Once she’d discovered my tattoo, every word that came out of my mouth had emerged wearing a grotesque clown mask. Every move I made after that had just served to push her further away. So much for my renowned fast thinking and my reputation for being ninja-quick on my feet. Not when it came to Callie. She was my nemesis, yet in spite of that I needed her like I needed to breathe The only trouble was she hated my guts and I had no idea how to rectify that. There was no point even trying until Troy and Libby were found safe and well. That was the other thing that had me bewildered. The depth of love I felt for a daughter I barely knew. But it didn’t matter. Liberty had reached out to me – she wanted us to meet after all this time. Surely that meant she and I had … potential? Yet now that too had been snatched away.

My plan of action was simple – find my daughter and teach a hard, painful lesson to the ones who had dared to abduct her. Whoever they were, they had no idea who they were messing with. But they would learn. I’d personally see to it. And, if that retribution paved my way straight through the gates of hell, then so be it.

No one else I cared about was going to get hurt.

So, from now on, I’d do what I had to do. Whatever it took.

What I especially needed was to get out from under this ridiculous murder charge that hung over me like a heavy boulder suspended by a single fraying thread. I’d spent a sleepless night figuring out how to do that until I’d finally come up with a stratagem. It was risky – bollocks to that, it was perilous – but it was all I had.

Each time my feet pounded the path, my thoughts jumped and slid and slotted into place like jigsaw pieces. Running always did that for me, helped straighten out my thinking. I didn’t have all the answers, but I had more than twenty-four hours earlier. I didn’t know where my daughter was right now, but I would by early afternoon. My hands were about to get very dirty and I had to make sure that Callie was nowhere near when that went down.

If anything happened to her …