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“They could hurt you.”

“They won’t.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“I can promise they won’t take you.”

Her chin trembles.

I pull her against me.

She comes willingly this time, wrapping her arms around my waist. I hold her tightly, trying not to think about all the nights she spent alone. All the strangers’ vehicles she climbed into because she had no other way to find me. All the times she must have awakened afraid.

Eighteen birthdays.

I missed every one.

I didn’t teach her to walk. I didn’t hear her first word. I wasn’t there when she started school or when Addy died. I didn’t hold her when she lost Mae.

I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for what was stolen from us.

“You came to the right place,” I whisper into her hair. “Do you understand me?”

She nods against my chest.

“No one is taking you away from me.”

I release her and guide her onto the stairs.

She pauses on the first step. “Sean?”

The name hurts more than Dad would have.

But she isn’t ready to call me that.

She may not be ready for a long time.

“I’m here.”

“If it’s Greg, don’t believe anything he says.”

“I won’t.”

“He’s good at making people believe him.”

“So am I.”

“Believe what?”

“That underestimating us was the biggest mistake he ever made.”

She takes a breath and descends the stairs.

I close the hidden door and wait until the small green light beside the switch tells me she has locked herself inside the reinforced room.

Then I return to the kitchen.

Will stands near the front door, speaking quietly to county dispatch. His weapon is holstered at his side.