Chapter 12
ROCCO
Rocco had seen dead bodies. He’d witnessed his friends bleeding out on dirt roads overseas and men blown apart right in front of him.
He’d held people while they died, but somehow, that text message shook him harder than all of it.
Because Gunner wasn’t supposed to be alive, and if he was alive, then everything Rocco thought he knew about that night was wrong.
Luna still stood frozen beside him, clutching the phone while the color slowly drained from her face.
Rocco took the phone carefully from her hand and stared at the picture again.
His chest tightened painfully. The angle, the timing—whoever took it had been outside long enough to watch them.
A dangerous calm settled over him instantly—the kind he hadn’t felt since deployment, and he felt an overpowering need to protect her at all costs.
Rocco knew that going to the police, as Luna suggested, wouldn’t help them at all.
Right now, he needed to get her out of her apartment and somewhere safe.
“Pack a bag,” he said quietly.
Luna blinked at him. “What?”
“You’re not staying here,” he said. Rationally, he knew maybe he was overreacting, but instincts like his existed for a reason, and every instinct he had was screaming that something was wrong—very wrong.
“Rocco—”
“Luna.” His voice sharpened slightly. “Please, just do as I ask.” That stopped her—not because he raised his voice, but because she seemed to hear the fear underneath it.
Real fear. Luna nodded before moving toward the bedroom, giving up any argument that she might have.
The second she disappeared down the hallway, Rocco grabbed his phone and hit Tony’s number. Tony answered on the second ring.
“You know it’s early as hell, right?” he grumbled.
“I think that I need your help,” Rocco said.
“Why, what’s happened?” Tony asked, sounding more alert now.
Rocco stared out the apartment window again as he spoke. “Remember when I told you and Luca about my best friend, Gunner?”
“Yeah, he was one of the guys in your platoon, right?” Tony asked.
“Right, well, I think that he’s alive,” Rocco said. Dead silence met him, and for a second, he thought that the call had dropped.
“Hello,” Rocco said.
“Yeah, I’m here,” Tony said. “What the fuck, man?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said when I realized that he might still be alive,” Rocco admitted.
Tony exhaled. “Okay, start talking.” Rocco gave him the short version—the sighting, the photo, and eventually, he got to the part about the text. By the end of it, Tony sounded fully awake.
“Have you called Luca yet?” Tony asked.
“No,” Rocco admitted.
“I will.” Tony’s voice turned hard immediately. “You and Luna stay put until we get there.”
Rocco’s jaw tightened. “I think I should get her out of here.”
“No shit,” Tony snapped. “But you’re also not handling this alone.
So, stay put and text me her address.” That hit harder than Rocco expected, because handling things alone had become second nature after the military.
Isolation was easier—safer. But now, he had Luna standing in the next room packing a bag because someone connected to his past was stalking them.
Nothing felt safe anymore. Now, he realized that this wasn’t just about him anymore because they were sending her messages now, which meant that she was a part of this mess.
“You hear me?” Tony demanded.
“Yeah, I hear you,” Rocco grumbled.
“We’ll be there in twenty,” Tony growled into the other end of the call, quickly ending it before Rocco could protest.
He immediately checked the locks on Luna’s apartment without even thinking about it—front door, windows, and the back balcony were all secure, but he still didn’t feel any better about things.
His body moved automatically while his brain tried to catch up.
All he could think about was the fact that Gunner was alive.
The idea still felt impossible, but the message wasn’t random.
You should’ve died with the rest of us.
Not them, but us. That was what had stuck out most to Rocco.
He leaned heavily against the counter as memories crashed into him hard enough to make his chest ache.
Gunner laughing in the barracks, and Gunner shoving him toward the mess hall.
But the one memory that hit him hardest was Gunner promising they’d see him soon, because he didn’t keep that promise.
Instead, there were body bags and funerals to attend, followed by years of guilt and grief—and now this.
“What’s the plan?” Luna’s voice pulled him back to reality instantly. He turned and nearly lost his train of thought completely. She had changed quickly into jeans and a hoodie, but she still looked rattled—scared, even, and seeing fear on Luna’s face did something ugly to him.
