Dalton
Hampton, Virginia
Kyler’s words hang in the air like something fragile and volatile all at once.
Ivy goes very still.
Not frozen exactly, more like every muscle in her body has locked into place.
I know the feeling well, I learned it from Noa.
The slight widening of her eyes. The careful way she pulls her shoulders back like she’s trying to hold herself together through sheer will, I’m pretty sure it’s what I looked like for the entirety of our relationship.
Ivy looks smaller somehow, even though she hasn’t moved.
I don’t touch her. Every instinct in me wants to close the distance, wants to take her in my arms, wants to give her something solid to hold onto when the memories start pulling her under.
But this isn’t my moment to step in.
Kyler wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t be asking this, unless it mattered.
Unless it was necessary.
“I…” Ivy clears her throat, fingers tightening slightly around his. “Okay.” Her response shocks me. She gently lets go of his hands.
I bypass the couch Ivy was heading to and gesture toward the breakfast table. “Let’s sit.”
Kyler nods his thanks quietly, pulling out a chair across from where Ivy lowers herself slowly into the seat beside mine.
She doesn’t reach for me. But she sits close enough that our knees brush.
Close enough that she knows I’m here. Close enough that I can feel the faint tremor she’s trying to hide.
The kitchen still smells like lemon and dish soap and the dinner we barely finished cleaning up.
The normalcy of it feels surreal now.
Kyler folds his hands loosely on the table, posture calm, patient. He’s careful with her.
“I know you’ve told investigators some of this already,” he says gently. “But there were gaps. Things that didn’t make sense at the time. Things I didn’t push on because…because I didn’t want to hurt you further.”
Ivy nods once, staring at the wood grain of the table. “They didn’t say much at first,” she begins quietly. Her voice sounds far away. “They took my phone almost immediately.” Her fingers curl slightly in her lap. “They were going through everything. Contacts. Messages. Photos.”
“How?” I see Kyler’s jaw clench, bracing for the answer.
Her breathing changes. “How what?”
He levels her with a look that tells me that while he’s terrified to ask this question, he’s even more terrified of her response. “How did they get into your phone?”
Ivy swallows. “The password.”
Kyler’s eyes fall closed. “And how did they get your password?” He reaches across the table and takes her hand. It’s not romantic, it’s supportive.
She glances at me then Kyler. Her finger gently grazes the right side of her jaw. “They…they…” She swallows again. “They beat me until I finally told them.”
Kyler takes a slow breath. I watch the way he actively works to calm himself before responding. “That’s how you broke your jaw.”
She nods.
Kyler’s eyes meet mine.
“So they went through your phone,” I prompt.
“Yes. And while one guy went through my phone, the other guy—” She glances at Kyler “—the, um, one you stabbed, he kept asking about people I didn’t know. Names I’d never heard before. Places I’d never been. His accent was so strong I could barely understand. He just kept yelling.”
Kyler listens without interrupting, but his fingers tighten on hers.
“They thought I was lying,” she continues. “They thought I was hiding something.”
Her knee bumps mine slightly, like she’s unconsciously checking that I’m still there.
I don’t move. I don’t speak.
“They kept asking what I knew about military operations,” she says softly.
Kyler’s jaw tightens almost imperceptibly.
“I didn’t understand at first,” she admits. “I didn’t know why they thought I would know anything.” Her voice wavers slightly now. “They went through my messages with you.”
Kyler’s dark eyes flash.
“They figured out you were Army,” she says. The words seem to cost her something. “They thought…maybe I knew things. Maybe you had told me things. Maybe I could tell them something useful.”
Her fingers twist together tightly now.
“I kept telling them I didn’t know anything. Because I didn’t. I don’t.” Her breathing stutters slightly. “They didn’t believe me.”
Kyler’s voice stays calm, steady. “Did they ask about specific units?”
She shakes her head faintly.
“No. Just…general questions. Your name. Where you were stationed. What you did. Who you worked with. If I’d ever heard you talk about deployments or equipment or missions.” A pause. “They kept asking the same questions over and over,” she says quietly. “Like maybe my answers would change.”
