Goddammit.

“What the hell happened at the house?” I heard Emmy ask. “And in the car? His eye was torn out?”

I turned my head. “Whose eye?”

But it was Banks who answered. “The car we saw on the camera. It was crashed back near Old Pointe. Dinescu was in bad shape,” she added.

“But then that just leaves Ilia,” Will shouted over the wind. “He wouldn’t be able to carry Tavi and Mads.”

“If he had Octavia, Mads would just follow,” Kai told us.

I glanced at Rika as she and Banks held Winter’s hands.

“Just find them,” Winter pleaded, her face etched with pain as tears filled her eyes. “Please, just find them.”

She always tried to hide it, but I could only imagine how helpless she felt.

I spun around and dropped to a knee in front of her. “Stop it,” I said, touching her hand. “Octavia needs to see you not scared.”

The boat bounced over the water, my own eyes watering from the rush of wind.

“If it were Athos,” she told me, “you’d be terrified.”

I glanced at Rika again, a look passing between us.

“When it is Athos, you will be terrified,” Winter said.

As if it was only a matter of time.

I clenched my jaw, not needing any explanation on what her point was.

She was right. We’d sent the kids to the dojo because we wanted to prepare them, but we were so arrogant that we never actually thought anyone would have enough balls to try anything.

“Our life creates enemies,” she stated in a low voice.

Rika’s eyes flashed to mine, and where I usually saw strength and reassurance, I saw uncertainty. We’d never stopped getting into shit, but our kids in danger from an outside threat hadn’t happened before.

It would happen again.

What were we supposed to do? Hide? Be invisible? Live quietly?

Cower?

I didn’t know how to be anyone else.

“Pithom!” I heard Will shout.

I rose to my feet, whipping around.

“Just barely,” he added. “It’s hard to make out in the storm.”

I stepped up behind him, gripping his shoulder for support, and peered over the windshield, seeing the distant purple glow of the lights.

Damon rose from his seat, getting ready. “Thank God.”

“Wait, what is that?” Banks called out.

I jerked my head, following her gaze.

Leaning closer to the edge, I clutched the side of the boat, barely able to make out something in the water.

“There’s something there!” I shouted to Kai, pointing. “Over there!”

Kai turned the boat, and we grew closer, the small vessel coming into view. Black hair and a black suit became clearer and clearer, and Banks cried out, “Mads!”

“Oh, my God.” Winter’s knuckles went white as she gripped Rika’s hand and sat up straight. “Are they okay? Are they hurt? Do you see Octavia?”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Damon urged.

I locked my gaze on the kid in the boat, looking for anything to tell if he was hurt, alive, still in danger…

But Kai was going too fast to stop on a dime. He circled the other speedboat again and again, slowing down and finally puttering up to the side.

The still boat sat in the water, rocking side to side in the wake of our craft, and I looked over, seeing Mads holding a small form to his side. Streaks of blood lined the side of his face.

Shit.

I didn’t see Ilia Oblensky anywhere. My stomach swam and sank at the same time. My hands shook, desperate to get over there, because if we didn’t get them in our arms, they could still be lost.

Before Will could tie us off, Damon jumped into the other boat and crashed to his knees, taking Octavia’s shoulders.

But her arms stayed around Madden.

Banks grabbed her son, hugging him to her, but he didn’t let go of Tavi. “Are you okay?” she cried. “Are you hurt?”

She tried to tip his face up and look at him, but he just pulled away gently. “It’s not my blood,” he said quietly.

“Octavia?” Winter called out.

Kai dove down and grabbed his son’s face, the kid looking as calm as ever with an impatient purse of the lips.

Ilia Oblensky slumped up against the dash panel, looking like the life was draining out of him.

“Mads?” Kai looked up at his kid. “You okay? What happened? Whose blood is this?”

The eleven-year-old just stared at his parents, his lips twisted to the side like he was bored. Octavia huddled close to him, shivering.

Other than some red cheeks and nipped noses, they looked okay.

Kai pushed off the ground and turned his attention to Ilia, grabbing the guy’s collar. “You son of a bitch,” he growled. “You put your hands on my child.”

But Ilia wheezed as he breathed, and Kai hesitated, letting his eyes fall down Ilia’s form.

He released him and ripped open his jacket. Blood coated his black shirt, his blond hair sweaty and matted.

We all stilled.

Kai yanked open his shirt, and I spotted the small holes and the blood spilling out of them. The color was draining from Ilia’s face as he started to fade out. He had minutes.

“His lungs are punctured,” Kai said, turning to look at us. “What the hell happened?”

And then to Madden. “Mads? What happened?”

Kai knew what had happened. We all knew. And Mads wasn’t going to answer what was already obvious.

“She’s cold,” was all he said.

“Octavia,” Damon said, trying again to pull her away.

Finally, she looked up at him. “Daddy.”

She reached for him, and he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. “You okay?” he asked. “Did they hurt you?”

She shook her head, her braids and all the jewelry she had in her hair glinting in the moonlight.

She reached over his shoulder, into the night. “Pithom,” she said, pointing to the yacht that was fading more and more into the horizon.

The waves kicked up, splashing us with spray, and I blinked against the snow, seeing that the sea was starting to get choppy.

“We’ll get it,” he assured her.

“It’s getting farther away,” she whined.

He climbed back onto our boat with her and put her in her mother’s lap. “Don’t worry.”

Emmy and Will climbed back on our vessel with Rika, and I sat down in the seat next to Ilia, firing up the engine again.

“Call an ambulance,” I yelled over to my wife.

She nodded.

Not sure how much good it would do. I should just dump the motherfucker overboard right now.

But I wouldn’t deny Kai or Damon that pleasure. If the doctors saved him, we’d discharge him to the twelfth floor as soon as he was ready.

Punctured lungs. An eye torn out of its socket. A dead body at St. Killian’s. I looked back at Mads, Kai desperate to see his son scared or need him, but…

Kai just held his son’s face, wiping off the blood and trying to make eye contact.

“We’re okay,” was all he said, though.

Kai just stared up at him, no doubt thankful the kids were safe, but still uneasy.

“Let’s just get them back to town,” Banks told her husband. “They’re freezing.”