I'm pretty sure I broke every traffic law on the books making my way back home. My time as an L.A. cop gave me all the information I need to avoid the usual speed traps, so I end up getting away with my lawlessness.

For now.

Because if Ross is anywhere in the vicinity of my house, of my family...

I will end him.

Law be damned.

I pull up to the house with a screeching stop, practically leaping from the car the instant I have it in park. Running to Colleen's door, I do the one thing I vowed never to do when I agreed for her to move in here: use my landlord key without prior notice.

It's a fucking emergency. I think this warrants my immediate entry.

I slide the key into the lock and throw the door open without a word of warning. If that piece of garbage is in here, I don't want to give him a heads up I'm about to detonate his plan.

But what I find instead stops me in my tracks.

"Daddy?"

Katie looks up at me, wide eyed, as she and Colleen enjoy a carpet picnic by candlelight.

"Are you coming to our picnic?"

While Katie's look is one of surprised curiosity, Colleen's is downright livid. Her jaw is set in a firm line, brows bunched together in fury. I open my mouth to answer my daughter's question but Colleen cuts me off.

"What is wrong with you?" Her words are ice cold, the perfect match to her countenance. She must realize how she sounds because she side eyes Katie before taking a deep breath and closing her mouth.

"My phone blew up with security alerts," I say, holding the phone out as evidence. I lean in to emphasize my veiled words. "Lost the video feed."

Colleen rolls her eyes. "Yeah, the power went out. I'm sure that has something to do with your feed being cut."

She says cut like the word has no nefarious meaning in this context.

"Or it was cut," I say with the same veiled code hoping Katie doesn't pick up on my level of concern. I don't need my kid up with nightmares if possible. And she's too young for the darkness of the world to be put into her life.

Colleen gets up from her spot on the floor with a sigh, grabbing my arm and dragging me back to her kitchen.

"How much longer is this going to continue?" She asks as if it's up to me. I cross my arms. I can't help but feel defensive.

"Until my gut tells me you're safe, or until we take Ross into custody. You may think he's just an annoying ex, but he's exactly the type to obsess over his past and take things to a dark place." I lean closer so she can hear my next whispered words. "And by the way, the only house on this block without power is this one." It's the first observation I made when I pulled onto this street. "Our duplex is completely dark while the rest of the block is flooded with light. It's no simple outage. This is deliberate."

She turns away from me and walks with purpose to the bathroom. I follow, thinking she wants to tell me something in absolute privacy as far from Katie as possible. The thought has my gut clenching. Is this when she finally breaks? When she's finally had enough of my need to keep her safe?

Colleen turns back around holding her hair dryer out to me. "We were playing beauty shop and blew the fuse."

I keep my eyes on the dryer, knowing a blown fuse wouldn't take out the power to the entire duplex and all of the cameras on the perimeter. But Colleen doesn't want to hear it from me. Not right now.

"I'll go and check the fuse box for you," I say, gentling my tone. As hard as it is to hold myself back, I get it. When you hear hooves, you tend to think horses, not zebras. The thing is, I'm trained to notice the subtle difference between the two. And this sounds distinctly like zebras to me.

"Thank you," Colleen says with an equally gentle tone. Her eyes are downcast, fingers fidgeting. I take the chance and hold her shoulders, tenderly kneading the tense muscles in her back. "I know I've been cautious."

Colleen looks up at me through her lashes, eyes full of accusation.

"Overbearing?" I offer.

She shrugs, looking back down. She obviously thinks my caution is exaggerated so I give her the win on this one.

"But you've got to see that my reasons are pure."

"I do."

With a deep breath, I nod. We don't say more. It's not the time, not when I still feel the sting of potential danger under my skin. I nudge my chin toward the back of the house, reminding Colleen I need to check the fuse box. As she returns to Katie, I walk through the kitchen still bathed in darkness, the glimmer of the moonlight reflecting off the smooth tile counter.

Stepping out the back door, I follow the line of the house to the side yard where the fuse box is and pull out my phone to check in with The Kid.

Where the hell are you?

I glance at the box, noticing the lock that I'd added to the side was missing. Colleen could have taken it off at some point, I have no idea. But the fact that it's gone is a huge problem now. Before I can open the fuse box, I get a text response from The Kid.

TK: Sorry boss. Got pulled over for speeding.

TK: Cop didn't care that I'm on a security detail.

I curse as I read his text. I should have sent him a route for avoiding traps. Should have been standard procedure but I'm off my game lately. Noted for next time.

Fuck, if there's a next time...

Opening the panel, I curse again. Every single fuse has been shut off. That doesn't happen by chance. Someone did this. My gut was right about that, but it doesn't make me happy. I was hoping Colleen was right, and it was all about a hair dryer.

Now, I'm cursing myself for waiting to search the property. Should have been the first order of business but as I've learned, where Colleen is concerned, I'm a fumbling idiot.

I flip the fuse switches to on. Lights now shine through the kitchen windows. I close the fuse box, making a note to grab a lock to secure it later. Then I turn my attention to the perimeter. The entire property is surrounded by privacy shrubs meant to keep people out, but in this situation the shrubs could be hiding a suspect. Shadows now spill across the yard, the light from the house casts against various trees and plants along the property line. I use the flashlight feature on my phone, a specialized app with a flood light that all of my agents have, to illuminate the branches. I need the place secure immediately, but I can't move fast enough to get it done. Once I hit the back corner of the yard, I flip my phone and text The Kid again.

Need Backup

I hit send.

But the next thing I know my head cracks forward with a force from behind without any warning. Pain splits into the back of my skull. Before I can react, I hear a muttered curse and my skull is cracked again. Everything goes black.

