Chapter 27
I’m so glad today is Sunday. I had hoped to spend it helping Aiden move back in, maybe even do something domestic like have family dinner, but instead, I’m driving Quinn in her car back to her house.
I told Aiden to wait for me; I’d catch a ride home with him. The truth is, I want a word with Markus. When we pull up, Aiden’s already there, sitting on the stoop like he’s been waiting for us. He stands as we approach.
“Give me a few minutes?” I say gently, touching his arm.
He nods. Doesn’t say anything. Just looks tired. More than tired, worn.
Inside, it’s quiet. Markus is on the living room sofa, hunched over in the same spot where Quinn told me about his disappearance, the time he went MIA, the panic, the silence.
“Hey,” he says like it’s a regular Sunday and not a day he’s actively ripping his life apart.
“Hey?” I repeat, stepping in. “ Hey is what you have to say to me right now?”
His brows pull together, like he wasn’t expecting this. Like he’s shocked I’m not here to coddle him like the rest of them.
“Markus,” I snap, arms crossed. “You know I have two sons, right?”
He blinks, caught off guard by the sudden switch in tone.
“And if either of them was doing something so colossally stupid, so goddamn selfish , I would whoop their ass until they physically couldn’t leave the house.”
He shifts, defensively. “Kate, I don’t know why-”
“Why it’s any of my business?” I cut in, my voice sharp. “It’s my business because your wife… your wife , sat on that very spot a month ago and cried like her world had ended when she thought you might be dead. Do you understand that, or are you so far gone you just don’t care anymore?”
He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t flinch. But I see it, right there, flickering in his eyes, the guilt. The hurt. The fact that maybe no one’s said it to him out loud yet. Maybe no one’s looked him dead in the eye and held him accountable for breaking more than just protocol. For breaking her.
“You want closure?” I continue, voice lower now but no less firm. “Then go get it. But don’t pretend like it won’t cost you everything. Especially not her.”
The silence that falls next is thick enough to drown in.
He exhales, shoulders sagging like the air’s been punched out of him. “I just don’t know who I am anymore.”
I move to the coffee table in front of him, lowering myself down until we’re eye to eye. “Why not?” I ask gently. “You were ready to stay before. What changed?”
His eyes shift to the floor. “We had a plan,” he murmurs. “The guys and I. We were gonna start a security company. This was supposed to be our team’s last tour. One final assignment, then come home and build something real. I just didn’t realize it would be their last. Not most of theirs.”
I swallow hard, sitting with that for a beat. Then: “And you think going back will… what? Make it better? That if you’re back there long enough, the guilt will fade?”
His jaw clenches. “They’re all dead, Kate. And the ones who made it out… they’re barely there. They don’t even feel like the same people anymore.”
“And you do?” I ask softly. “You think going back is going to bring them back? Or bring you back? Because all I see is a man trying to outrun the grief with more trauma.”
He doesn’t answer.
I lean in. “If you go back, the only thing that’ll happen is you’ll kill Quinn too. Bit by bit. And maybe yourself. And Aiden…” I shake my head, voice catching. “You know he loves you. Like family . Like a brother. Do you think watching you walk into hell again won’t destroy him too?”
Markus scrubs a hand over his face.
I take a breath. “Quinn told me you won’t go to therapy.”
He gives a hollow laugh. “My wife is a therapist. Every time I talk to her, it’s like I’m in a session already.”
I nod slowly. “I get that. But Markus, she’s also your wife . She can’t carry all of your pain and still be your partner. She’s breaking under it.”
He doesn’t argue. Just sits, haunted.
“And I know my issues don’t even touch yours,” I continue. “But I’ve been going to therapy. Aiden too. And it helps. It really does. Not right away. Not in some magical, movie-ending way. But one day, you wake up and realize your feet feel a little more solid on the ground.”
He lifts his gaze to mine, silent.
“You deserve that too,” I say. “Not punishment. Peace .”
“Give yourself some time,” I say gently. “Heal first. Just… take a breath. Let yourself be whole again before making any decisions. And in the future, if you still feel like you need to revisit it, then fine. But don’t make a choice like this while you’re still bleeding.”
He doesn’t respond, but his jaw flexes.
“Besides,” I add, softer now, “do you really think the answers you’re looking for are there ?
Wherever it was?” I tilt my head. “I know it’s classified, that you can’t talk about it, but if it’s that deep, aren’t the real answers with the people who classified it in the first place?
Not buried in a field halfway across the world? ”
His eyes flicker.
“You’re chasing ghosts, Markus. And if you keep chasing them, you’ll lose everything that’s still alive and waiting for you right here.”
He doesn’t say anything, so I keep going gently, but firmly.
“You don’t have to respond now. Just… promise me you’ll think about it.
Really think. Not in that soldier way where thinking means deciding to run into fire anyway.
I mean think like a husband. Like a man who’s already been through hell and is finally standing on the other side. ”
Still silent.
I let the moment hang, then stand. “Okay,” I say, brushing invisible lint off my shirt. “Just… don’t be stupid, Markus.” And I walk out.
Outside, Quinn’s sitting next to Aiden on the stoop, knees tucked up, their shoulders barely touching. She stands when she sees me, eyes searching. I nod once. Not a solution, but maybe a seed.
