Chapter 1
TEX’S PAYBACK
“Are you sure you won’t come with us today?” Melody asked, her brow furrowed as she stared at her husband.
Tex wanted to. Ever since he’d been kidnapped and beaten…
since he’d stared down death and won…he realized how precious life was.
He’d come close, way too close, to never seeing his wife or kids again, and he’d spent the four months since his kidnapping recovering and trying to find a better balance between helping others and being present for his family.
So Tex wanted to go with Melody, Hope, and Akilah to California to see Wolf and Caroline, to hang out with them and the rest of Wolf’s SEAL team. But he had something he needed to do first. He’d waited long enough. It was time.
“I’ll meet you out there tomorrow night. As long as there aren’t any issues with what I have to get done.”
Melody glanced over at Akilah, who was holding Hope’s hand and waiting patiently near the entrance to the security line at the airport. Both of their daughters had already said their farewells to their dad and were giving their parents a little privacy. They were good girls. The best.
His wife turned back to him, and Tex could see the worry in her eyes as she studied him and said quietly, “It’s him, isn’t it?”
Tex didn’t have to ask her who she meant.
And he wouldn’t insult her by pretending to not know what she was talking about.
They’d had exactly one conversation about the man he was going to find.
The former Navy SEAL who’d participated in not only his kidnapping, but who’d helped beat him to within an inch of his life.
The tattoo on his arm had spoken volumes about his time in the service, and it was partly that knowledge that someone who had been through the same training Tex had, who had served alongside his fellow SEALs, probably had saved their lives and had his saved in return, had gone against one of his own…
that kept Tex going. He’d made a mental vow to find the man and make him regret his life choices. Regret coming after Tex and his wife.
Regret going against everything the military stood for and what he’d learned on the SEAL teams.
“I have to do this,” Tex told her.
Melody took a deep breath, then nodded. “I know you do. I just…I worry.”
“I know. Just as I worry about you,” Tex returned. “Every minute of every day, I’m thinking about you and hoping you’re okay.”
“John,” she murmured, her voice cracking.
Tex took her face in his hands and leaned his forehead against hers.
“I’ve got this. I’m not going to do anything stupid that will take me away from you and the girls.
I’ve set the preliminary steps in motion already.
It’s just a matter of finishing. I’ll join you in California hopefully tomorrow evening. ”
“Your tracker is working, right?” Melody asked.
Tex straightened and nodded. For years, he’d bitched at the men and women he kept watch over for not wearing the trackers he sent them, making his job of finding them harder anytime the shit hit the fan.
But when he was taken…he hadn’t been wearing a tracker either.
It would’ve made it a hell of a lot easier for his friends to locate him.
Would’ve saved him a lot of pain and recuperation time.
“Yes. It’s working perfectly.”
There were only three people who had access to the data on his tracker.
Three people who he trusted with his privacy and his life.
Elizabeth Turner, Ryleigh Denny, and Baker Rawlings.
The first two had the computer knowledge to track him, and Baker had the connections needed to extract him if necessary.
Melody took a deep breath. “Okay. But if you get hurt, I’m not going to be happy.”
She sounded so stern. Tex couldn’t help but smile. He loved her so much. “I love you,” he blurted.
“I love you too.”
“You guys need to go so you don’t miss your plane.”
Melody stared at him for a long moment, and Tex saw the fear and worry in her eyes. But then she took a deep breath. “He shouldn’t have messed with you.”
“No, he should not have,” Tex agreed.
“Give him hell.”
“That’s where he’s going to end up for sure.”
Melody leaned forward and Tex met her halfway. Every time he kissed his wife, even after all these years, he still felt tingles in his belly. She was his other half, his soul mate, his everything.
“Text when you land. And when you’re on your way to Caroline’s house. And when you get there,” he ordered.
Melody chuckled. “You could just check my tracker, it would make it easier.”
“I like hearing from you,” Tex told her.
“Fine.” His wife took a deep breath and stepped backward. “Love you,” she whispered.
