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“Hey, dude!” One of the football players sits at one of the desks, cuffed to the chair. His shirt is ripped and his grin is huge. “Best Homecoming ever! Woo!”

I nod and keep moving with my dad to the office I sat in last night. I run a hand through my hair. Fuck. This doesn’t feel like real life anymore.

When we get to the office, Dad turns the knob just as the door to the interrogation room near us opens, and I turn to see Zach walking out of it. He lifts his head. A spark of evil fills his eyes when he meets mine.

“Hey, Eli. Just want to thank you for breaking in your girl for us. We had a great time with her tonight.” He smirks as the officer jerks him to walk with him. Zach blows me a kiss.

Every muscle in me is tensed, ready to fuck him up for daring to touch Harper. My dad’s hand rests on my shoulder, holding me back.

“Now’s not the time,” Dad says softly. “He’s just trying to rile you up.”

I run a hand through my hair and nod, following my father into the office and closing the door. The problem is, we don’t know what Zach and his friends did to Harper. She might not even know.

“Fuck!” I jerk away from my dad, needing a target, but knowing I need to calm the fuck down. I don’t know what I’ll do if they find out she was assaulted. If they get out, I can’t guarantee I won’t go after each one of them. Even if they didn’t sexually assault her, they took her from me. They hurt her, drugged her, scared her.

“Eli.” Dad’s voice is soft. “If what he says is true, your girl is going to need you now more than ever. That means you can’t be arrested for assault in a police station. That one might be hard for even me to fix. Though he definitely was being provocative.”

Dragging in a breath, I drop into the chair I sat in last night and scrub my hand over my face. Fuck, I didn’t get to hold her. To assure myself that she was all right before they took her to the hospital.

“I know.” I meet my father’s eyes. This is important. I need to get through this and then I can hold her again. “Zach needs to stay here. He’s come after my girl multiple times. And tonight he took her and Jack.”

Something inside me cracks. Fuck, I stayed so fucking strong to get to her, but because I let her go, they got her. The damage Zach might have done might be irreparable. Will she ever trust us to protect her again? Will we be able to trust each other with her?

“I’ll do what I can.” My dad leans forward and puts his hand on my knee. “What else do you need, Eli? I’m here for whatever you need.”

I stuff my emotions back down and clear my suddenly full throat. “Tanner’s at the hospital. He was in on it. The other guys were players, but they weren’t leading it. All of them go down. I don’t care what it costs.”

My father nods and stands. “You said the DEA and FBI were part of the raid?”

I nod, but don’t tell him how I know about the DEA. No one outside of us will know about Darius Turner’s help. We owe him everything.

“Okay, let me check who’s on point for this and I’ll be back.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. “You have her back, Eli. Focus on her and not your revenge. Revenge never gives you anything but more regrets.”

There’s sadness in my dad’s eyes. He leaves the room and I pull out my burner phone.

Me:

Do you have eyes on everyone yet?

Death:

Saw Jack before they took him to the hospital

With Penny now

She got Tanner good

War:

Getting Coach his package

Apocalypse:

At hospital with our girl

She’s sleeping

I rest my head in my hands. She’s asleep. She’s safe. I don’t know how we go forward now. How do any of us let her out of our sights? We almost lost her and Jack. Pieces of my soul.