The room feels very small.
Very quiet.
“They moved me a few times within the compound,” she continues.
“Always at night. Always fast.” Her shoulders tense.
“Each room was…cold. And humid. Concrete walls. No windows.” Her voice goes thinner.
She’s lost in the memory. She’s back there.
“I couldn’t tell how much time was passing.
I had only been in the room you found me for a little bit. I think they were getting worried. ”
Kyler nods slightly, encouraging but not pushing.
“They didn’t…they didn’t hurt me the way you’re probably imagining,” she says quickly, almost defensively. Her fingers grip Kyler’s harder.
Kyler nods. “That I know. The doctor did disclose that at the time.”
“But they needed me to be afraid.”
My hands curl into fists beneath the table. I force myself to stay still. Stay quiet.
“They yelled so much,” she says, seemingly lost in thought.
Her breathing shallows. “Sometimes they’d ask questions for hours. Sometimes they’d leave me alone long enough that I’d start to think maybe they forgot about me.” She swallows. “But they never forgot.”
Kyler’s voice is soft. “Did they ever mention why they chose you?”
She hesitates. “No,” she says finally. “But I don’t think I was the original plan.”
Kyler leans forward slightly.
“I think I was…convenient,” she says carefully.
Her knee presses more firmly against mine now.
“They were watching tourists and students. Foreigners. Women traveling or staying alone.” Her voice nearly disappears. “I think they realized my loose ties to the United States military afterward. Loose is even a stretch, I was dating an American soldier, that didn’t make me special."
Kyler exhales slowly. “They saw the photos and figured out pretty quickly I wasn’t just some regular infantry guy.
Turns out they’ve been trying to build a picture of certain special operations for a while now.
They got lucky with you because even though they weren’t after me specifically, if they suspected I was tied to a unit they were tracking, that would’ve made me valuable leverage. ”
“How many girls are they grabbing that they happen to grab the wife of a Delta operator?”
“We weren’t married yet,” Ivy mumbles.
At the same time, Kyler says, “Thousands of foreign tourists a year at least.” Kyler turns his attention back to Ivy. “What was I in your phone as then?”
“Kyler Wade with a heart.”
“Fuck.”
“What are you piecing together?” I ask.
“Somewhere along the line, this organization, they’re called Al-Shaheen, started compiling profiles on U.S.
special operations personnel. Probably pulled from open-source material, old leaks, contractor data, anything they could scrape together.
Names tied loosely to some SEAL teams, Delta units, and Ranger battalions.
Not confirmed identities…but enough to start building a picture.
They got fucking lucky that they suddenly had a suspected connection. And then they got my name.”
“But how does that help them?” Ivy asks.
I press my knee against hers and she presses back.
“Groups like Al-Shaheen pay attention to response patterns. Timing. Deployment scale. What assets show up and how fast. Even failed operations tell them something. Over time, those observations start to form a picture,” I explain.
“We’ve had some run-ins with them, too. Or at least what we believe to be them. ”
“Drones?” Kyler asks.
I nod. Then consider the UAV we just shot down and sinking feeling in my chest returns.
“I remember.”
I nod again. Realizing just how many times Kyler and I have crossed paths over the last seven years. “Anyway, continue, Ivy.”
“So they started asking different questions after they figured out you were, well I guess Delta,” she continues.
“More specific?”
She nods faintly.
“They kept asking what you’d told me about your job. They thought I was worth more once they knew about you.”
Silence settles heavily across the table.
Kyler’s expression remains controlled, but something shifts behind his eyes.
Understanding.
Confirmation.
“I kept telling them I didn’t know anything,” Ivy whispers. “Because I didn’t.” She draws in a shaky breath. “I just…kept thinking if I said the wrong thing, even by accident… I was so scared they were going to find a way to hurt you and that it would be my fault.”
“That wasn’t going to happen,” Kyler says firmly.
