Page 104 of Ruthless Protector

I was bringing my girls home today. Anything else was unacceptable.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, we were in an area known for its dealers and crack houses. My gut tightened when we pulled over outside an apartment building with a “Condemned” sign on the front door, and smashed and boarded windows.

“Christ,” Hunter said beside me.

He didn’t do many field jobs anymore, not since he got Lulu and Josh back, but he refused to sit this one out.

My throat wouldn’t work, the rage inside me was so intense I shook. With all agents on board, we surrounded the building. Zeke and Ruby, Hunter and Van, Neco and me. We nodded, and entered the building. Neco had accessed the floor plan, and we’d studied it on the way over.

We split up and headed to our allocated areas.

The stench was overpowering. Vomit, shit, piss, mold, rot.

Zeke and Ruby stayed on the ground floor, while Hunter and Van moved to the first and Neco and I carried on up to the second.

Neco glanced down at his phone. “Still getting the signal.”

Doors were left open in some of the apartments. Dirty mattresses, people passed out, syringes, condoms, and whole lot of other shit everywhere, littering the floors.

We searched each room.

The second to last door on the floor was shut, and when I tried the handle, it didn’t budge, no doubt bolted from the inside. I didn’t hesitate; I kicked the fucker in and stormed the room.

Thank fuck.

Trent was there; he and two other guys were passed out on the floor. There was a needle still hanging out of the fucker’s arm.

Van checked his pulse. “He’s still alive.”

I didn’t care if he was still breathing or not. “Tilly! Willa!” I called, running from room to room.

Not a sound, or a movement.

I entered the second room, calling their names again. There was an old bedframe, no mattress. I checked underneath. Nothing.

A whimper.

I spun around. There was a closet behind the bedroom door. I strode over and yanked it open.

Sitting on the floor, with tears streaming down her face and Trent's phone held tight in her hand, was Tilly. She scrambled back with a little shriek.

Oh God. I crouched down slowly, got down nice and low, so I wasn’t looming over her, so she could see me.

“It’s all right now, it’s going to be all right. It’s Jude, honey.”

She blinked up at me and her lips started to quiver. “Jude?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. It’s me.”

She threw herself at me, wrapping her tiny arms round my neck and hanging on for all she was worth. She started sobbing. I already knew I loved this kid, but Christ, in that moment, she became mine. I felt it all the way down to my soul.

“I got you, baby. I’ve got you.”

“I was so scared,” she said through her sobs, blurting her words. “When Dad went to sleep, I took his phone and I turned it on. So you could get a signal. I remembered what you said, how you sometimes caught the bad guys. It had a password and I couldn’t call Willa, but I knew you would be looking for me, I knew you’d find me if I turned it on.”

“Your aunt? Has she been here, honey? Have you seen her?”