Talon (Uncompromising #1)(102)

Neil appeared in the doorway. “Is it her?”

I nodded, too choked up and too enraged to speak.

Neil scanned the room and when he saw the crate, his muscles went rigid. “Take her to the vehicle,” he barked.

I nodded again, picking some clothes up off the floor and shoving them in my cargo pocket. She was gripping me so tight, I wasn’t about to let her go to dress her. I grabbed the disgusting blanket and wrapped it around her back. Cupping her head, I pushed to my feet. “C’mon, baby girl. I gotcha.”

Right before the door, I saw a package of diapers on the ground and snagged them. Holding Maddie like my life depended on it, I went downstairs. Three men were cuffed with zip ties on the floor in the living room. André held a gun on the woman who was sitting on the couch. I wanted to fucking kill her with my bare hands.

Instead, I held Maddie close and glanced at André. “Burn it.”

André inclined his head once.

I took Maddie to the car.





EVEN THOUGH ANDRÉ HAD TAKEN the car seat from the car parked in front of the house, I held Maddie tight in my arms.

“We bein’ followed?” I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

“No,” Neil answered.

“They dead?” Fuck, I wanted them dead. All of them.

Neil didn’t answer my question. “Is she injured?”

I lightly brushed my hand over her forehead for the hundredth time. “Besides starved and neglected, I can’t fuckin’ tell.”

She wasn’t bruised anywhere I could see and she hadn’t flinched or recoiled when I’d picked her up. But when I’d walked out of that house, she’d started fussing. Her quiet crying had broken my heart but when she’d put her thumb in her mouth and silent tears fell, it broke my fucking soul. Stoic and reserved, she was just like her mother. I swore to her I would protect her forever.

Staring at me, her eyes fluttered.

“That’s it, sweet girl. Close those baby blues for me.” I stroked her hair.

Finally, her eyes closed and her thin, little body went limp.

I looked up and André was watching me. “I’m going to kill Stone,” I quietly bit out.

He didn’t speak but his expression said it all. He was right there with me.

My nostrils flared. “She’s half the size she should be.” Ariel’s son Conner felt twice as heavy when I’d held him.

“I know, brother.”

“She’s filthy.” Siren was going to lose it when she saw her.

André reached back and put his hand on my shoulder. “She’s got you now.”

I ground my back teeth. “Tell me you handled them,” I warned.

André glanced at Neil.

“Electrical fire.” Neil spoke, low and quiet. “Started upstairs.”

Maddie twitched and my hand automatically went back to soothing her hair from her forehead. She turned into me but she didn’t open her eyes. Afraid to pull her any closer for fear of crushing her, I leaned my head down and rested it on hers for a moment.

I couldn’t imagine having my own daughter. Maddie wasn’t mine and I already wanted to kill everyone who’d ever done her wrong. How the fuck had Siren survived the past six months? Why the hell hadn’t Randy reached out for help? I hated him even more. But a small part of me could maybe understand. If she’d been taken from me and I thought her safety relied on my silence, I’d fucking die silent.

Maddie shifted in her sleep and her foot escaped the blanket. I picked my head up and stared at the bottom of her foot that was as filthy as her hair and a life I never thought I’d have flashed through my mind. Those little toes touching the sand, wiggling in the surf, gripping a surfboard as I taught her to stand and balance. I wanted to give her everything I never had.

“We’re almost to the airport,” André said quietly. “Do you want to dress her? Change her diaper?”

I knew her diaper was soaked, I could smell it but I was too busy holding her. “She’s sleepin’,” I whispered back.

André reached back and pulled one of the diapers from the bag next to me. “Just change her before Nicole sees her.”

I didn’t know the first thing about changing a diaper. Didn’t you need powder or some shit? Fuck. I took the diaper and glanced at it. Back, front, some kind of Velcro-looking shit. Inhaling, I gently pulled the blanket back. Her legs limp in my arms, she didn’t even flinch.

I pulled the old diaper off and froze at the sound of ripping Velcro. I thought the noise alone would wake her but she didn’t even stir.

André turned in his seat and took the diaper from me. “Lift her legs.”