Her eyes flick to him.
“Ivy,” he continues gently. “I need you to tell me about the scars on your back.”
I wince. Ivy sucks in air, then nods once, but the motion is small.
“They kept coming back and asking the same questions,” she says again quietly.
“Over and over. I was so tired. One time I hesitated when they asked me something. I don't remember what the question was because I wasn’t considering answering it, I just was so exhausted and hungry that I paused when they asked. They decided then that I was lying. They started…they started—” She sucks in a heavy breath, clearly trying to keep herself from crying.
Fuck it. I lean closer to her and take her other hand.
She glances down at our locked fingers. She releases Kyler’s hand and rubs her temple gently. He studies our hands for a moment before glancing back at her face. “Did they whip you, Ivy?”
She nods.
“Forty-seven lashes. I counted.” She glances up at Kyler. “Then you rescued me.”
My stomach churns, dinner threatening to make its way back up.
Kyler stands up so fast, he knocks his chair backward and it clatters to the hardwood floor.
“You had to know that’s what happened. You saw the wounds.” Ivy’s voice is stronger now.
“Having an idea and having it confirmed are very fucking different. Ivy, I had to find out that the woman I planned to marry had been taken in a classified JSOC briefing a handful of hours before we were boots on the ground. My team leader nearly pulled me from the mission when he realized who you were to me,” Kyler tells her gently.
“I’m so sorry, Ky.” She releases my hand and stands up, walking over to him. There’s no hesitation about the way she immediately leans into him, about the way his arms wrap around her. It’s the kind of comfort that years of knowing someone can give. The kind of comfort I hope to one day be to her.
He presses a kiss to her forehead, but it doesn’t seem romantic. We’re a long way from him referring to her as his wife and threatening me to keep my hands to myself. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Iv. It’s me who’s sorry. I promised I would keep you safe and I nearly failed you.”
“You didn’t fail me, you saved me,” she corrects, pulling out of his arms and walking back over to me. She remains standing so I stand up, too.
“You did really well. I know talking about it is painful,” I say.
Kyler nods in agreement. “I’m sorry to make you relive that. I should have gotten you to talk to me sooner. I was afraid of the truth, but it didn’t change what happened.”
“It’s okay,” she replies automatically.
“Are you alright?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she says softly, her amber eyes meeting mine.
Not fully convincing. But not falling apart either. Progress.
He hesitates, then adds quietly, “We’re trying to figure out where the rest of the cell is located.”
That lands heavier than everything else. Because it means this isn’t over. It means something about those six days still matters now. She just nods, clearly exhausted.
“I’ll come see Hadley tomorrow if that works?” Kyler asks her.
“Always. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She offers him a tight-lipped smile before sitting back down in her seat. She pulls her legs into her.
Kyler motions for me to follow him to the door. He studies me for half a second before speaking. “She cares for you,” he says matter-of-factly.
“She knows I will do everything I can to keep her and Hadley safe.”
“No. She has feelings for you.”
I clear my throat to buy myself an extra few seconds. “I…”
“I will probably love that girl until the day I die, but she and I didn’t work anymore after I rescued her.
I don’t know if it’s what she went through, if it’s because so much of her pain was linked to me, or if it’s because she saw me put a man down a few feet from her, but it broke us.
We tried. I tried. So fucking hard. But in the end we were both too fucked up to find a way through together. ”
I open my mouth to try and respond when he continues.
“I see how she looks at you. You’re safe to her. And for that, I will always be thankful.” I can tell he wants to say more but holds back.
“It was never my intention,” I say, grabbing the back of my neck.
He opens the door. “I know. She’s special.
Just…please don’t start something with her if you’re not serious.
” Kyler’s got at least five inches on me and probably thirty or forty pounds of muscle, but in this moment, he doesn’t seem intimidating, not like some black ops killer that I know he’s trained to be, instead, he just seems human.
“I wouldn’t do that to her,” I quietly confirm.
He keeps eye contact a second longer and walks out, shutting the door behind him.