I couldn’t freaking believe it.

It was Gates. I was sure of it. Our eyes met for the briefest moment before I quickly looked away, pretending like I hadn’t seen a thing.

But I was positive. That was Gates up there hiding in the shadows, preparing to do something.

Hope surged through me. Gates had come for me just like I knew he would. Joy welled up to mingle with that hope when I realized that he really wasn’t dead. Part of me believed Tony when he said Gates was dead, but now I knew better.

Tony couldn’t kill a man like Gates. He was just too strong for a lesser man like Tony.

The men standing around me were talking in harsh whispers. I could tell that Tony was getting berated by the older gentleman who I assumed was the boss. From what I gathered, Tony didn’t have the OK of the family to do something like this, and he had brought way too much attention down on them. They were pissed off that he took me captive instead of just finishing me off, and they weren’t sure what they should do with me.

I knew what they’d eventually do with me. I was a liability. They’d kill me soon enough.

But not before Gates stopped them.

I wanted to watch what he was doing so badly, but I couldn’t. I knew that if they caught me looking up there at him it would ruin everything. I had to play it cool and keep my eyes on the ground where they belonged.

“You old fools,” Tony said suddenly. I looked up at him. “You’re so out of touch. When do you ever leave your office?”

“Tony,” the older man said. “You need to calm yourself.”

“No, fuck this shit. I did what I had to do to protect the familia.”

“You young idiot. You’ve brought the police down on us. And now you have a kidnapped girl. This is a fucking mess.”

“It was going to be worse. I saved it.”

The older man stepped up to Tony and for a second, I thought Tony might hit him.

“Listen to me. You’re going to leave this place and go home. We will handle it.”

“No,” Tony said.

“Do it now, or I will have to take serious action.”

Tony stared him down then turned away, frustrated and angry. I could tell that he was fuming. I’d seen him that way once or twice in our time together, and he never could keep himself under control when he got that angry.

Tony walked over to the far end of the room. My heart suddenly started beating fast as I realized that Gates was right above him, waiting.

Tony turned back to the other me. “You’re all idiots. I’m the future of this mafia, me. I’m the future!” Tony was ranting like a child, fuming and turning red. “I’m the one that will save this group! You need more men like me, men willing to do the dirty work, men—“

Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the balcony and landed directly on top of Tony, smashing him into the ground.

There was a stunned silence. Gates got to his feet and dragged Tony up with him, holding a knife to his throat. Nobody moved. Gates had a wicked smile on his face.

“Who’s in charge?” he asked.

The older man stepped forward. “That would be me.”

“What’s your name?”

“Matteo,” he said. “Underboss of the Barone Familia.”

“Matteo. I’m Gates, and you have my girl tied up to a chair.”

Matteo glanced back at me then looked back to Gates. “You’re here for her?”

“I’ll let you have this scumbag. Untie her, let us leave, and I won’t cut his throat.”

Matteo shrugged. All of his men had guns trained on Gates. There were two left, three including Matteo. Tony wasn’t moving and I could see fear in his eyes.

“Kill the boy. He’s a liability,” Matteo said.

“And what about the General?” Gates asked him.

Matteo raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Your boy here murdered a four-star General today. He left a little girl orphaned.”

Matteo’s eyes narrowed. “Tony. You did this?”

Tony grunted. “He was helping them.”

“Fucking Christ, boy.”

“It was clean. The cops will never know.”

Gates pressed his knife closed to Tony’s throat, drawing a small line of blood. “Shut up, shithead.” Gates looked back at Matteo. “I’m sure I can find some proof if I try hard. Plus, that girl probably saw something, definitely heard something, that could implicate your group. Now maybe you kill everyone here, but you won’t get to that girl.”

“So what do you propose?” Matteo asks.

“You let me and Piper go. You forget about everything. In exchange, I’ll make sure the girl never talks.”

“Interesting,” Matteo says, stroking his chin.

“This is a four-star General,” Gates said. “There will be a serious investigation. I can help steer it away.”

“You have a deal,” Matteo said.

“What?” Tony said, anger.

