Chapter 17
Chance
Chance shouldn’t have come. He shouldn’t be following Randi, not without talking to her first, something they hadn’t done.
It had been a week since Sven and Jakob had visited, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Sven had understandably been concerned about Randi’s safety, which had resulted in Chance’s stalking tendencies.
Even as he sat in the restaurant parking lot, the thought that she might be in danger lingered with a quiet insistence that he couldn’t quite shake. Randi and Josh were inside finishing up lunch and nothing seemed out of place.
Chance told himself it was nothing and he was just being careful, but he had been restless and uneasy all morning. He had learned long ago to trust his gut.
Jakob and Sven had warned him with a growing urgency that had edged into something far more serious than he’d wanted to acknowledge. They warned that Tampa wouldn’t be the refuge he imagined it to be and that his father’s reach didn’t weaken with distance.
Instead, it stretched quietly and invisibly and could tighten when least expected. Chance had dismissed it, the same way he always did when someone tried to pull him back into a life he had already chosen to leave behind.
He got out but stayed by his car with one arm resting against the roof and his gaze fixed on the restaurant entrance. He was far enough back in the parking lot that they wouldn’t see him as they exited. Josh’s SUV was parked right out front so they’d have no need to even glance in his direction.
The shimmer of heat rose from the asphalt as he watched. His unease had sharpened and turned from a vague annoyance into something far more defined.
Something was wrong.
The doors opened.
Randi stepped out first. The sunlight caught in her hair as she laughed at something Josh said behind her. Her posture was relaxed, her expression unguarded, and for a brief moment, the sight of her safe and unaware made something in Chance ease even as the pang of jealousy ripped through him.
He had his proof that everything was still normal.
Until it wasn’t.
The change was immediate and violent. Two men appeared from the shadows and closed in with practiced precision.
It took a moment before Chance even noticed them.
They were dressed in black shirts and black slacks but they hadn’t bothered to cover their faces.
Their movements were controlled and deliberate in a way that erased any possibility of coincidence.
Before Randi even saw them, one of the men grabbed her from behind and his arm locked across her upper chest as he dragged her backward. She let out a sharp, startled sound before he managed to cut off both her balance and her breath in the same motion.
Josh didn’t even have time to process what was happening.
The second man struck him with brutal efficiency with a single, calculated blow that dropped him instantly.
Josh’s body collapsed against the pavement and lay motionless.
The man barely gave him a glance before he moved toward Randi where she struggled with the first guy.
Chance was already moving even before his mind fully registered what had happened. His earlier dismissal of danger burned away in the face of something real and deliberate. This attack wasn’t random and it wasn’t sloppy; this was targeted, controlled, and terrifyingly efficient.
Randi fought with everything she had. Her hands clawed at the arm that restrained her while her heel drove back hard enough to connect with the man’s leg.
It forced a brief stagger and he loosened his grip just enough that if there had only been one of them, she may have escaped.
But the second attacker was already moving to help his partner.
Chance saw the cloth before it reached her face. The second attacker quickly covered Randi’s face with the material.
He was close but still too far away when he saw the way her body tensed and her head jerked as she struggled to turn away. The moment it pressed over her mouth and nose, her movements began to falter and her strength drained with terrifying speed as panic gave way to disorientation.
A muted sound escaped before her knees buckled and she went slack.
Chance moved in without warning. The second man didn’t even see him coming before Chance drove into him with controlled force and slammed him off balance. With one move he grabbed the guy’s head and smashed it into the concrete.
The other guy let Randi fall to the ground. Her weight dropped heavily as she crumpled into a ball and then didn’t move. The sight of her unconscious and unresponsive sharpened everything in Chance’s fury.
The attacker lunged, but Chance struck with the kind of precision that came not only from anger but also from necessity. Each movement was efficient and deliberate as he blocked, countered, and drove the man back with enough force to take him down hard.
They were well trained. He could tell that much immediately, but so was he, even if it had been a while. And unlike them, he had something at stake that made hesitation impossible.
The fight didn’t last long. But even with both men unconscious, the danger wasn’t over. Chance heard the low, heavy rumble of an engine approaching too fast. When he looked up, the sight of the van cutting sharply into the lot across the street confirmed that this wasn’t over.
The side door slid open before the vehicle had fully stopped and revealed more men already moving. Their timing was too precise to be anything but coordinated, and the realization landed with a cold, undeniable weight.
His father had found him. Worse than that, his father had reached past him and went for someone he cared about.
Chance lifted Randi off the sidewalk and tightened his hold on her. He pulled her closer against him as though he could shield her from something that had already happened.
“No, you son of a bitch,” he muttered under his breath. “Not her.”
He didn’t stay to fight because this wasn’t about standing his ground.
This was about getting her out. He turned and ran as adrenaline surged.
The sounds of pursuit broke out behind him in sharp commands and pounding footsteps, but he was already ahead.
He reached his car and pulled the door open in one fluid motion.
He got her into the passenger seat and slid behind the wheel without thinking. A hand struck the side of the car just as he got the door shut.
The engine roared to life and Chance didn’t hesitate. He floored it hard enough to send the tires screaming against the pavement as he shot out of the parking lot. He cut into traffic with reckless precision and forced space where there wasn’t any as horns blared and brakes screeched in response.
He didn’t look back until they were long gone and he saw no signs of being followed. They hadn’t expected him to be there to interfere, so that gave him a good enough head start to make a clean break.
Randi didn’t move.
Chance glanced at her and his grip tightened on the steering wheel as his chest constricted at the sight of her pale, still face. Her breathing was steady but far too quiet for his comfort.
“This is on me,” he said under his breath. “All of it.”
There was only one place he could take her.
His beach house was far from the crowded coastline and tucked along a quieter stretch of the Gulf.
The property was hidden behind layers of misdirected deeds and trusts that eventually led back to Eddie instead of him.
It was a precaution he had once considered excessive but now was relieved he had taken the trouble, because if his father’s men were already in Tampa, then anything tied directly to him was no longer safe.
By the time he carried her inside, the sun had begun to dip and cast long streaks of gold across the water. The rhythmic sound of the Gulf filtered through the open door in a way that felt almost surreal after the chaos they had just escaped.
He lowered Randi carefully onto the couch. Every movement was controlled despite the tension still running through him, and for a moment, he didn’t step away. His gaze fixed on her as if making sure she was still there and still alive.
“You’re okay,” he murmured, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her. “You’re okay.”
She didn’t respond, nor did she move.
Chance dragged a hand through his hair and paced once before stopping again, unable and unwilling to put any real distance between them. The weight of everything settled heavily on his shoulders.
“I should’ve listened,” he said quietly, the admission coming without resistance this time. “They warned me.”
And he hadn’t just ignored their words and dismissed them.
Randi stirred then with a movement that was slight but unmistakable. Her brow tightened as consciousness returned, and Chance was at her side instantly. The tension in his chest eased just enough to let him breathe again.
“Hey,” he said, softer now as he crouched beside her. “Easy. You’re safe.”
Her eyes opened gradually, confusion clouding them at first before recognition began to settle in. That was followed quickly by something else that included fear. “What happened?”
Chance held her gaze and didn’t look away. “I’m sorry. They weren’t after you, they were after me.”
The sound of the Gulf filled the silence between them, steady and unchanging, a stark contrast to everything that had shifted.
“I thought I could keep this away from you,” he added. “I thought distance was enough, but I was wrong.”
And this time, there was no denying it.