Chapter 27 TESSA
TESSA
The Morgan family ranch house is a blur of activity, and not the good kind.
Jace’s brothers move through the living room like a unit—silent, focused, and deliberate.
Beck loads the rifles onto the table, checking each one with practiced ease.
Zane stands near the window, his phone pressed to his ear, voice low and steady as he coordinates with Ryder.
And Jace? He is all command and control. That quiet intensity is equal parts calm and terrifying. He’s checking gear, making mental lists, his jaw tight enough to crack. He’s every bit the Army Ranger I’ve come to respect.
I hover in the doorway, wearing one of his shirts, wringing nervously on the hem. My pulse hasn’t slowed since Ryder called.
They’ve found Richard, and they are going after him. I should be happy that it all comes to an end tonight, but how can I when the man I love and the family I’ve come to take as mine are putting themselves in danger because of me?
Walking closer to Jace, I tug on his shirt. “My love, please.” My voice comes out thinner than I mean it to. “Let’s call the police. They can—“
He doesn’t even look up. “No.”
“It’s their job, Jace! He’s dangerous, you said it yourself. What if—“
“If you trusted them that much, you would have gone to them in the first place instead of running for the past nine months,” he retorts.
He’s right. I did try to go to the police, but they didn’t help much, which is why Sienna and I had to take matters into our own hands.
Jace does not stop. “What if they screw it up?” he asks, the look in his eyes stopping me cold. “What if he slips through their fingers again? What if he comes back again and doesn’t miss this time?”
My mouth opens, but no words come out.
Beck glances up from the table. “He’s right, Tess. The cops had months to find this guy. We’ve got hours before he disappears for good.”
Zane hangs up and walks over. “Ryder says he’s thirty minutes out, so he’ll get there before us and begin recon. If we move fast, we can intercept before the helicopter Richard chartered gets there.”
Recon? Intercept?
It’s like they’re planning a military op, not a manhunt.
I grip the edge of the table until my knuckles go white. “You can’t just go after him like this. You could get hurt.”
Jace exhales slowly, setting down the gun he was checking. “Tess. Look at me.”
I do.
“This is what I was trained for. You hear me? This is what I do.”
His voice is calm, but beneath it I hear the irony. The same quiet authority that makes people listen, follow, and trust him. But I can’t. Not when it’s his life on the line.
“You don’t have to do this for me.”
“I’m not doing it for you,” he says softly, brushing his thumb along my jaw. “I’m doing it because of you. Because I can’t sleep knowing that man’s still breathing out there.”
My throat burns. “Then I’m coming with you.”
Zane and Beck both go still, as if they’re waiting for his reaction.
Jace lets out a quiet laugh, low and humorless. “No, you’re not.”
“You can’t stop me.”
He tilts his head, his expression softening even as the tension in his shoulders stays coiled tight. “Sweetheart, I can. And I will.”
I hate that he can still make me feel safe and furious in the same breath. “Jace—“
He leans in until our foreheads touch. His breath is steady, voice rough. “I need to know you’re safe. I can’t think straight if I’m worrying about you too. You want to help? Stay here. Take care of Daisy. Wait for me.”
I close my eyes, trying to swallow the fear clawing up my chest. He’s already halfway gone—mentally, emotionally, operationally. That soldier part of him has taken over.
And I know, in that moment, there’s no changing his mind.
I shake my head, tears hot in my eyes. “You can’t just tell me to sit here and wait while you go off to God knows where and maybe not come back!”
“Tess,” he says my name like it’s a prayer and a warning at once.
“No. You don’t get to protect me by walking into danger! That’s not protection, that’s suicide.”
He clenches his jaw, clearly frustrated with me. “You think I don’t know danger? You think I don’t know what I’m doing?”
“That’s exactly what scares me,” I whisper. “You know too well. You’ve already lost too much. I can’t—I can’t be the reason you go out there and don’t come back.”
He cups my face in both hands, his palms rough, warm, grounding. “You won’t lose me. Not tonight. I swear it.”
I choke out a laugh that sounds more like a sob. “You can’t promise that.”
“I just did.”
Behind him, Beck clears his throat softly, like he’s giving us space but reminding him that time is running out. Zane is at the doorway, phone in hand, waiting for Ryder’s next update.
Jace looks back at his brothers, then down at me again. There’s something in his eyes—that mix of fire and tenderness that always undoes me.
“Listen to me, Tess.” His voice drops lower, steadier. “I know this is hell for you. I know you hate feeling powerless. But I need you to trust me. Trust that I know how to end this. Once and for all.”