“But there’s one more thing,” Matteo quickly added. “You must take care of that for me.” He waved his hand at Tony.

“No,” Tony said.

“Gladly,” Gates answered.

Gates drew the knife along Tony’s throat, cutting it open. His blood gushed forward and he fell to the ground, choking.

It didn’t take long. The blood came out, fast and thick, and Tony choked on it. His eyes were wide as he slowly passed out.

Gates tossed away the knife. “Done,” he said.

Matteo sighed. “I was hoping for something cleaner, but okay, fair enough.” He snapped his fingers and nodded at me. One of his men walked over and untied me.

Gates held his gun ready. Matteo smiled at him.

“Relax,” he said. “I don’t make deals without following through. You and the girl are safe so long as that murder never comes back to bother me. Understand?”

“Understood,” he said.

“Otherwise, we’ll find you. But I’m sure I don’t need to say that.”

Gates nodded again.

The goon finished untying me. I stood up, rubbing my wrists, and then ran to Gates.

I threw my arms around him, crushing my body against his. I didn’t care that Tony was lying dead at our feet, the only thing I cared about was being close to Gates again.

“Good luck,” Matteo said. He snapped his fingers then turned and left. His men went with him.

I couldn’t believe it was over. Gates wrapped his arms around me and pressed me close to him. I breathed in his scent and felt shivers run down my spine. He really came back for me, really survived that fire. He managed to talk down a mafia boss and kill his guards. He saved my life again.

“I love you,” he said.

I blinked away the tears. “I love you too, Gates. I always have.”

“I thought about you every day out there,” he whispered. “Every fucking day. I’ll never lose you, never leave you again. I’m done with the military.”

“Okay,” I said.

He pulled me away and then kissed me hard. I kissed him back, losing myself in the moment.

This was what I really had been dreaming about. Maybe not the situation, but the man, the strength. Gates could do whatever he wanted with me and I’d always say yes because I was his. Gates came back for me, saved me, and I know he would do it again and again if I asked him to.

“Come on,” he said finally, taking my hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

We walked toward the door. I glanced back at Tony lying there on the floor.

“What about him?” I asked.

“Leave him. He’s not our problem anymore.”

I nodded and we headed out. We walked back through some hallways and ended up out front of the warehouse. There was nobody else in sight.

“Do you think it’s really over?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said. “I do.”

“Why would they just let us go like that?”

“Because they know that the General’s murder is going to come under some serious scrutiny and they’re afraid.”

“Can you really make sure nothing happens to them?”

He nodded. “I’ll make damn sure they don’t find shit. I already avenged the General’s death. Now I just need to make sure you’ll stay safe.”

I squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Gates.”

He took my hips and kissed me again. “Let’s go home.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

We walked together and I knew it was done. I felt a huge amount of stress lift off my shoulders. Everything that had happened felt like a fake movie, but now that was over and done with. We were going to be together and nothing was going to get in the way.

The night swallowed us, and for the first time I felt like I was really going home.

Epilogue: Piper

I could smell something burning in the other room. Ever since the events of three years ago, I was pretty jumpy when it came to fires. I wasn’t in the cabin when it started burning, but the image of Gates in there never left me.

I stood up and sighed. I hit pause on the show I was watching and walked around the corner.

“It’s okay!”

I looked into the kitchen. Gates grinned back at me bashfully.

“What happened?” I asked him.

“I was trying to make you some grilled cheese for lunch,” he said. “Tyler got in the way of that, though.”

I smiled. Tyler was strapped to Gates’s chest, hanging from his little baby Bjorn. He put his hands out toward me and made some noises. Sandy was sitting at the table, coloring furiously in her coloring book.

“What did he do?”

Gates shrugged. “Just the usual cute stuff. Wanted to play. I got a little distracted.” He motioned over at Sandy. “She was supposed to be watching the food, but she got distracted.”

“Give me that baby,” I said, smiling. “And don’t let Sandy near the stove, you big goof.”

“Take him. Please. I’m begging you.” He laughed.

I laughed too and went over to Gates. I kissed him quickly on the lips then unstrapped Tyler from the Bjorn. I hefted him into my arms and he giggled. Gates walked over and sat down next to Sandy, looking over her coloring.

