Page 68 of Nanny for the Firefighters

We have other things to worry about. Like getting out of here.

"You've got some bumps and bruises on the side of your head." Marcus touches a sore spot, and I flinch. "But you seem okay otherwise."

"She drugged me." I feel my eyes going wild with the knowledge that they don't know yet. That I'm pregnant, and one of them is the father. I suck in a hard breath, but I can't get the words out. "We need to get out of here before she comes back."

"We have time." Marcus grazes my cheek and simply holds onto me for a moment.

I close my eyes at the comfort it brings. These men are my safe space. I'm truly meant to be with them, raising Lily and the baby growing in my womb with them. Fighting to keep the world a safer, nicer place with them.

I took Vanessa down, publicly. And it backfired. Looking around again, I ask, "Where are we?"

"Roughly forty miles south of Harborview in a vacant fish market." Will shrugs. "She took out your battery halfway here, but it's a holding of one of her sugar daddies."

His use of sugar daddy cracks a wide smile across my face. His eyes twinkle when he smiles back.

Metal clatters somewhere on the other side of the building, and all of my men whirl. Each finds something to use as a weapon. Boots stomp their way closer. Marcus and Theo stand on the left, Will and Ethan on the right.

Four black-clad men step through the doorway—black boots, black jeans, and matching hoodies, and worse off, black masks. Their eyes smile through those menacing holes. Each of them has a baton. It's far too even of a fight.

Damn, Vanessa wasn't joking around when she said she meant this to be my funeral ground. She must have stationed these people.

But how were they not there when the men came in?

My brows furrow in confusion, and then, I realize something with chilling clarity.

She knew. She knew they'd come to save me. And she let them.

"Marcus," I cry out, my voice hoarse. "This was a trap to?—"

"Kill all of us," Marcus replies before I can finish my thought. "I can see that. But we've planned ahead."

"But they look…" I open and close my mouth, unable to speak because of how dry everything tastes. It's like I've forgotten how to produce saliva.

"Like idiots who think they can beat us at our own game," says Ethan evenly.

They step closer.

My stomach curdles. There has to be a way out of this. I can't let anything happen to them. I scramble back, wishing I had my phone to call the police.

Vanessa's top goon makes the first lunge, swinging his baton at Marcus. But even from behind, I watch Marcus transform—muscles wide and taut, dangerous energy radiating off him as he meets the baton mid-strike with his own. And he's so fast, swinging his left fist under where their weapons connect to land a blow in the attacker's gut.

The sound of his breath whooshing out of him speeds up reality. Everyone is in motion, and I can't follow it completely. A drug-induced haze slows me down when I'm usually sharp enough to defend myself and others.

I am able to tell that my firefighters can hold their own, and they make an incredible team, having each other's back. One time, Marcus and Ethan switch opponents, and the follow through lands near fight-ending blows.

It's minutes before the four goons are facedown on the musty floor. Will's the first to pull zip tie cuffs from his back pocket. Ethan, Marcus, and Theo follow suit. Once the last tie snaps in place, more footsteps beat through the warehouse.

Men in blue appear first, taking over custody of the perps on the floor. Two officers step through and stay when the others are hauled out. Notepads are out, pens scribbling, but Ethan bends in front of me and takes me by the elbows to help me stand.

I no more than teeter on my feet when he has me wrapped up in his arms. "I told you I wouldn't give up on you." His mouth spreads a crown of kisses in my hair, and I want to sob in relief. "You could have told us," he whispers.

"I couldn't." My fingers must be bruising his back with the way I cling to him now.

"Yes, you could have. We all believe in saving others."

"Besides." Will's voice brushes the back of my neck. "You're completely wasting one of my biggest skill sets by not involving me. You have no idea how talented I can be with a computer, my love."

My head tips back as I laugh through the tears that I can't seem to stop. I'm happy and relieved. "I have some idea."