Chapter 14
ROCCO
Rocco stared at the photograph in Tony’s hand and felt something cold settle into his bones.
It wasn’t fear, not exactly, but recognition, because this was Gunner.
He wasn’t the man that he used to know. He wasn’t the same guy who shoved him toward the mess hall food and laughed too loudly during late-night patrols.
This was the version war created, and somehow, that made the guilt even worse.
“Where the hell did you find it?” Rocco asked quietly.
Tony held the photo up carefully. “It was pinned to that tree over there.”
Luca swore under his breath. “Which means he was already here.” Luna stiffened beside him instantly.
Rocco felt it happen through the hand he still had on her lower back.
Her body went tight, and he could feel her heart racing.
Fear finally caught up to her, and that snapped something protective loose inside him hard enough to hurt.
Rocco took the photo from Tony and looked at it again. FOUND YOU AGAIN, brOTHER. The handwriting looked rushed and angry. Like the marker had nearly torn through the paper.
Jonesy muttered a curse. “How the hell did he follow us?”
“I don’t think that he did,” Rocco said automatically.
Everybody looked toward him. “He already knew where we were going, somehow. He’s staying one step ahead of me.
” Silence filled the space between them because they all understood exactly what that meant.
This wasn’t random stalking. Gunner had been watching him long enough to know where Jonesy would take him, which meant that he was watching all of them—his friends included.
The realization hit like a punch to the throat.
“How?” Luca asked grimly. Rocco’s jaw tightened painfully.
There were only a few people who knew about the cabin.
Jonesy, Tony, Luca, and him. That was it.
Nobody spoke for several seconds, because nobody wanted to say the ugly thought out loud.
They were all being watched and followed.
Gunner was tracking every person who was in his life.
Luna stepped closer to him slowly. “Rocco,” she breathed.
He barely heard her. His brain was already spinning backward through every weird moment over the past few months.
He had a feeling that he was being watched outside the gym.
He noticed a strange truck parked near his place twice last week, and then there were the random missed calls he ignored.
Jesus Christ. Gunner had probably been there the whole time—watching him heal, and watching him fall for Luna.
He was waiting for the right time to strike, and that made Rocco’s stomach turn violently.
“You okay?” Tony asked carefully. No, he wasn’t. Not even remotely, because the deeper he thought about this, the uglier it became.
“If he’s been following me that long—” Rocco’s voice roughened. “Then he knows everything.”
Luna’s fingers wrapped around his wrist instantly.
“Hey.” That one word grounded him just enough to stop spiraling completely.
He looked down at her. And God, seeing her standing in the middle of all this, made him feel sick.
Luna didn’t belong in this kind of danger.
She belonged in boxing gyms and offices, and teasing him until he forgot how to think—not safe houses.
And not being stalked by men broken by war.
“This is my fault,” he muttered.
Luna’s expression hardened immediately. “No.”
“He wants to get to me,” Rocco said.
“And that still doesn’t make this your fault,” she insisted.
Rocco laughed bitterly. “Pretty sure bringing a mentally unstable former soldier into your life counts as a mistake.” The second the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Luna looked furious. She shoved against his chest hard enough that he took a step backward in surprise.
“Don’t do that,” she spat.
Rocco blinked. “Do what?”
“Decide what I can handle for me.” Her eyes flashed dangerously now. “And don’t you dare reduce yourself to some burden because another man lost his mind.”
The cabin went quiet. Tony slowly looked at Luca. “I like her.”
Luca nodded immediately. “She’s terrifying.” Jonesy looked downright proud, but Rocco just stared at Luna, because nobody had ever defended him like that before. Not from himself, and maybe that was the problem. Luna saw him too clearly. She saw every ugly thought before he even spoke it.
She stepped closer again, voice softer now. “You survived something horrible, Rocco.” Her hand slid against his jaw gently. “That doesn’t make you broken.” His throat tightened painfully. God, she had no idea what she was doing to him.
Tony suddenly straightened near the window. “Vehicle’s approaching.” Every head snapped toward him immediately. Luca moved fast, checking through the side window.
“It’s a black SUV,” Luca said. That was the same vehicle that he saw at the apartment.
The vehicle rolled slowly down the dirt road toward the cabin before stopping about fifty yards away, leaving the engine idling.
The dark windows were rolled up, but Rocco could feel him inside the car, watching them.
No one got out of the SUV, and nobody moved.
The tension inside the cabin thickened instantly.
Jonesy’s voice turned cold. “Positions, everyone.” Everything after that happened fast. Tony killed the lights. Luca moved toward the side of the cabin, and Rocco instinctively pulled Luna behind him while reaching for the gun at his back.
Her fingers grabbed his arm immediately. “Rocco.” He looked down at her. Fear flashed across her face for the first time since this started. She was afraid for him, and that somehow made the entire situation worse.
Rocco touched her cheek quickly, keeping his voice low. “Stay behind me.”
Her jaw clenched. “I hate when you tell me what to do.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “I know.” Outside, the SUV door finally opened. Rocco watched as a man’s boots hit the dirt, and then, a familiar voice echoed through the trees.
“You always were easy to track, brother.” Rocco’s blood went ice cold because Gunner didn’t sound angry anymore. He sounded amused—like this was all just the beginning.
Rocco knew one thing immediately—Gunner wanted him outside, and he wanted him to come alone.
His calm voice drifting through the trees wasn’t random; it was a tactical, deliberate move on Gunner’s part.
It was the same way that he used to talk before missions went bad—cool, relaxed, and dangerous as hell.
Rocco kept his body between Luna and the windows while his mind worked through escape routes automatically. “How many guys are with him?” Luca asked quietly from behind him.
“One. I only saw him,” Tony answered.
