CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
DECLAN
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Christ, I can hear the fear in Stella’s message. It’s fucking heartbreaking.
I’m sorry. No one has protected me the way you did, and if I could change all of this, I’d choose you. Every time. SV x
She’s given up, and that upsets me more than anything. If only she had given me a chance to truly help her.
Her father should have gone to the authorities. I get it, not every man has the skills to defend themselves like I do, but to put his daughter in this position is unacceptable.
I might kill the motherfucker himself.
Travis, our head of tech, has sent Josh hundreds of emails between Voss and Marino, leaving little doubt as to what led to this arranged, or rather, forced marriage.
Voss is heavily in debt to Marino. A number so staggering I almost choked up my own lung.
The illegally sourced information from the team hacking both systems means we can’t bring in the authorities. In saying that, Josh gave Detective Waters a quick call on the way to Voss’s home to indicate what we had uncovered.
“Don’t tell me anymore. And don’t do anything stupid,” Waters said.
“Got one of my boys here who isn’t going to let her marry him.”
“Jesus,” Waters replied. “Keep me in the loop.”
“Will do.” Josh hung up and glanced out the window. Heavy traffic delays us longer than we like, and I start to get itchy in the backseat of the black, bulletproof SUV next to him.
My knee bounces, and I try to calm myself as I’ve done a hundred times in a military aircraft on the way to a mission.
This feels different.
We aren’t going to extract a dignitary.
We aren’t going to kill some terrorist.
This morning we need to knock some sense into Stella’s father and work out a way to resolve this so the woman I’ve fallen in love with can choose her own path.
Choose me.
Jesus, I’m in love with her.
How it happened this quickly, I have no idea, but from the moment I saw her, something clicked inside me.
The need to protect her.
The need to know her.
To wake and have her sprawled over my chest, where I can then roll her over and slide inside. God, just to spend hours holding her hand as we wander through the park, hearing her laughter. Or sip on a beer with her as she tells me about her latest book.
I’ll listen to her until my dying breath, just because she lights something up inside of me.
Suddenly, I’m overcome with the desire to take her home to meet Mom, and wishing Dad were alive to meet her. He’d understand this need to topple buildings and move mountains to stop these nuptials.
I can’t let her do this.
I know Stella enough that she’d give up her life—and me—to keep them safe. Even her fucking father. God, the fear she’s been living with. It’s enough to make me pull out my weapon and run up the forty-something floors of Voss’s building and put a bullet in his forehead.
I spoke to my mother this morning. She has an uncanny ability to ring me when I least want her to, but probably need her.
“Hi darling, how’s the new role? I bet your team misses you.”
“Mom, please don’t. Not today.”
After a moment of silence, while I pinched the bridge of my nose, she spoke. “What is happening? If you hate it, I’m sure you can reenlist.”
“That’s not happening.” Although at the time, before speaking to Josh, I wasn’t sure if he was going to fire my ass. “The job has turned out to be a little more complex than I expected.”
“You hate it.”
“I don’t hate it. If Stella were someone else, I’d probably find it invigorating...” I realized my mistake immediately.
“Stella.”
Crap.
“The woman I’m protecting.” My fingers pressed into the corners of my eyes.
“Hmm.”
“Not hmm, she’s hired me. It’s nothing. Confidential.”
“You like her.” I could hear the smile in her voice.
I let out a sigh.
“Did I tell you how I met your father?” she asked, despite knowing she’s regaled anyone who would listen to this story a thousand times. No one loves their spouse as much as my mother loved my late father.
No one.
I didn’t bother replying; she was going to keep talking whether I liked it or not. And while I didn’t have time, a part of me needed to hear a happy story.
What kid didn’t love hearing that their parents loved one another?
“Matthew, your dad, was with a bunch of his friends outside the movie theater. I was with your Aunt Tracey. We were going to see Cocktail with Tom Cruise.” She’s not present right now. She’s in the past with Dad. “He was such a heartthrob back then. We both had crushes on him.”
I groan.
She giggles and sounds like a young woman again. I can almost hear Dad saying let her talk, let her tell you.
“We were eighteen and nineteen, and Aunt Tracey had the tickets. Or so we thought. She’d lost them.”
It was as if God had intervened.
“It was as if God had intervened so your father and I would meet. I’d seen him when we arrived and saw him watching me. But when we thought we couldn’t see Tom Cruise, I was upset.”
As we stood to the side, counting—
“As we stood to the side, counting our money, trying to come up with enough to buy two more tickets, and quibbling over the situation, your dad walked over and introduced himself.”
I can see Dad doing it. He used to smile when Mom told this story.
“I couldn’t watch for a moment longer, son. Your mom was distressed,” Dad said one day, winking. “So, I rode in on my horse and saved the day.”
“You bought us tickets.” Mom rolled her eyes. “Not like you cured cancer.”
He leaned over, kissed her cheek. “I made you sit next to us and go out with me the next day.”
I grew up with the two of them acting like lovesick teenagers all my life. She was so proud that he was a Navy SEAL. Anyone who would listen, she’d tell them how handsome he looked in his uniform and that he was protecting Americans.
All of which was true.
My dad was a handsome man, and he served his country with pride.
Every SEAL I know is humble as hell, mostly because egos have no place in the teams—that shit will get you killed—but Dad proudly displayed his Silver Star and Bronze Star medals in his study.
When he died, in an undisclosed location while on a mission, despite knowing it could happen one day, my mother inconsolable. She lost him and a part of herself that day.
I expected her to get on my case about leaving the Navy, but she didn’t. A few months after his death, she became my biggest advocate. What I didn’t realize at the time was she’d transferred all her love and pride toward me.
Which is lovely, but underneath it all, she had no identity without Dad...and then me being a SEAL.
She has never stood alone and been comfortable in her own skin simply for who she is.
There is nothing I can do; she has to work this out on her own. As hard as it is to carry on with my life and know this, I love her.
She’s the kindest, most adoring mother on the planet. But as it turns out, it’s me having to do the tough love thing.
Being a SEAL is one of the greatest honors of my life, but the game of war has changed. If the country needed me, I would step up, but I no longer want to fly into enemy territory knowing I may not make it home any week of the year.
“He loved you more than anything, Mom.”
“Your father loved you too, Declan. I know he wanted more kids, but it wasn’t our destiny. We were blessed to have you, and knowing you followed in his footsteps was his greatest joy.”
I shook my head. “No, Mom. You were his greatest joy.”
She went quiet.
“Dad knew, just as I do, that there is an expiration date on what we do. I got out before life forced me out.”
“You’re probably right,” she replied quietly.
I was.
But I knew Mom might need a little more time to accept it. Me being in the Navy, wearing the uniform, kept Dad alive for her.
“He’s still with you, Mom and one day you’ll be with him surfing clouds or whatever people do in heaven. But right now, you have to live your life. Go do all the things you’ve dreamed of or haven’t yet.”
She sighed. “I know. Now tell me about Stella.”
I let out a sigh. “One day I will. Right now, I can’t. But I love you, Mom and hope I can bring her home to meet you soon.”
And I meant it.
First I had to use every resource available to free Stella from this untenable situation.
We pull up outside Voss building and we sit quietly for a moment as Josh and I survey the environment.
He glances at me and, when you’ve been on enemy lines together like we have, we have a silent conversation. All clear. But remain on alert. The sound of metal as we both check our guns fills the cab.
“Let’s go,” Josh says and climbs out.
Time to turn this situation around, and by the time Stella arrives for her meeting with her dad, I can tell her the wedding is off.
And that she belongs to me.
Why don’t I think it will be that easy?