Lany

My life was a fairytale by anyone's standards, even mine. I lived in a beautiful mansion with my six wonderful kids and the love of my life, a sexy SWAT commander. I had friends who always had my back, parents who adored me, and the cutest little dog in the history of dogs.

I was lucky.

I knew that.

But as perfect as it was, there was a flipside. I'd been kidnapped so many times I was practically an expert. Crashed enough cars that I was no longer allowed to drive. Been shot, beat up, and generally knocked around so I now had my doctor on speed dial.

Staring at the love of my life, I couldn't quite figure out which side of that life I was currently on. "Why am I being relegated to the panic room?"

I hadn't done anything. I hadn't tripped, gotten taken hostage, or even been crushed by an elephant. There was no reason for Sal to make me stay in the panic room.

It just wasn't fair.

"Please, for me, caro?"

My shoulders slumped. There was no way I could deny the man I married when he looked at me with those big copper colored puppy eyes of his.

Damn it.

"How long do I have to stay in here?"

"Not long, I promise. I'll come for you just as soon as I can."

I swallowed tightly. "How much danger am I in?"

It was a real concern.

I was not reassured by the grimace that crossed Sal's face.

"It's just a safety precaution, Lany."

"For what?" That's what confused me. Sal hadn't said a word about what was going on. He'd just come into the house and ordered me to the panic room. "Where are the kids? Are they safe?"

"They kids are with your parents."

I already knew that. My parents had taken them out to do a little Christmas shopping. I just wanted to know if I was going to see them anytime in this century.

"They are perfectly safe."

So, it was just me in danger then.

Great.

"I just need you to stay in here until I come for you, Lany. Just me. No one else. Understand?"

My brow flickered. "What kind of danger am I in, Sal?" I asked again. I needed to know.

Sal's arm wove around my waist and I was pulled flush with his chest. "I'm going to take care of you, Lany. You know that."

I did, but that didn't make me feel any better.

"I'll be back, caro."

I huffed and looked around after the solid steel door closed behind Sal and I heard the beep that let me know it was locked. I suppose as panic rooms went, this one was pretty nice. It actually had two entrances, one from our bedroom and one from the twins' nursery.

Both doors were locked.

There was a small kitchenette, bathroom, a couch and TV, two bunk beds, and a full size bed for me and Sal. For a panic room, that was pretty good. My old panic room had a cot.

I flopped down on the couch and pulled out my cell phone. I sent out a quick text to Lyn. "How much trouble am I in?"

Lyn would know.

Whenever Sal needed help, he called in Lyn Philips, who used to be a member of his team, but now worked on the FBI's Cyber Crimes Division. He was a mastermind behind a computer screen.

I suspected Lyn would be moving back to the SWAT team sooner or later, especially now that he'd gotten things smoothed out with Sgt. Victor Clarke, the second in command of the SWAT team under Sal.

I jumped up when the door to the panic room opened. Sal walked in, a deep grimace on his face. "What's wrong?"

"I need your cell phone and your shoes?"

My eyebrows lifted quickly. "My shoes?"

"Hurry, Lany."

I handed over my cell phone then slid my shoes off and gave them to Sal. "Why do you need my shoes?"

"I'll let you know in a minute."

Ten minutes later, I was still waiting for an explanation.

I was back on the couch.

This time I was aimlessly flipping through TV channels.

Yippee.

When the door opened for a second time, Sal walked in with my cuddle blanket. "I need your clothes."

"My clothes?"

"Shirt, pants, underwear, everything."

I wasn't wearing any underwear.

Sal held out my blanket. "You can wrap up in this."

"You can't just bring me something to change into?"

"Not yet."

I slowly stood and started peeling off my clothes. "This is really starting to scare me, Sal. What reason could you have to take my clothes?"

"It's just a precaution, Lany."

"A precaution for what?"

Sal tossed the blanket on the couch then grabbed me by the arms. "Baby, I promise I'll explain all of this just as soon as I can, but time is of the essence."

I huffed. "Fine, but you'd better have a damn good excuse for all of this."

Sal shot me a quick smile as he took my clothes. "I do, Lany. I promise. All of this will make perfect sense soon."

I grabbed my cuddle blanket and wrapped it around me before flopping down on the couch yet again. "It had better."

I had ways of making Sal pay if it didn't.

Evil ways.

My balloon kung fu was legendary.

I got through two really insane afternoon talk shows before the door opened again. How people could watch those things, I would never know. I seriously didn't understand why I had been so fascinated. Didn't make sense.

I glanced toward the door when Sal didn't appear. Very few people knew the code to open the panic room door. It wouldn't open unless the code was typed in.

I swallowed tightly as I tossed the remote onto the couch then stood. "Sal?"

Nothing.

Not a single sound.

I took a hesitant step toward the door. Sal had told me to stay in the panic room until he came for me. He wouldn't have said that if it wasn't important.

Where was he?

"Sal?" I called out again.

When I didn't hear anything, I walked across the floor to the door. I had to peek around the edge to see out into our bedroom. Fear unlike anything I'd ever known—and I'd known a lot—swept through me when I spotted a foot.

"Sal?" I whispered as I took another step and pushed the door out of the way to get a better look. The sight that I found was so shocking to me, I didn't know whether to scream or run back into the panic room.

Sal lay spread out on the rug we had on the floor in front of the fireplace, buck ass naked.

He wasn't moving.

"Sal?"