I sucked in a sharp breath and gripped the branch I rested on. The pain of the bark slicing into my skin barely registered.

“Where the hell is she, boss? We gotta get her and go. The cops are gonna be here any minute.”

“Shut up, Darryl. We’re fine,” the first man bit out.

Darryl. Darryl Kidman. The man whose fingerprints were on the first note I’d received. Why? What had I ever done to him? I leaned forward the slightest bit, trying to get a glimpse of the other man. His boss.

As I moved, my phone slipped from my grasp. I tried to grab it as it fell, but I couldn’t make contact. It landed with a thump on the forest floor. The air seized in my lungs.

“Well, what do we have here?” the unidentified man said, picking up the device. “She falls right at our feet.”

I wasn’t at their feet, not yet. But there was nowhere else for me to go. My gaze zeroed in on the guns in their hands. Guns that could easily shoot me down if they so desired. But the police were here. They knew where I was. Where Mia was. Even if something happened to me, at least the kids would be safe. Tears burned the backs of my eyes. Ford and Bell or Kenna and Crosby would take them in.

“Get down here.” The man looked straight at me, his face no longer concealed by shadows and the brim of his ballcap.

Max. The kind man who’d wanted a second job so he could try and get his son back. Max, who’d offered to walk me to my car after we got off work. My voice shook as I spoke. “If I come down there, you’ll kill me.”

Max swiped off his hat and pointed his gun in my direction. “If you don’t come down here, I’ll fucking kill you. How about that?”

“Jesus, Max. This wasn’t the plan. We need money from her man. He’ll give it to us to get her back,” Darryl whined.

Max turned the gun on his friend. “Maybe I don’t care about the money anymore.”

“Shit, man. What’s gotten into you?”

“Almost seven years locked up. That’s what’s gotten into me. My bitch of a wife thinking she could divorce me while I was inside. And take my fucking son with her when she went. My boy. And it’s all this bitch’s fault.”

“Why?” I rasped.

His gaze shot to me, the gun along with it. “You put me away. You cost me everything.”

“My dad put you away. He was the one who left his phone behind when he went on a drug binge.” I held my tongue from adding that if Max hadn’t done anything illegal, he wouldn’t have gone to jail.