My hands find his shirt, gripping it like it’s the only thing keeping me upright. “What if something happens and your injuries get worse?” I whisper, eyeing his wheelchair that’s discarded on the other side of the room.
Now that I know what happened to him, I don’t want to imagine it happening again, and this time it will be all my fault.
“I will not let that happen. I have the best team with me,” he assures.
“Heck yeah, he does,” Beck bellows.
My chest tightens, breath catching between a sob and a laugh. “I love you, you stubborn, impossible man.”
His thumb brushes my lip, the corner of his mouth lifting in the faintest smile. “I know. And I love you too, hacker girl. More than I ever thought I could.”
It feels like goodbye, even though neither of us says it.
He leans in, and the kiss is desperate—all salt and tears and unspoken fear. The kind of kiss that brands, begs, and clings. I pour everything into it—every what-if, every please come back, every I love you, I’ll never stop saying.
When we finally break apart, his forehead rests against mine. “Stay alive for me, okay?” I whisper.
He gives a small nod, then steps back, the space between us widening like a wound. “You have my word.”
Ava appears at the doorway, her face pale but composed, heading directly for her husband. Behind her, Quinn hovers, her hand in Beck’s, whispering something soft I can’t hear.
The room feels like a battlefield before the first shot—everyone holding their breath, waiting for the inevitable.
Hank wanted to go with them, but the boys said no, so he’s down in the basement, monitoring the situation remotely.
Ella is upstairs with Daisy, keeping her away from all this.
It’s not something a seven-year-old should have to witness, her father going out to war with the possibility he might not come back.
Beck gives me a reassuring nod. “We’ll bring him in, Tess. Don’t worry.”
Zane squeezes my shoulder as he passes. “We’ve got him.”
And then Jace is the last one standing in front of me, that look in his eyes—fierce, certain, and heartbreakingly calm.
“I’ll be back before sunrise,” he says, voice low.
“You’d better be.”
He smiles, faint but real. “That’s an order?”
“Damn right it is.”
He bends down, presses one last kiss to my forehead, and then he’s gone, walking out into the night with his brothers, shoulders squared, purpose in every step.
The screen door creaks open, and the cool night air rushes in. I follow them to the porch, barefoot, my arms wrapped around myself as if that could stop the trembling.
The truck sits parked under the moonlight, engine rumbling, headlights cutting through the mist that’s rolled in from the fields. The whole world feels suspended, caught between motion and silence.
Zane climbs into the passenger seat, Ava standing by his door. She touches his face one last time, her voice a soft murmur carried away by the wind. Beck is behind the wheel, Quinn lingering at his window, her lips pressed to his hand, her other hand on her round belly.
Jace stands to the side, talking to Ryder on the phone, his voice steady, his posture unyielding. The porch light throws half his face into shadow, and for a moment, he looks like a ghost from another life. The soldier, not the man.
When he hangs up, he looks up at me. Just a glance. But it’s enough to stop my breath.
I want to run to him. To beg him not to go, to stay, to let someone else handle it. But I don’t move. I know that if I do, I’ll fall apart completely, and he’ll see it. And Jace Morgan doesn’t need any more reasons to carry guilt—he already bears too much of.
So I stand there, gripping the railing, nails biting into the wood, as he crosses the yard toward me.
He stops at the bottom of the porch steps, gazing up at me lovingly. “I’ll see you soon,” he says quietly.
“Promise?”
He nods once, slow. “Promise.”
The word doesn’t sound big enough for what it has to hold.
I want to believe him. God, I need to.
He gives me that small, crooked smile I’ve fallen helplessly in love with, then turns and limps back toward the truck. He climbs in the back, shuts the door, and for a moment, everything is still.
The engines rev, headlights flare, and then they’re gone, swallowed by the dark road, the hum of tires fading into the distance.
The silence they leave behind feels alive. Heavy. Endless.
Ava moves first, slipping her arm through mine, her voice low. “He’s got this, Tessa. They all do.”
I nod, but my throat’s too tight to answer.
Quinn joins us, her face calm but eyes shining. “They’ll bring him in. The Morgans never lose.”
They’d better come back. I don’t want to be responsible for these two incredible women losing their husbands and destroying the Morgan family altogether.
The three of us stand there for a long while, just breathing in the cool air, the sound of crickets and the far-off wind. The porch light hums softly above us, casting a warm glow that doesn’t reach the hollow in my chest.
Eventually, Quinn squeezes my shoulder. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get inside.”
I don’t move. Not yet. My gaze is fixed on the road, the place where those red lights disappeared. It hits me then, sharp and quiet: For the first time in a long time, the ranch doesn’t feel safe. Because the man who made it feel that way is out there, walking straight into danger. For me.
And all I can do now is wait.