Tex watched as she turned and went to their daughters. He kept his gaze locked on them as they went through the security line, until he couldn’t see them anymore.
Only then did he turn and head for the exit, his lips pressed together tightly.
It was time to find the man who’d participated in his kidnapping and beating. As he’d told his friends the day he was rescued, the man was his to find and punish. No one tarnished the SEAL name and got away with it on his watch.
As he walked to his vehicle in the parking garage, Tex went over in his head the prep work he’d done.
It hadn’t been hard to get the name of his target.
The man who’d orchestrated his kidnapping had sung like a canary when confronted.
Truck took care of making sure he’d gotten the names of everyone Asher Rook had hired to help hurt Tex.
Including Silas Stroud.
Two hours after getting the name, Tex knew just about everything about the man.
He was forty-four, married three times, had three kids, only one that lived with him now, worked a series of dead-end jobs, spent a chunk of change every month on beer, pot, and pussy.
He’d been abusive toward his ex-wives, and the first two had orders of protection against him.
His current wife, Sarah, was twenty-eight, and their daughter was four.
They’d gotten married five years ago, and Tex had dug up plenty of evidence that Stroud was continuing the trend of being an abusive asshole.
It honestly wasn’t surprising, but it still pissed Tex off.
He unlocked his car and sat behind the steering wheel, just staring into space for a moment, lost in thought.
He couldn’t believe the man who’d cheerfully beat the crap out of him when he’d been strapped to a chair lived less than an hour from his house.
From his wife. From his children. It was inconceivable.
But it also made it easier to take care of him. Tex had already set the wheels in motion to make sure Silas Stroud couldn’t hurt anyone ever again. It was time. Time for Stroud to pay for the decisions he’d made. For the violent way he lived his life.
Putting the car in reverse, Tex backed out of the parking space and headed for the exit. If everything went the way he planned, he’d be on a plane to California tomorrow and could fully relax for the first time in four months.
Tex leaned against the driver’s side of his vehicle and did his best to look as unthreatening as possible as he waited for Sarah Stroud to leave the retirement home where she worked.
She was the front desk receptionist and well loved by staff and residents alike.
She worked long hours and, from what he’d discovered, was responsible for almost everything when it came to the care of her daughter, Simone.
She dropped her off at daycare, picked her up, brought her to the park, took her to the doctor when she was sick.
And apparently did all the grocery shopping and other errands to keep her household running.
Her husband was too busy cheating on her and spending the money she contributed to the family to lift a finger to help with the raising of his daughter.
But to his surprise…Sarah had opened her own separate bank account six months ago.
When Tex hacked into the account recently, the balance was low. Too low for her to be able to leave for quite a while. He guessed she was squireling money away when and where she could. Money her husband wouldn’t miss. Hopefully to help her and Simone get away when the time was right.
That time was today.
Now.
He had high hopes she would accept his help.
Many times people in abusive relationships weren’t ready to leave when given the opportunity.
They might think their spouse would change.
Or they might truly love their abuser. But Tex was crossing his fingers that Sarah had perhaps had enough of her husband’s cruelty.
His cheating. That she’d jump at the chance to get her and her daughter as far away from him as she could get.
Sarah walked down the sidewalk with her daughter’s hand securely in her own.
He was surprised to see her with her daughter, but since the fact she was there with her mom made things easier for him, he was pleased.
He also wasn’t surprised that if the child was sick or something and couldn’t go to daycare, Sarah wouldn’t want to leave her home with her husband…
who wasn’t a good father, especially to a sick kid.
This morning, Tex had sent some of the information he’d gathered online about Silas Stroud to the Human Resources Department where he worked.
He was pretty sure the construction company wouldn’t be too pleased to learn that one of their employees had been fired from his previous construction job for failing to follow safety protocols…
thus causing the company tens of thousands of dollars in a lawsuit brought on by a customer.
Not only that, Tex had also provided evidence of Silas picking up what could only be a prostitute…
during work hours…right outside the current building where he was supposed to be working.