Rescued By The Marine. Julie Miller

her up!” a growly voice ordered.

      She spun around and slammed into a third man. Where had he come from? Strong arms snugged around her like a vise, knocking the phone from her hand. “Let go of me!”

      “Get that phone!” someone shouted.

      Someone tore her purse off her shoulder. She kicked. Clawed. Twisted. “Brandon! Help! Help me! Ky—!”

      A gloved hand slapped an oily cloth over her mouth and nose, forcing her to breathe in some nasty fumes, making her dizzy. Rough hands lifted her off her feet. Her knee cracked against the running board of the van before she was shoved inside. “Help me,” she wheezed. The hands let go and she rolled across the floor of the van, slamming into the opposite side. “What’s happening? Who are you?”

      “Samantha!” Help. Brandon was coming for her. She heard two sharp pops, and jumped inside her skin at the metallic clank of two bullets striking the back of the van.

      A man in the front seat thrust his hand out the window and fired a gun that made a whup, whup sound. A silencer. Her would-be rescuer wouldn’t hear the man returning fire.

      She pushed herself up, tried to warn him. “Brandon!”

      The side door slammed shut. The van lurched forward and she fell.

      “Glasses.”

      Cruel hands pulled them off her face, blurring the world around her. “Please... I can’t see—”

      “I said shut her up.” She felt the prick of a needle in the side of her neck. “Get the tracking device.” The man giving orders cursed. “Drive!”

      Those same cruel hands tugged at her coat. A sharp blade pierced the back of her shoulder. Her world blurred into a woozy haze of faceless men and squealing tires.

      Kidnapped. Just like her mother. Michelle Eddington had been taken on a raw night just like this one.

      Samantha’s brain went dark on one final thought.

      Kyle’s betrayal, seeing his daughter used and being played for a fool himself, might anger her father.

      But this would break him.