders.”
Trace was shaking his head before she was even finished. “We’re not putting you in the middle of a fucking gun fight.”
“She has a point,” Grant rumbled from behind them. “This asshole nearly killed Jake. He went after us...our families. I say we finish what he started.”
“Fuck yeah,” Derek was quick to agree.
To Coop, Trace said, “She’s your sister. Will you please talk some sense into her and get her to see how dangerous this is?”
“Believe me...” The other man blew out a breath. “The last thing I want to do is put her in the line of fire. But she’s right. This battle with Sadiq will just keep going until someone puts his ass six feet under. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to be the one to do it.”