Hound smacked Kamon in the chest with the back of his hand. “I always hate this part.”

They watched as Jayla worked her magic and somehow managed to get taken right along with Malia. He didn’t like the idea, but once Kamon saw Malia was alive, he needed to make sure she stayed that way. Jayla didn’t even hesitate as she basically said, hold my beer, I got this, and ran off to do her thing.

The men dragged both Malia and Jayla to the front desk area, whispered something to the concierge who let them into a storeroom door behind him. Kamon’s stomach tumbled the entire six minutes and twelve seconds it took for the concierge to reappear at the desk. They’d just been delivered to Yaza.

“You’re up, Digger,” Steel said, nodding toward the concierge. “Get us in that room.”

Digger saluted and swaggered his way over to the concierge. Kamon, Hound, and Steel stood by one of the slot machines pretending to play and watched from afar, unable to hear their conversation, but Kamon would have paid a million bucks to have it recorded.

A minute flat, Digger had the guy taking him into the stockroom. Four minutes and twenty-two seconds later, he came out. Alone.

He waved them to the counter. Kamon darted over, Hound and Steel lagging behind. Digger let them into the room and closed it behind them. The concierge lay propped against the wall, a smile plastered to his face.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Kamon asked, blinking.

“What I had to.” Digger smiled.

“Which was?” Hound piped up.

“Your little girlfriend gave me a sedative and I slipped it to him.” Digger shrugged.

“Did you shove it down his throat?” Steel asked, stepping over the body as they made the long walk down the hall.

“He took it willingly.” Digger slid the key into the locked door and turned until it clicked. “Off my tongue.”

Kamon choked on a gasp in his throat. Hound didn’t look terribly surprised, at least not as much as he was. Maybe he knew something the rest of them didn’t.

“Thanks for taking one for the team,” Steel said, slapping him on the back.

“My pleasure.” Digger smiled, swiping at the corner of his mouth with his thumb.

“Everyone ready?” Steel asked, and they pulled out their weapons.

“Wait, I have an idea,” Digger said, stepping in front of them. “Let me go in first and create a diversion. You guys can go in after in the chaos and Shadow can take the shot.”

Steel nodded. “We’ve got your six.”

Kamon sucked in a deep breath and readied his weapon. Hound next to him had a similar look of unease, probably due to Jayla being on the other side of the door as well.

Digger opened the door and peeked his head in before stepping only halfway through, keeping Hound, Kamon, and Steel shadowed in the dark hallway.

“Oh!” Digger chirped and pressed one hand to his mouth. “I think I made a wrong turn. Sud told me he’d be in here. That’s his name, right? Sud? He told me it meant tiger in Thai.” Digger threw in a giggle and arched his fingers to look like claws. “And boy, is he. Rwar.”

Digger wandered into the room and Kamon caught the door with his foot, propping it open to keep watch for a good time to spring into action. From his sliver of a vantage point, he caught sight of one of Jayla’s signature pigtails as she stood next to one of Yaza’s men. He couldn’t get a lock on Malia’s position. She must have been behind the door. Which meant he’d be going in blind. His stomach twisted into a knot. Kamon blew out a breath and cleared his mind. He had to remain calm. He had to remain focused. And most of all, he had to remain a SEAL.

“Get the fuck out of here!” someone yelled, and it drilled adrenaline into Kamon’s heart.

“Well, aren’t you angry? Do you need a dick in your butt? It sure made Sud feel better. In fact, he’s passed out in the hallway.” Digger clicked his gun.

Kamon used that as a signal and he burst through the door, Hound and Steel right behind them. Jayla dove for Malia and knocked her to the floor as gunfire erupted in the room. Kamon spun around, firing shot after shot taking out each of the men guarding the room, Digger and Hound took out a couple and Steel launched a knife into Yaza’s leg, pinning him in place.

“You’ve got nowhere to go, Yaza,” Steel shouted.

A rumble shook the floor beneath them. Jinx’s charges must have gone off in the fortress below, taking out the epicenter of Yaza’s opium production. With Yaza captured, they could shut down the other locations which probably were detailed out in the paperwork Steel wanted collected out of the office they were in. Not to mention the lock-box Kamon’s father left him with all the evidence to incarcerate him til he shriveled and died.

Jayla and Malia shot up from the floor.

Malia ripped the gun out of one of the downed men’s hands and held it in front of Yaza’s face. “This ends today, Yaza. You’ll never rip apart another family.”

“Malia,” Kamon growled under his breath. “We’ve got him. You don’t need to do this.”

A tear streamed down Malia’s cheek as she glanced over her shoulder at Kamon. “But I do. He tore my parents from me. He tore that man over there from his mother. He’s done nothing but evil and needs to be stopped. He needs to pay.”

“He took my dad from me, too. But don’t stoop to his level. Revenge is only anger. It is never satisfaction. Killing him won’t bring your parents back. It won’t bring my dad back. It’ll only bring you guilt for taking a life when you didn’t have to.”

Jayla nodded. “Taking out the garbage of the world is our job, Malia. We have to shoot bad guys all the time. But the hardest part of being an agent isn’t taking a life. It’s knowing when not to.”

Another tear raced down Malia’s cheek as the gun wavered in her hand and she clicked it back, sliding a finger over the trigger.

“Malia, don’t,” Kamon choked out. “He’s your father.”

