The room went deathly silent when she stepped through the door, then everybody began to talk at once. Cries of concern and demands for explanations came from all four of the women and two of the men, including Nathaniel, who hurried toward her, their concern evident in their voices and expressions.
While it might have been unnoticeable to the others, he caught Teresa’s small step backward, and that look she got in her eyes when she was overwhelmed.
“Quiet,” he snapped, surprising everyone into silence. “She’ll explain what happened, just give her a chance.”
Shooting him a quick glance of thanks, she nodded to her team. “I came right back to explain, and we’ve already called the cops. Well, Micah did.”
Nice to know she was no longer pretending that they didn't know one another.
“How did you two meet?” Nathaniel asked, his gaze bouncing between them.
“He saved me,” she said quickly, clearly not wanting to get into their past, which given what had just happened, he didn't argue against. “Two men got out of a van and tried to grab me.”
“Always with the vans,” Ava muttered.
“I managed to get away from one of them, but the other grabbed me. He probably would have gotten me into the van if Micah hadn't shown up.” Teresa swallowed audibly, and there was no probably about it. If he hadn't arrived when he did, those two men absolutely would have been successful in their abduction attempt.
“I killed one of them, the other is restrained, and cops are on the way,” he quickly added.
“Didn't take them long to follow through on their threat,” a pretty brunette with gray eyes said.
“What threat?” he asked.
“Last night, someone broke into the apartment Teresa, Ava, and Chelsea share,” Raven Oswald replied. While he’d never met the woman before, Raven’s brother, former SEAL Eagle, was an absolute legend in special forces circles. “They trashed the place and left a message painted on the wall. It told them to back off. As you know, the ring abducted Ava a couple of months ago, then came back for her a second time. Isabella was also taken by the ring.” Raven nodded at a blonde with a wild mop of curls. “They know that Prey is involved in hunting them, and that we’ve managed to locate several of their facilities. I'm betting they're scared we’re getting too close and they thought threats would work.”
“As if they would.” Teresa scoffed like she hadn't just been almost abducted by ruthless traffickers who would lock her up and remove her organs one by one if they managed to get their hands on her.
“You can't keep looking for them,” he blurted out, drawing the attention of every person in the room, including Teresa, who glared at him as though she’d love nothing more than to punch him in the groin the same way she’d done to the man who’d tried to kidnap her.
“Excuse me?” she demanded, her voice all frosty.
“They tried to kidnap you,” he said slowly.
“And I’ll be more careful in the future, but we’re not going to back off,” Teresa told him.
“We’ll all be more careful,” Raven added. “From now on, no one goes anywhere alone. I'm going to assign bodyguards.”
“Done,” he quickly agreed.
“What do you mean done?” Teresa eyed him suspiciously.
“You need a bodyguard. I'm on leave, I'm already here, and I'm more than qualified. I already know about the trafficking ring, so I'm volunteering for the job.”
CHAPTER 4
April 29th
8:49 A.M.
She must have heardhim wrong.
Because there was no way her ex had just volunteered for babysitting duty.
No way in hell.
Why would a man who had deliberately abandoned her because he didn't want to deal with her ordeal now decide he wanted to help out when she was in trouble?
Of course, Teresa assumed he’d grown over the years, she had too. He was a SEAL, so he’d obviously matured. He put his life on the line to protect their country and its people, and make the world a safer place. It wasn't that she thought Micah was a bad guy, but she still harbored a lot of anger and resentment, and it was hard for her to see him as anyone other than the boy who had abandoned her.
