22. Marcus
TWENTY-TWO
MARCUS
“Well, shit.” Reign takes the beer I offer him, condensation already beading on the bottle. “I guess that’s one way to break the news.”
I drop into the chair beside him.
“You know me. Subtlety’s never been my strong suit. You should have seen his face. The kid was fucking devastated.”
“Can’t say I blame him. Finding out your ex is screwing your old man? That’s gotta sting.”
“Thanks for that colorful description.”
It’s the day after Lorena Castellano’s wedding, and I’m sitting out on the back deck with Reign, trying to make sense of the mess I’ve made.
To say that last night was a clusterfuck would be the understatement of the century.
I always knew Axel would be pissed when he found out about Lainey and me. Hell, I'd be furious too if I was in his shoes. But I underestimated how much it would tear me up inside to see my own son look at me with such betrayal.
Now, the guilt is eating away at me, even though I know Lainey and I did nothing wrong. She's not some conquest or flavor of the month. What we have is real. I'm crazy about her in a way I haven't felt in decades, maybe ever. She's mine, body and soul.
But that doesn't change the fact that I went behind my son's back and started dating his ex-girlfriend. There's no getting around how fucked up that is. I feel like the world's shittiest father. A traitor to my own blood.
Worst of all, Lainey had to stand there and witness Axel's reaction firsthand. I saw the way her face crumpled, how she tried to shrink into herself as if she could disappear completely. She looked so damn young and vulnerable in that moment that it broke my heart.
“Well, for what it’s worth, no one at the reception noticed anything was off,” Reign says, his tone matter-of-fact. “The three of you hid it well. You didn’t start throwing punches in the middle of the dance floor.”
“Give me some credit,” I mutter, though the thought had crossed my mind when I saw the fury in Axel’s eyes. “I’m not completely uncivilized. I know better than to ruin the bride’s big day.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Fuck if I know.”
“You’re not going to at least try talking to Axel?”
“And say what? ‘Sorry that I’m banging your ex-girlfriend, son. Hope we can all do Thanksgiving together?’”
Reign chuckles. “Maybe leave out the ‘banging’ part.”
I scrub a hand over my face, feeling the scratch of my beard against my palm.
“I don’t know how to fix this at all, Reign. You know how I am with emotional stuff.”
“Do you love her?”
The question catches me off guard.
Although Reign and I have been brothers in arms for over two decades, we've never been the type to have heart-to-hearts about our love lives. We're both lone wolves, married to the job and our own independence. I can count on one hand the number of times Reign's even mentioned a woman to me, and vice versa.
So hearing him ask me point-blank if I love Lainey throws me for a loop.
I take a long pull from my beer, buying myself a moment to gather my thoughts.
"Yeah," I finally say, meeting Reign's gaze head-on. "I do love her. More than I ever thought possible at this stage in my life. She's everything to me."
"Then fight for her. Don't let this shit with Axel ruin the best thing that's happened to you in years. Talk to your son, try to make him understand. But don't give up on Lainey because things are getting messy."
Now, it’s my turn to chuckle.
“Trust me, giving her up was never part of the plan. She's mine. No matter what happens with Axel. And since when did you get so wise about relationships?”
Reign smirks.
“I’m not. I just know you, you stubborn bastard. Now get off your ass and go fix this before you lose them both.”
I’m about to respond when my phone buzzes in my pocket. Pulling it out, I see Axel’s name on the screen.
“Shit,” I mutter, staring at the phone.
Reign raises an eyebrow. “Axel?”
I nod, debating whether to let it go to voicemail. But something tells me I need to answer.
“Dad, you’ve gotta come quick!” Axel’s voice comes through breathless and panicked. “I’m at the diner. There’s smoke coming from the back of the building.”
The beer bottle slips from my hand, shattering on the deck.
“Is Lainey there?”
“I think she might be. Her car is outside. The fire trucks just got here, but I’m worried about her.”
“I’ll be there in 15.”
I jump to my feet as I hang up.