Three years and we were safe. A lot happened in those three years, but I never forgot about that night at the warehouse, about what happened with Tony. Almost every night I thought about him, and I was happy he was dead.

The mob never bothered us. Gates managed to pull some strings and get himself involved with the investigation into General Maron, but they never found anything that implicated the mob. Gates told me that they assumed it was a terrorist attack in retribution for the General’s work, but nobody could confirm that, either.

Which was obvious, since it wasn’t true.

Gates meanwhile only had to keep an eye on everything and never actively discouraged their alternative theories. But through his work on Maron’s case, he realized something important. Well, two important things.

First, he wanted to join the Military Police. Because of his exemplary service with the SEALs, his application was fast-tracked, and soon Gates found himself behind a desk.

He never actually said that he missed the field, but I knew he did. Sometimes I caught him standing outside in the back yard, staring out into the desert. We lived in Arizona, and our property backed up to a wide expanse of beautiful, pristine desert area. Neither of us ever wanted to live in Arizona, but the military stationed Gates there, and we weren’t about to complain.

The desert grew on me. I liked how cold it got at night, and I liked how beautiful it was during the day. People imagined deserts as these places with no life, but that was completely wrong. Deserts were full of activity and life, from tiny mice on up to huge cacti.

Life was easy in that house together, or at least it was until I got pregnant.

Which leads me to the second thing Gates learned during his investigation.

Sandy looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back. “How’s it going, sweetie?”

“Good,” she said.

“She’s very good at coloring,” Gates said.

“I know. She’s an impressive girl.”

Sandy beamed. She looked just like her father, General Maron.

As soon as it was possible, Gates adopted Sandy. Nobody batted an eye when it happened, since Gates was already so protective of Maron’s orphaned daughter. I never thought I’d be taking care of a little girl, let alone a stranger, but I took to it pretty quickly. It helped that Sandy was such a nice girl, quiet and sweet, totally unlike her little baby brother.

Tyler didn’t bring trouble. He just was trouble. Like his dad, Tyler was a handful from the beginning.

And I loved it. I loved being busy. I had a good job, but when Tyler came along, I found that being a mother became my job. Not that I thought having a career was the wrong move, it just wasn’t what happened for me. Gates’s job kept him busy and supported us, and besides, I had Sandy to watch out for.

At night, Gates would keep me warm in our bed. And during the day, Tyler and Sandy would keep me busy, busy, busy.

And I loved it. I didn’t know that was what I wanted. I thought I wanted to read the weather on TV forever, and maybe I’d go back to meteorology. Maybe one day I’d figure out how to have it all.

I sat down with Tyler and bounced him, making faces at him. I hit play on my show and leaned back on the couch, playing with Tyler and watching TV.

This was the dream. This was my dream. It was more right than I could have ever imagined.

Ten minutes later, Gates came into the room followed by Sandy. She had a cute little pink bow in her hair and she was wearing her favorite yellow dress. Gates had a sandwich on a plate which he put down on the coffee table in front of me. He sat down next to me and took Tyler, smiling. Sandy curled up on the other side of me, resting her head on my shoulder.

“Second time’s a charm,” he said.

I picked it up and took a bite. It was absolutely delicious. “What would I do without you?”

“Starve,” he said, and laughed.

“I helped!” Sandy said.

“Of course, sweetie.” I kissed her forehead.

“Not as much as I did, though.” He grinned at me.

I kissed him and Tyler made a cooing laugh.

This was my family. This was my world. I didn’t want anything more than this.

Gates was never going to leave me again. I knew it was a hard decision, but he chose me over the military. I never imagined he’d make that decision, but I was incredibly grateful that he did.

I couldn’t wait to spend every second of every day with my son and my daughter and my gorgeous husband. I couldn’t wait to grow my family.

The horrors of the mafia chasing us down, the terror that Tony brought into my life, that was all gone. Gate swept it all away with his muscular, protective arms.

I had a new life with my amazing man. That was all I really needed.

I couldn’t stop smiling.