Rocco crossed the room immediately, his hands settling on her shoulders. “You okay?”
She gave him a look like, “Seriously,” and he couldn’t blame her.
“No,” she admitted quietly. “But I will be.” Even scared, she stayed steady, and that made him love her a little more.
The realization hit so suddenly that it almost staggered him.
He had been seeing her as his therapist for months, but all the while falling for her.
It made sense to him now—he was in love with her.
Not lust, not attachment, but love. And the terrifying part was that he didn’t even want to deny it.
A loud knock at the door snapped both of them back to their present problems. Rocco moved automatically, stepping in front of Luna while reaching behind the door for the aluminum bat she kept there.
Her brows lifted slightly. “This is what you use for protection?” he questioned.
“A girl can’t be too careful,” she muttered. “Plus, you should see my swing. All those years playing softball really paid off.” Despite everything, he almost smiled. Another knock sounded—three sharp taps followed by Tony’s voice.
“Open the damn door before Luca breaks it down,” he shouted.
Rocco exhaled roughly and unlocked it. Tony shoved inside first, his dark eyes immediately scanning the apartment.
Luca followed behind him, looking just as tense, his broad shoulders filling the doorway.
Then came Jonesy, and the older trainer looked furious, not panicked, but mad as hell.
“What the hell did you drag these boys into now?” Jonesy barked. That almost felt normal enough to ease some tension, because he was always giving the three of them shit.
Rocco introduced them all to Luna, who stood next to him, her mouth gaping open. Tony immediately asked to see her cellphone, and he looked through the text. His expression darkened instantly. “That’s not a coincidence. This person knows you, Rocco.”
“No shit,” Luca muttered, looking at the text message over Tony’s shoulder.
Luna crossed her arms tightly over herself. “Okay, can someone explain why all of you suddenly look like you’re preparing for war?”
Jonesy answered first. “Because we are.”
Silence filled the apartment, and Rocco scrubbed a hand over his face. “Jonesy—”
“No.” The older man pointed at him. “You listen to me for once.” His expression hardened.
“I trained fighters for thirty damn years, kid. I know what haunted men look like.” Rocco went still, because haunted was a perfect way to describe how he was feeling right now.
Jonesy nodded toward the phone in Tony’s hand.
“That ain’t grief texting you.” His jaw clenched.
“That’s someone who is obsessed with you, and it’s real. ”
Luna paled slightly beside him. Tony looked up from the phone. “We need to figure out where Gunner’s been all this time,” he said.
“And why he waited until now to come forward,” Luca added grimly.
Rocco’s stomach twisted violently because he already knew the answer to that second part—Luna.
The second Rocco finally found something good, something worth protecting.
Gunner showed up. Suddenly, the text message felt less like revenge and more like a threat.
Rocco hadn’t felt this kind of tension since his deployment. It wasn’t his normal anxiety or panic. He just felt—ready. His body recognized it immediately—that sharp edge under his skin that told him something bad was coming.
Tony stood near the apartment window looking outside while Luca checked the hallway through the peephole every few minutes, like he expected Gunner to kick the damn door in.
Jonesy sat in one of Luna’s kitchen chairs, looking entirely too calm for the situation.
That worried Rocco more than anything, because Jonesy only got quiet when things were serious.
Luna stood beside the counter with her arms crossed across her chest, watching all of them like she was trying to piece together a puzzle nobody had explained to her properly yet. And honestly, Rocco didn’t know how to explain this either, because none of it made sense.
“You sure it was him?” Luca asked finally.
Rocco’s jaw tightened instantly. “Yeah,” he answered with no hesitation or uncertainty.
Tony glanced back at him. “Could’ve been somebody who looked like him.”
“No.” Rocco shook his head. “It was Gunner.” The room fell quiet again, because they all heard the absolute certainty in his voice.
Luna looked between all of them before finally speaking.
“Okay. Let’s say it really is him.” She swallowed slightly.
“Why would he do this instead of just contacting you?” That question had been eating Rocco alive since the text came through, because she was right.
