Page 112 of Finding a Melody

My shoulders slouched as I grabbed on to those words. I hung my head and blinked through another round of tears. I had thought I’d gotten them all out earlier, but I guess not.

“—what you wanted to happen?” Amy snapped out, her voice harsh enough to cut glass.

I looked up at her, confused as she looked like she was ready to punch Roman.

“My men made sure she was safe.”

“Having a gun pointed at your head is not safe,” she snapped back.

“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to follow along.

Amy looked like she wanted to growl at Roman if she could. I really was waiting for her to throw a punch with the way her hands were fisted at her side. She finally tore her gaze away from him and came back to my side, expression softening.

“And you’re looking at me like that again,” I said.

“Like what?” she asked as she ran her hand through my hair like she was petting me.

I finally understood as she protectively stood at my side, sending glares at Davies. How she kept comforting me. Micah’s mom was the same. Laura too.

I swallowed hard, my nose burning. “Like a mom.”

“I am a mom.”

“Not mine.”

“A mom is a mom,” she said softly and leaned over, kissing my forehead in such a gentle gesture that it took my breath away as my chest ached. “There are a lot of parts to me, Cadence. Being a lawyer. A rock climber. A woman. A wife. Being a mother is one that I’m most proud of. And a job of a mother is to be severely protective.” She went back to glaring at Roman.

“What did he do?”

“He had men following when you were taken. They just watched in the parking lot and then followed you here.”

“What?” My eyes widened and I looked at Roman, hoping he wasn’t lying. But while he looked a little apologetic, there was something in his gaze that said it was true. “Why?” I wanted to scream. This could have been stopped a lot sooner. I could have been prevented from going through all that.

“I’m not making any excuses. We saw an opportunity and took it. The moment you were taken, the police were notified and everything was put into place to raid them.”

“I was bait?” I asked.

“We were able to arrest nearly all of the Ryder gang and we have enough to hold them until their trial. None of them are getting out of this.”

“And if they shot and killed me?” I asked around a dry mouth. “Then what?” Nausea built up and I really didn’t want to hear his answer. But the question was already asked and I knew Roman enough to know he’d answer it, even if I didn’t like the answer.

“We did our best and moved quickly enough to hopefully prevent that from happening.”

Amy let out an angry bark of laughter. “Hopefully prevent? Admit it, you were prepared to trade Cadence’s life for this operation.” She pulled me to my feet, holding on to me to keep me steady. “I’m bringing her home, and then you all better well be prepared for me because I’m not going to leave this alone.”

“Mrs. Rivera,” Roman said, “please understand.”

“No! I understand enough and I refuse to leave this alone. You were prepared to let Cadence die for your own goals, none of which she was aware of. Expect to see my face bright and early tomorrow morning. Maybe it’ll give you enough time to come up with plausible excuses.”

Amy gently pulled me with her as we walked to her car. I barely kept a hold of the blanket around me. The coldness was still there, settling into me. Amy got me tucked away in her car with the seat belt holding me before getting into the driver’s seat and leaving all the chaos behind.

She didn’t say anything and I opted to stare out the window. The heat from the car, the gentle sway of her car, the quiet and darkness all lulled me. It didn’t take me long to doze off.

“Honey, we’re here.”

I jerked away and blinked through blurry eyes, staring out the window into the darkness. Slowly shapes poked through enough to see my house. I turned and looked at Seth’s, seeing all the cars there and the lights on.

I pointed to it. “Can we go there? They’re my friends.”