I take her hand. “If you need anything,” I say seriously, “and I mean anything , even if it’s locking that jackass up in the basement until he stops being an idiot, call me.”
Aiden says, with a smirk, “The three of us could take him.”
Quinn chuckles, tired and cracked around the edges, but it’s a sound. A real one. She pulls me into a hug. “Thank you,” she murmurs against my shoulder, then heads inside without another word.
We watch the door close behind her. Aiden slips his fingers between mine and guides me silently to the car.
We drive quietly, both of us lost in our thoughts, when suddenly Aiden pulls over on a quiet, deserted road just a few turns away from his apartment. He leaves the engine running but shifts in his seat to face me.
His voice is low, hoarse. “I’m sorry,” he says.
I glance at him, surprised, but he keeps going. “You’ll never know just how sorry I am. For almost destroying our family. For making you question everything. For betraying your trust. For taking you for granted.”
I open my mouth, but he holds up a hand, eyes shining now.
“There are a hundred more things I regret, Kate,” he says, voice thick. “But I’m scared if I start listing them, they’ll drown out what I’m about to say.” He turns fully to me, hands trembling slightly where they rest on his knees. “I want to come home.”
I inhale sharply, heart stalling in my chest.
“I want to come home to you . To our kids. To us ,” he says, barely above a whisper. “If you’ll let me.”
“Yes,” I say, barely getting the word out through the lump in my throat. “I want you home.”
Relief flashes across his face, raw and unfiltered.
Then he reaches across the console, cups the side of my face with one hand, and pulls me in.
The kiss is deep, reverent. Not rushed or hungry, but full of something heavier.
Like he’s pouring every apology, every longing, every broken piece into this one moment.
His lips taste like tears and hope. My hands find his shirt, twisting in the fabric as I kiss him back, because yes this is it.
This is us choosing each other again. When we finally break apart, our foreheads press together, breath mingling.
“I missed you,” he whispers.
“I know,” I whisper back. “I missed you too.”
And just like that, a little piece of the world rights itself again.
I lean in again, kiss him, hungrier this time. It deepens fast, breaths mingling, hands restless. Without breaking away, I reach over and turn the engine off.
He pulls back just enough to raise an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
I grin. “Our first time was in your car, remember?”
He laughs, low and warm. “God, I loved that Corolla.”
I shoot him a look and tilt my head toward the backseat. “Well?”
He lets out a breathy chuckle. “We’re insane. The apartment’s two minutes away.”
I brush my lips against his jaw, whispering, “Live a little.”
That does it. He threads his fingers into my hair and kisses me hard, urgency rising between us. “Move back.”
I crawl over the console into the backseat, heart thudding. He opens his door and joins me from the other side, pulling me into him as I lie back. His body covers mine, his mouth finding mine again with heat and purpose.
Aiden unbuttons my jeans and rips them down my legs, they get caught in my ankles. Laughing he frees my legs. I spread them, giving him room to lie on top of me. One of his hands moves down my body, over my stomach and runs over my damp panties.
Kissing my neck, he says, his voice husky, “You’re already wet for me.”
I say extending my neck, “one month.”
“Is my baby needy,” he kisses my lips, moving my underwear to the side, running his fingers over my clit causing me to groan against his lips.
“Please,” I beg. “Inside me.”
His hands leave my body for a second. I hear him unbuckling his belt, then he puts one arm under me, positioning me in such a way, that my head rests against the window behind the passenger side. Staring deep into my eyes he asks, “You ready?”
I nod, too keyed up to speak. Still staring into my eyes, he moves his hips and enters my body in one hard thrust. Aiden and I let out similar sounds of relief, like an itch finally being scratched. He rests his forehead against mine, murmuring, “I love you.”
I put my arms around his neck, “I love you too.”
He smiles then starts moving and it’s like stars explode behind my eyes.
All I can do I hold on tight as Aiden takes me to a height I have been dreaming off for the past month.
Twisting his hips, he changes the angle at which his cock enters me.
“You gonna come hard, baby.” His hot breath tickles my ear causing electricity to shoot to right where we are connected.
“Oh, God. Aiden.” I can do nothing but moan, as I get closer and closer to the edge.
“That’s it, Kate. Let. It. Go.” He punctuates each word with a hard thrust.
“Oh god, oh god.” I chant. Aiden makes one final move, biting down on my collar bone causing me to arch and scream. I feel him thrust a few more times, before coming deep inside me with a groan.
His body settles on top of mine, warm and heavy, utterly spent. I run my fingers through his damp hair, still a little breathless, still stunned by how much I missed him. His head rests on my chest like it belongs there, like it never should’ve left.
I murmur against his hair, “We should probably go before we get arrested.”
Aiden chuckles, lazy and content. “Can you imagine having to call someone to bail us out?”
I groan. “Nooo. We can’t do that to the kids. ‘Hey boys, Mommy and Daddy got caught getting frisky in a car like teenagers.’”
He laughs again and slowly leans back, slipping out of my body. Aiden and I fumble to fix our clothes in the cramped space.
As I tug my jeans up and reach for my shoes, I smile to myself. “The boys are gonna be so happy.”
He leans over, presses a kiss to my cheek, and says softly, “Me too.”