Reign’s watching me, tension radiating off him. “What’s wrong?”
“Fire at the diner. Lainey might be inside.” The words come out strangled. “We gotta go. Now.”
He’s up in an instant. “I’ll drive.”
The two of us sprint through the backyard and around the side of the house to Reign’s truck. I barely have the door closed before he’s peeling out of the driveway.
My mind’s racing faster than the truck, imagining every worst-case scenario. Lainey trapped, scared, alone. Smoke filling her lungs. Flames closing in.
“She’ll be okay,” Reign says, as if reading my thoughts. “Lainey’s tough. You’ve said so yourself a million times.”
He’s right. I force myself to breathe. To think. But my mind keeps circling back to all the ways this could go wrong.
All the things I haven’t told her.
The speedometer climbs past eighty as we tear down the mountain road.
Images flash through my mind faster than I can process them. The ring box sitting in my nightstand drawer, waiting for the right moment. The way Lainey looked this morning in my shirt, sunlight in her hair. Her smile when she promised to be home for dinner.
I can’t lose her.
The thought pounds through my head with each turn of the wheels. Everything I want, everything I need, is in that building. The woman who brought me back to life. The woman I was going to ask to be my wife.
She has to be okay. She has to be.
I launch myself from Reign’s truck as we pull up to the Piney Creek Diner.
Three fire trucks block the street and thick smoke billows from the back entrance. Emergency lights paint everything in alternating flashes of red and white against the afternoon sky, illuminating the crowd that’s gathered to watch.
“Dad! Over here!”
Axel’s voice cuts through my rising panic as he ducks under the caution tape and runs toward us.
“I’ve been trying her phone for the last twenty minutes. It keeps going straight to voicemail.”
“Keep trying,” I tell him as I approach the nearest firefighter.
The man turns at our footsteps, already lifting his hand in a stopping gesture.
“Sir, this is an active scene. You need to stay behind the tape.”
“Screw the tape. What the hell happened?” I demand.
“Looks like a small kitchen fire. We’ve put it out now, but there’s still quite a bit of smoke from the accelerant.” He gestures toward the smoke still pouring from the rear of the building. “The structure’s mostly intact, though. Just some damage to the back area.”
My shoulders sag with relief at the news that the diner is okay. I glance over at the ambulance.
“And Lainey’s okay, too?”
“Who?”
“Lainey. The owner.”
The firefighter frowns.
“We did a complete sweep of the building, sir. There was no one inside when we arrived.”
Ice floods my veins as his words sink in.
“That’s impossible,” I growl. “Her car is right over there.”
“Sir, I can assure you that my team did a thorough search. The building is empty.”
My hands clench into fists as fear and rage war in my chest.
Four hours ago, she was safe in my bed, laughing at my protectiveness. Three hours ago, she kissed me goodbye, promising to hurry back. Now, her car sits abandoned in a cloud of smoke, and no one can tell me where she is.
I shove past the firefighter, ignoring his shouts as I sprint toward the diner’s entrance. My heart pounds against my ribs with each step.
The smoke stings my eyes as I burst through the front doors.
“Lainey!”
My voice echoes through the empty dining room. Water from the fire hoses pools on the checkerboard floor, reflecting the emergency lights streaming through the windows.
“Lainey, baby, where are you?”
I race through the dining room, my boots splashing through puddles as I check every possible space. Reign and Axel fan out behind me while angry shouts from the firefighters follow us inside.
I throw open every door, every cabinet big enough to hide a person.
The walk-in freezer where she stores those pies she’s so proud of.
The storage pantry where she keeps her father’s recipes.
Empty.
All empty.
Each space I check ratchets my fear higher.
“Check the security cameras.” Axel’s voice cuts through my frantic searching. “She had them installed a while back.”
Hope flares in my chest as I spin toward him “Where are they?”
“The office.” He points down the hallway. “Through there.”
We burst into the tiny office, cramped with all three of us plus the firefighters who’ve caught up. An old desk holds a monitor showing multiple camera views of the diner.