If Gunner survived, why disappear for years? Why stalk him now? And why the threats?
Jonesy leaned forward slowly, resting his forearms on his knees.
“Trauma changes people.” Rocco looked toward the older man.
Jonesy’s expression stayed grim. “You boys came home different after your fights,” he said quietly.
“War’s worse.” Tony nodded silently beside the window, while Luca crossed his arms tighter around herself, because they all understood that.
Every fighter carried damage, but in soldiers, that kind of damage sat deeper.
Rocco rubbed at his chest absently, where anxiety was starting to build pressure again. “Maybe he thinks I left him,” he muttered.
Luna’s head snapped toward him immediately. “Rocco—”
“No.” He laughed bitterly. “Think about it. If he survived and nobody came back for him—” His stomach twisted violently, because God, what if Gunner had been waiting for help that never came? What if Rocco really had abandoned him without knowing it?
Tony swore quietly under his breath. “You didn’t know he was alive.”
“But he doesn’t know that,” Rocco shot back. The room fell silent because they all knew how easy it was for grief to rot into anger. Especially when trauma got mixed into it.
Luna moved toward him slowly, stopping right in front of him. “Look at me.” He did—mostly because he always did when she asked.
“You are not responsible for what happened over there.” Rocco’s jaw flexed hard enough to hurt. That was easy for her to say because she hadn’t lived it. She hadn’t watched body bags come home or spent years wondering why he survived when better men didn’t.
Luna touched his face gently, like she could somehow feel every ugly thought running through his head. “You hear me?” she asked softly.
Before he could answer, Tony suddenly straightened near the window. “Hold up.” Every muscle in Rocco’s body locked instantly. Tony stepped sideways slightly so he couldn’t be seen. “Black SUV across the street.”
Luca moved immediately toward the opposite side of the window. “Been there long?” he asked.
“A couple of minutes,” he said. Rocco crossed the apartment fast enough that Luna cursed softly behind him.
The SUV sat half-hidden beneath a tree line near the curb with its engine running.
It had dark-tinted windows, but he was sure that whoever was inside it was watching them. He could feel it in his gut.
“Fuck,” Luca muttered.
Jonesy stood slowly from the kitchen table. “You armed?” Rocco nodded. Jonesy grunted approvingly. “Good.”
Luna looked horrified. “Wait—what?”
Tony finally turned from the window toward her. “This may get ugly.”
“The hell it will,” Rocco snapped immediately. It was absolutely not going to get fucking ugly—not with her involved, and not with Gunner, or whoever the hell this was, watching her apartment.
Rocco turned sharply toward Luna. “You’re leaving.”
Her eyes narrowed instantly. “Excuse me?”
“I need you to go with Tony and Luca,” he said.
“I’m not running away from my own apartment,” she said. “And I’m not leaving you here alone to deal with all of this.”
“This isn’t a debate,” he insisted. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say to her. Luna stepped toward him immediately, fury flashing across her face now.
“You do not get to bark orders at me because you’re scared,” she spat.
“I’m not scared for me,” he said. The words came out harder than he intended—raw and honest. The room went quiet because everybody understood exactly what he meant. Rocco scrubbed a hand over his face roughly before looking back at her.
“If this guy’s really Gunner—” His throat tightened.
“Then he’s already proven he’ll come after you to get to me.
He texted your cell phone, not mine. And he’s here at your apartment, not my place.
He knows that you’re important to me, honey.
” Luna’s anger faded slightly at that, but it wasn’t quite gone.
It was just buried under understanding now.
Jonesy stepped between them before things could escalate further. “She goes with Tony and Luca,” the older man said firmly. “You come with me.”
Rocco frowned immediately. “Where?” he asked.
Jonesy’s expression hardened. “We’re gonna find out why a dead man suddenly came back angry and wants to hurt you—or worse.”
A sharp knock at the apartment door startled them all. Every person in the room froze instantly, before a voice came from the hallway. It was a man’s voice and was familiar enough to make Rocco’s blood run cold.
“You gonna hide in there all night, brother?”