Chapter Twenty-Three
“Lily, we are not taking one home.”
“Puppy.”
“I know it’s a puppy.”
“Lily puppy.”
Willow laughed as she pushed open the door leading out of the rescue center and held it while Lily shuffled through, Ellie tucked beneath one arm and the most pitiful expression imaginable covering her little face.
Stopping here on the way home had definitely been a mistake, because after spending almost thirty minutes sitting inside the enclosure with a litter of black Lab puppies crawling all over her, Lily had apparently decided that same one with the purple collar belonged to her.
After leaving Nova’s gym, Willow had fully intended to go straight home, take a shower, figure out something easy for dinner, and relax until Jay Bird returned from Bayside.
Then Lily had started asking about the puppies.
Since the rescue center was still open and practically on their way home, Willow had caved. Now she was paying for it.
“Jay puppy,” Lily announced as they started down the sidewalk.
Willow looked down at her daughter and snorted. “Oh, absolutely. You can ask Jay. Mommy wants no part of that negotiation.”
“Jay say yes.”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
She was probably right too. Jay Bird could stare down grown men with that intimidating expression of his and probably scare the hell out of someone without ever raising his voice.
Yet Lily had somehow discovered that all she had to do was look at him with those big brown eyes, say his name sweetly enough, and the man folded like a cheap lawn chair.
Willow’s phone buzzed inside the small bag hanging from her shoulder, and she reached inside as they walked toward the parking lot. Seeing Jay Bird’s name on the screen immediately brought a smile to her face.
Jay Bird: You two heading home soon?
Willow: Yes. Your peanut demanded puppies.
The dots appeared almost immediately.
Jay Bird: That’s going to cost me, isn’t it?
Willow laughed.
Willow: Probably.
Jay Bird: Figures. How’d training go?
Her smile grew because she hadn’t told him yet.
Willow: I put a former cop on his ass.
This time, the pause was longer.
Jay Bird: I’m gonna need video evidence.
She laughed aloud, earning a curious look from Lily.
Willow: I knew you were going to say that.
Another message appeared before she could put her phone away.
Jay Bird: I’m proud of you.
Those three words hit Willow harder than she expected.
Her father had always been proud of her, but after losing him, she couldn’t remember the last time anyone had said those words and made her believe them without question.
Jay Bird had a way of doing that. He never said things just because he thought she wanted to hear them, so when he told her something, she trusted he meant it.
Her fingers moved across the screen.
Willow: Thank you. Have fun with the guys. Love you.
Willow stared at what she’d typed, her heart suddenly thumping a little faster.
Oh, shit. She hadn’t meant to type that. Or maybe she had, and that was the problem.
She and Jay Bird had talked about their feelings and acknowledged that whatever was developing between them had become important to both of them, but neither had said those particular words yet. Willow quickly deleted the last two before she could overthink what it meant.
Willow: Thank you. Have fun with the guys.
She tucked her phone away and reached for Lily’s hand. “Come on, puppy thief. Let’s get home before you somehow convince me to turn around and adopt all six of them.”
They had only taken a few steps when Willow glanced toward her SUV and stopped.
At first, her mind refused to process what she was seeing.
The parking lot looked completely normal.
Cars sat beneath the late-afternoon sun, traffic moved along the road beyond the property, and somewhere behind her, the rescue center door closed as someone went inside.
There was nothing about the ordinary afternoon that should have caused the cold sensation suddenly spreading through her body.
Except for the man standing beside her vehicle.
She knew the dark eyes and the faint scar near his jaw. She knew the way he carried himself and remembered countless times when he had stood outside Chen’s office while Willow waited to find out what kind of mood the monster inside would be in.
Liu, Chen’s most trusted man.
Willow’s fingers tightened around Lily’s hand as her heart slammed painfully against her ribs. For one terrible moment, she couldn’t move because the sight of him dragged her straight back to the hell she had been trapped in.
Then Nova’s voice entered her mind as clearly as if she were standing beside her.
Freezing doesn’t mean the fight is over.
She wasn’t trapped inside Chen’s compound. She was in Virginia Beach, standing outside Mia’s rescue center in broad daylight, and there were people inside that building who would help her.