“That means nothing,” Jonesy muttered. His trainer was exactly right. Gunner wasn’t sloppy—at least he had never been before. Rocco didn’t expect that from him now, either.
Outside, gravel crunched softly beneath Gunner’s boots.
He was slowly pacing in a circle while waiting Rocco out.
“You gonna keep hiding behind your new friends?” Gunner called out casually.
“That ain’t like you, Roc.” Luna’s fingers curled tightly around the back of Rocco’s shirt.
He could feel the fear she was trying to hide, and honestly, that scared him more than Gunner did.
Because this was exactly what he never wanted—her caught in the middle of violence tied to his past.
Rocco’s jaw clenched painfully. “This ends tonight,” he said quietly.
Luna’s grip on him tightened instantly. “No.” He looked back at her. Luna’s eyes were fierce despite the fear sitting underneath them.
“You are not walking out there alone,” she insisted.
“I’m not letting him near you,” Rocco breathed.
“And I’m not letting you martyr yourself because you feel guilty about a past that you had no control over,” Luna breathed. Jesus Christ. The woman saw through him too damn easily.
Outside, Gunner laughed softly like he could somehow hear the conversation happening inside. “You always did have a thing for saving people,” he called. “How’s that working out for you these days?” Rocco’s vision flashed red for half a second, because Gunner knew exactly where to cut.
Tony moved closer immediately. “Easy.” Rocco exhaled hard through his nose, trying to regain control. That was something he’d need to keep if he wanted to beat Gunner at his own game. It was the only thing stopping this from turning into a bloodbath.
Jonesy looked toward him. “You thinking clearly?” he asked. That was something he’d ask all his boxers before a fight.
“No,” Rocco admitted. At least he was being honest.
The older man nodded as though that was the right answer. “Good. It means you know not to go out there angry.”
Another slow circle of footsteps sounded outside, and then it got quiet—too quiet. Rocco hated silence in situations like this because it meant that Gunner was positioning himself for the fight that he wanted. He was planning his next move, and that was the last thing that any of them needed.
Luna must have sensed the shift, too, because she stepped even closer behind him. “What’s he doing?” she whispered.
“Moving into place,” Rocco said.
“For what?” she asked.
“For a fight,” he breathed. The cabin suddenly felt too exposed. There were too many windows and blind spots for his comfort.
Tony checked his weapon calmly near the fireplace. “This guy is military trained, right?” he asked.
Rocco barked out a humorless laugh. “One of the best.”
“Like you,” Luna whispered. “You’re one of the best, too, remember?” That shut everybody up, because they all knew what that meant. A man with military training, combat trauma, and a personal obsession wasn’t just dangerous—he was unpredictable.
Outside, a branch snapped somewhere near the back of the property, and Luca spun instantly toward the sound.
Rocco reacted automatically. “Tony, you take the front, and Luca, you’re with me.
” The words came naturally. He was using his command voice—the same one that he used during his deployments, and Luna seemed to notice immediately.
Her eyes widened slightly as she watched him shift fully into soldier mode, and Rocco hated that she had to see this side of him, but there wasn’t room for softness right now. Not while Gunner was outside.
He touched Luna’s arm briefly before moving. “Stay with Jonesy,” he ordered.
“I hate it when you give me orders,” she breathed. Despite everything, his mouth twitched slightly.
“Yeah, Doc. I know,” he admitted. Another noise sounded outside, closer this time. The back porch steps creaked as Rocco moved fast, positioning beside the kitchen wall while Luca took the opposite side. Every instinct screamed at him that this was a setup.
Rocco silently checked himself. His heart was steady, his breathing was controlled, and his weapon was at the ready, even though he felt anything but ready to face Gunner again.
The doorknob rattled for a few seconds and then stopped.
A long silence followed before Gunner spoke again.
Only now, his voice came from directly outside the back door.
“So this is the girl, huh?” Gunner asked, peaking in through the kitchen window. Rocco went cold, and Luna froze behind Jonesy.
“She’s pretty,” Gunner continued conversationally. “You finally stopped punishing yourself long enough to let somebody get close.”
Rage burned so hot behind Rocco’s ribs it almost blinded him. “Shut the fuck up,” he snarled.
A low laugh answered him from the other side of the door. “There he is.” The doorknob rattled again, harder this time.
“You know what hurt the most?” Gunner asked quietly through the door.
“Realizing you never came back for me.” Rocco’s chest tightened because there it was—the truth.
The thing driving all of this was the fact that Gunner felt abandoned.
Luca glanced toward him, and Tony went still near the front window.
Even Jonesy’s expression hardened slightly.
“You were supposed to come back,” Gunner said. The anger in his voice now sounded cracked around the edges. He was unstable—a feeling that Rocco knew well.
“I thought you were dead,” Rocco shot back.
“You believed them too easily,” Gunner insisted. That one hit like a knife straight to the chest, because some ugly, buried part of Rocco had spent years wondering the same thing. What if he should’ve checked himself? What if he had stayed longer? What if—
“No,” Luna said sharply behind him. Everybody turned toward her, including Rocco. She stepped away from Jonesy slowly, eyes locked on the back door. “You don’t get to do this,” she said firmly.
“Luna—” Rocco breathed.
“No.” Her voice sharpened. “You do not get to weaponize his guilt because you’re broken.” Dead silence filled the cabin. Then Gunner laughed softly outside the door, only this time, he didn’t sound amused. He sounded unhinged.
“Oh,” he said quietly. “I like her, Roc.” Rocco’s blood turned to ice because every survival instinct he had screamed the same thing instantly—they needed to get out of there before things escalated.
Because suddenly, he knew with absolute certainty that Gunner wasn’t going to stop until he took away the one good thing Rocco had left—Luna.