---

My eyes peel open to the throbbing of my skull. I try to get my bearings, remember where I am. The ground below me is cold and hard, the surroundings dark. I remember finding Colleen and Katie eating cookies in the darkness of her living room, checking the fuse box, then feeling my head pound. I look up to see the leaves and branches of the hydrangea bush I'd been looking through last. I bring my hand to the back of my head, letting my fingers investigate the soreness and find a tender lump.

So, it wasn't a dream.

I sit up, dizzy from the movement. I can't worry about my head right now. The sting of danger I felt earlier is now raging through me full force. No question about it. Determined to move, I manage to get to my feet, the earth spinning around me as I rise. I stumble then will myself to calm down, to stay focused on procedure. I need to let my training take over. But I'm too wrapped up in emotion because of who I need to protect.

How the fuck did I get here?

The back door swings open. The Kid bursts into the yard, his hand on his belt where he holsters a gun. Our team does carry when threats are imminent. This qualifies.

"Boss, you okay?" he says on sight.

"I fucked up," I say, hand on the back of my head where it's still throbbing.

The Kid does a visual survey of the yard, his training kicking in way faster than mine. Then and only then does he approach me.

"What happened?" He gives me a once over, probably looking for blood, but the bastard didn't make me bleed.

"Hit me in the back of the head. Twice. Then I went down. Still haven't figured out how long I was out."

"Took two tries to take you out, though." He's trying to ease my humiliation even as he looks over the lump on my head. "Were you out before or after you texted me?"

I rewind my memory for a second. "Pretty sure after. You told me you'd gotten pulled over."

He pulls out his phone to check the time stamp. "That was ten minutes before you texted for back up. It's been five minutes since then. I was already on-route." He looks up. "So, fifteen minutes."

I throw my head back, closing my eyes as I face the sky and wonder what I'll fuck up next. I look down at The Kid, so young and inexperienced, yet he's got ages on me in this case.

The Kid gives me a long look. "This has messed you up, boss. I get it. I'd be a wreck too. But we have an eyewitness. Let's ask her what she saw."

"Eyewitness?"

He tilts his head. "Katie. She was sitting in the living room when I got here."

"What about Colleen? Did she see anything?"

Even in the dim light back here, I see The Kid go pale the instant I ask.

"He got her. Colleen's gone somewhere with him according to Katie."

"What?" I feel sick.

"Let's go talk to Katie. She's fine. Sitting in the living room watching T.V. now that it's on. Doesn't even realize what just happened."

With a rock of frustration in my gut, I allow The Kid to grab me by the elbow and steady me into the house since I'm still pretty fucking dizzy. I took one step and tilted sideways before he was at my side holding me up.

How the fuck did I get here? How did this asshole get the better of me? I'm better than this. I'm better than a small townie with a shit ton of drunk and disorderlies.

"This fucker is going down." I growl. The Kid grunts his agreement. We get into the house, finding Katie exactly where he'd told me she was, watching some kid prank show.

"Oh, hey Dad." She looks up for half a second, completely unaware of the turmoil I'm in.

"Hey, bug. How long you been watching?"

She rolls her eyes, as she usually does when I tell her to get off technology and play outside.

"Not even ten minutes, Dad. Colleen left with her friend, some guy she knew from high school, to go to dinner or something. She knew you were here, so she told me to hang out and watch T.V."

The dizziness took over, so I edged to the couch and lowered myself to sit. I looked at The Kid and shook my head, both to tell him to keep quiet and to express my frustration over the situation.

The fuses were cut. I was fucking knocked out. And Colleen left with her 'friend.'

"Boss, I'm gonna—" The Kid thumbs over to the front door. "—check in with the team."

I nod knowing he's putting out an alert to everyone on our roster to be on the hunt. For my part, I pullout my phone to call Frank. Ask him, beg him, to put out an APB on our friend, Ross.

"Hey, bug. You didn't by any chance get a look at Colleen's friend's car, did you?"

My kid gave me a side eye. "Duh. A black Honda Accord. Plates from Arizona." She smirks as she hands me a sticky note with the license plate number written down. "Always get the make and model, right Dad? Just like you taught me."

That's my kid. I was worried about her sense of safety but she was using the tools I'd taught her when something goes wrong. We can actually track the fucker thanks to her. If I wasn't so fucked up about Colleen being in a car with Ross, I would have laughed.

Frank answers on the third ring.

"I've got a plate for you to track," I say without mincing words.

"I'm all ears."

Maybe we'll get our hands on this guy after all. I might still be breaking some laws today if I do.

I thought I'd have this done sooner but that second half had me twisted in knots! I could not get it right, and it's still giving me fits, but here it is. I've worked it over quite enough, I'd say. But if you have any thoughts, insights, questions or suggestions I'll take them! Anything to make this story shine, so don't hold back!

I'm in another world, having spent the last 3 weeks in a foreign country, navigating streets and stores and appliances and trying to cook and read things...I'm so tired all the time. It gives me so much understanding for people who move to new places where they don't know the language...Hats off to any of you who've done that!

I don't have music or an aesthetic, but here are my words which are the window to my soul. Maybe when I'm back home in my comfort pajamas, I'll be able to add some creative touches to these chapters. I think there are two more in this story!

Thank you so much for reading and for your patience! Remember that Not Another Diva will be published on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited at the end of October. Let me know if you'd like to be an ARC reader and receive an ebook!

If you'd like a bonus chapter for Inevitable (Brax and Savanna) join my newsletter for a link!