“What?” Malia gasped and glared at Kamon.

In her distraction, Yaza ripped the gun from her hand and clutched her to his chest as a cover. “You will let me out of this room alive, or she dies.”

“I’m not lying, Yaza,” Kamon said louder. “She really is your daughter. She’s Achara’s daughter. She didn’t miscarry. She gave birth, but hid her from you out of fear.”

“No,” Malia screamed. “No! How could you say such lies? Why would you do this to me?”

Regret stung his heart. He shouldn’t have said it. He tried to stop himself, but before he knew it the words flew out of his mouth in an effort to keep Malia from killing him—from killing her father, regardless of who he was. But in his effort to save her from herself, he put her right back into Yaza’s clutches.

* * *

Fury and doubt raged inside her at Kamon’s words. Where the hell did he get this information from? Why would he choose now to tell her this? Did he think it would change her mind about the man who took everything away from her?

Regret toiled inside her. Just moments earlier she had spouted in her mind the necessity of needing to be with blood relatives, those who shared her cultural and ethnic heritage. Those who had been there at the start of her life. And it turned out she didn’t even know who they were anymore. Everything fell apart for her in an instant, just like it did twenty-three years ago.

Now her ‘supposed’ biological father held her in his arms, not in a loving way of nurturing a child, but as a monster, using her as a human shield to protect his cowardliness.

“This cannot be. You speak lies!” Yaza shouted.

Yaza extended his gun, mere inches from Malia’s face, only this time it wasn’t pointed at her. He pointed it at Kamon. Something bubbled up inside her, from the depths of her soul, a fire erupting in her gut, fueling adrenaline and a spirited energy she’d never experienced before. It was as if she floated outside her body and watched the blur of events happening around her.

Malia arched her back in Yaza’s grip, digging her nails into the arm that held tight to her. Her fingers steeped in his blood as she flipped him over her and he landed on his back. The gun flew from his hand and Malia caught it as she dropped to one knee, jamming it into Yaza’s throat as she pinned him to the floor.

“You will never take someone I love away from me, ever again. I don’t know, or care, if what he said was true. You’re a monster. Even if we share the same blood in my veins, you are not my father and never will be. You’re nothing but evil, and I’m above you. I will never stoop to your level.” She jabbed her knee further against his windpipe, popping a grunt from his throat as he gasped for air before she spit in his face.

Kamon rushed over and eased her off Yaza. Jayla rescued the gun from her white-knuckled hand, and the men with Kamon rushed to Yaza’s side, cuffing him as they yanked him from the floor.

Adrenaline still buzzed in Malia’s ears, rushing through her like a venomous poison. Her body betrayed her, wobbling with each movement.

“I’ve got you.” Kamon wrapped her in his arms, holding her tight to his chest as he pressed a dozen kisses into her hair. “I’ve got you and won’t let go.”

Tears flooded her eyes, soaking his shirt. He didn’t seem to care as he stroked her back with one hand, cradling her head with the other. She missed his embrace, his safety, his warmth. He came for her. He protected her. He stopped her from losing herself. He helped her, just like he promised he would in that cave.

“You guys coming?” Jayla asked.

“We’ll be right behind you. Just give us a minute,” Kamon said in the softest, calmest tone she’d ever heard from him, like that of a soothing father, a comforter, a nurturer, everything Yaza wasn’t. Despite all Kamon had been through in his own life, his own family ripped apart and years of bloody war, her heart knew he would be that same way with their own children one day, not like the madman Yaza was. “You’re going to be okay. I promise. You’ll get through this and go on, and none of this will change who you are as a person.”

Malia swallowed hard and pulled her head back from his chest to look him in the eyes. “But it already has.”

Worry spread across Kamon’s face. “Don’t let him win. It doesn’t matter what blood runs in your veins, just like you said.”

A small smile broke on her lips. “I’m not talking about Yaza.”

Kamon tilted his head. “What?”

“I’m talking about you. You changed me. You made me see there’s more to life than this, than revenge. You made me see … you made me want …” She dipped her head. She had no idea how to even tell him that in the short time she’d known him she’d fallen completely for him.

“You made me want, too.” He lifted her chin with a fingertip. “You made me see there was more to life than being a SEAL. More to life than who my dad was. You made me feel, for the first time in a long time, maybe even ever … you just made me feel. I can’t even explain it.”

She let out a small laugh through a stream of tears. “Yeah, you made me feel, too.” Malia swiped at the tears. “I’m sorry I ran out of the cave on you. I—”

Kamon wiped away another tear from her cheek with his thumb. “I know. I understand now. You don’t have to explain.”

She shook her head. “But I do! I have to tell you how much I didn’t want to. I warred with myself. I would have given it all up just to never leave your arms. I’d never felt safer in my life than when I was with you. I left because I didn’t want to lose you. I know that makes no sense, but everyone who’s ever been close to me has lost their life. I cared for you enough to let you go, so I won’t lose you, too.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, brushing his thumb along her chin. “I made a promise in that cave to protect you, to help you. I don’t go back on my promises. I’m willing to give us a shot if you are.”

Malia bit her lip. “Yes.” She nodded. “Always and forever, yes.”

A smile burst on Kamon’s lips. “I like the sound of that.”

“Me, too.” She slid her arms around his waist and he walked her out of Yaza’s life forever.