Prologue

Everleigh - 3 Years Ago

It was hot.

So hot I almost couldn't breathe.

I have no idea what day it is, where I am or who took me. All I do know is this room they have me squeezed in is stifling and disgusting. There's no telling how many other poor girls have been locked in this room. It isn't even big enough for a bed. 

Harry had it better living under a staircase than what I have in this box. At least I got to have a bed.

I could see dried blood and other things that I don't even want to think about, on the walls and floor. 

I'm not entirely sure what happened to make our operation go sideways but all I can do is pray that they find me before my captors decide to kill me.

I know Bryan is looking for me. He wouldn't just let me go without a fight. We mean too much to each other. 

We don't care that it is against department regulations, we still decided to have a physical relationship. I love him and he loves me.

Hopefully I'm not too broken by the end of this order. I don't know what I would do if he decides that he doesn't want me anymore. 

I love him so much.

It's my fault this happened. I wasn't careful enough to cover my tracks in my investigation. 

Sitting here for the last however long, you have had me second guessing everything that I know by heart. It has to be an inside job. There has to be someone inside the department that is crooked and I was getting close.

Human trafficking is on the rise in our city and there have been several suspicious disappearances throughout the city as of late. The last person that went missing was a teen girl, taken from the parking lot of a local grocery store while she was working. She also happens to be the Chief's goddaughter.

I found her…but it was too late.

She had been raped, beaten and broken. And in the end she did what she most could not and she took her own life to escape her captors.

The main door to this building full of cells opened and I could hear voices coming down the hall. I stood as quickly as my broken ribs and shattered hip would allow. Standing in this torture box made it more difficult for them to have their way with me. More difficult but not impossible.

I've lost count how many times I've been beaten and tortured. And violated…let's not forget about that. These men are the lowest of the low for the things they have done to me.

They are trying to break my spirit. Trying to make me the perfect slave before they sell me to the highest bidder.

As the footsteps get closer, I brace myself. 

It's dark in here, making it hard to see who is standing in front of me. The figure standing before me is nothing but a black mass of man.

The cell door swung open and he stepped in. 

It took me a minute to adjust my eyes to the lights on the ends of their guns. 

I know those eyes….

“Bryan?”

He slung his gun over his shoulder and slowly extended his hand toward me. I slowly placed my hand in his much bigger one and took a step toward him. 

And then all Hell broke loose.

Guns were firing from both directions of the hall. 

Bryan scooped me up and ran as the rest of the team that was there to help, covered him from behind.

He ran with me to a black SUV and shoved me in the back seat and climbed in after me. The driver floored it as we sped away from the facility that they had been holding me in. Right outside of the gates I heard an explosion I turned in my seat to see the main building go up in flames.

Bryan pulled me into his lap and buried his face in my throat as I wrapped my arms around him and held on for dear life. 

We drove for what seemed like hours. The warehouse we pulled into was empty except for a makeshift command center, manned by a few agents and officers that had been left behind. 

Paramedics opened the door that Bryan was leaning against. I don't think any of us were ready for what happened next. His lifeless body slumped over on to the waiting paramedic. His lips were blue and his skin ashen. There was a pool of blood on the seat and on the floor of the SUV.

Bryan was shot at some point in our escape and he bled out.

The love of my life died in my arms and I didn't even know it.

All I could do at that moment was scream…