She scooped Lily into her arms and spun around. But then another man stepped from between two parked vehicles, blocking her.
Willow immediately changed direction, only to see a third man approaching from the other side. They had surrounded her.
“Momma?”
The fear in Lily’s voice snapped Willow completely out of the memories trying to pull her under.
Willow lowered her daughter to the ground and turned her toward the building. “Baby, I need you to listen to Mommy. I want you to run back inside and find Mia.”
Lily stared up at her, already frightened by Willow’s tone.
“Go, sweetheart. Run to Mia.”
When Lily didn’t move, Willow raised her voice. “MIA!”
One of the men rushed toward her. His hand closed around her wrist, but instead of pulling away the way instinct told her to, she stepped toward him, twisted her arm through the weakest point of his grip, and ripped herself free exactly as Nova had taught her.
The surprised look on his face would have almost been satisfying under different circumstances.
“Lily, run!”
Her daughter began crying and took several uncertain steps toward the building, but Willow knew immediately that her plan wasn’t going to work the way she needed it to.
Lily was two years old. She didn’t understand why Mommy was suddenly screaming or why strange men were surrounding them, and fear had turned her little body almost as rigid as Willow’s had been moments earlier.
Willow started toward her, but an arm suddenly wrapped around her from behind.
Panic exploded through her so violently that for a fraction of a second she was back in Central Park. Her body started to lock up.
But then she heard Nova’s voice in her head. Don’t fight his strength.
Willow planted one foot firmly against the pavement, shifted her hips, and drove her elbow backward. The man grunted when she connected with his ribs, and the instant his grip loosened, Willow turned and drove the heel of her palm upward. His head snapped back.
“What the fuck?” The shocked curse came from somewhere behind her, but Willow didn’t care enough to find out who had said it because Lily was still crying several yards away.
She ran toward her daughter. “Lily!”
Willow almost reached her when one of the men caught Lily first and lifted her from the ground.
“No!”
Whatever fear Willow had been feeling disappeared beneath a wave of rage so powerful that she barely recognized herself.
Lily screamed and kicked as the man tried to secure his hold on her. “Momma! Momma!”
“Put her down!”
Willow attacked him without thinking about the size difference between them. She kicked the side of his knee, and when he stumbled, she drove both hands hard into his chest.
“Give me my daughter!”
The man cursed and tried to turn away from her, but Willow grabbed at Lily while her daughter reached desperately toward her.
“Let the kid go,” Liu snapped.
The man finally released her.
Willow caught Lily against her chest and nearly sobbed with relief as those tiny arms wrapped tightly around her neck.
“I’ve got you, baby. Mommy’s got you.”
Lily buried her face against Willow’s shoulder.
The rescue center door was right there. Willow turned and ran.
She knew someone had to have heard her scream. All she needed was a few seconds. If she could get through that door, she could lock it behind her, and there were cameras everywhere around the building. Someone would call the police. Mia would call Jay Bird.
The thought of him gave Willow another burst of adrenaline.
She was only several yards from the entrance when something slammed into her from behind.
Willow twisted instinctively as she fell, taking the brunt of the impact on her shoulder and hip so Lily wouldn’t hit the pavement. Pain shot through her side.
“Lily, run to Mia!”
Her daughter clung tighter.
“Baby, you have to go!”
“No! Momma!”
Hands grabbed Willow from behind, and this time she didn’t freeze. She kicked violently, catching one man hard enough to make him swear before she rolled and drove her other foot upward. His grip disappeared, giving her enough room to scramble backward.
Liu stepped directly into her path, and Willow swung at him.
He blocked her first attempt, but when he reached for her, she redirected his arm and managed to catch the side of his mouth with her fist. His head snapped sideways.
Willow stared at him for half a second, almost as shocked as he was.
When Liu slowly turned back, blood appeared at the corner of his lip.
“You fucking bitch.”
Under any other circumstances, Willow might have been terrified by the rage in his expression. Instead, she thought about Nova telling her that the goal wasn’t necessarily to win. The goal was to create an opportunity.
Liu came at her again, but she ducked away from his arm and shoved him hard enough to make him stumble. Another man grabbed her from behind, and Willow broke his hold before he could secure it.
She was fighting with all her might, and for a few seconds, they were having trouble controlling her.