Reign immediately drops into the chair, his fingers flying over the keyboard.
“How far back can we look?” I demand, gripping the back of the chair as I lean in. My knuckles turn white against the worn leather.
Suddenly, the office door slams open. We all whirl around to see Ruby standing in the doorway, her red hair wild and her green eyes blazing.
“What the hell is going on?” she demands, looking from me to Axel to Reign. “I got here as fast as I could when I heard about the fire. Where’s Lainey?”
Axel steps forward, his face etched with worry.
“Her car’s out front, but we can’t find her anywhere. We’re checking the security footage now.”
Ruby’s eyes narrow, fixing on me with laser-like intensity. “And where were you when this happened?”
I bristle at the accusation in her tone, but before I can respond, Reign cuts in.
“I’ve got something.”
The screen splits into four feeds, each showing a different angle of the diner. My hands grip the back of Reign’s chair as he scrolls through the morning’s footage.
What I see next nearly brings me to my knees.
Lainey lies limp between two men, her hands bound behind her back. Her head lolls against one man’s shoulder as they drag her toward a black SUV. My stomach lurches at how small she looks between them, how vulnerable.
One of the men turns, and that’s when I see his face.
Enzo Castellano.
“Son of a bitch!” I snarl.
Enzo’s dark eyes flick toward the camera, a smirk playing on his lips. He knows exactly what he’s doing. The bastard wants me to see this.
We watch in stunned silence as Enzo and his goon load Lainey into the back of a black SUV. Her head lolls to the side, and I catch a glimpse of her face. Her skin is pale, and her eyes are closed. My chest constricts.
“Why is her head bobbing like that?” Ruby wails. “Has she been drugged or something?”
“Definitely,” Reign says grimly. “Look at how they’re handling her. She’s out cold.”
The SUV peels out of the parking lot, tires squealing against the asphalt. The timestamp on the footage shows this happened three hours ago.
A police officer who entered the office during the playback speaks up.
“I’ve called in the plate number. We’ll put out an APB immediately.”
Ruby’s sobs fill the tiny office as she collapses against Axel. But beneath my fear, something darker rises. Something primal and violent that I haven’t felt since my last deployment. Something I’ve kept carefully caged for years.
I catch Reign’s eye, and I know he’s thinking the same thing. We’ve been here before, in other countries, other wars. This is what we’re trained for.
“Let’s go,” I growl, already heading for the door.
“Wait, where are you going?” Axel calls after us.
I don’t bother to answer. There’s no time to explain, no time to wait for the cops to bumble their way through this. Every second counts.
Reign and I storm out of the office together.
“How much gear you got in the truck?” I ask Reign as we sprint down the hallway.
His lips curve into a smirk. “Enough to start a war.”
Good. We’re going to need every weapon, every tactical advantage we can get our hands on.
“Dad, wait!” Axel’s voice cuts through the chaos. He jogs up to us, his face flushed and eyes wild. “I’m coming with you.”
For a second, I almost consider it.
The determination in Axel’s eyes reminds me of myself at his age - headstrong, desperate to prove himself. But there’s no way I’m going to risk losing him too.
“No,” I say, gripping his shoulder. “I want you to stay here with Ruby. She needs you right now.”
Axel’s jaw clenches, ready to argue, but I cut him off.
“Listen to me. I promise you, I’m going to bring her back. But I need to know you’re safe. Can you do that for me?”
Something in my tone must get through to him because he nods reluctantly.
“Okay,” he says, swallowing hard. “But you better bring her back.”
I pull him into a fierce hug, something I haven’t done in years.
“I will,” I whisper roughly. “I promise.”
As I release him, I see the sheen of tears in his eyes. It hits me then - how much Lainey means to both of us, how she’s become the heart of our fractured family.
Axel’s voice cracks slightly.
“And you better come back too, old man.”
Despite everything, I manage a small smile.
“Count on it, kid.”