He tried to hide his anguish behind that fierce mask of determination, but there was no disguising the longing hidden in his soul. Whether he would admit it or not, he wanted to live and Caroline could see it. Feel it. They were connected and there was no way on this earth she’d allow him to sacrifice himself or anyone else just to save her from experiencing a bad memory.

She’d been completely honest with him; she would rather die than live without him in her life. She had no one; she didn’t have a reason to go on without him. He could play the tortured hero all he wanted, but she wouldn’t let him follow through on his plans.

Reaper’s hand squeezed hers so tightly; it was almost painful, the muscles on his neck and shoulders bunched up. He looked out to the horizon, refusing to meet her gaze. “You have something to look for.”

His abrupt tone startled her. “Not without you I don’t.”

“You have a sister. She was taken at birth, not killed. She’s alive and back at your home waiting to meet you.”

Of all the things he could have said, this was the least expected. She opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. The thought that her twin sister, long thought kidnapped and dead right after she was born, was inconceivable. “You’re lying, trying to sway me to your side.”

“I will never lie to you again,” he said with such utter finality it stilled the argument she’d begun building.

Her hands and arms went cold, then numb. She had a sister? A real-life sister?

Her whole life she’d wondered what it would’ve been like to grow up with her twin at her side, laughing and sharing secrets. She would’ve shared a bedroom when they were young, with a look-alike? Did she act like Caroline?

Where had she been all these years? Why hadn’t her father found her?

An endless roller coaster of questions swirled around her mind, all of them without answers.

Reaper continued in a deadened voice, “She looks just like you. She’s married to one of the men who’d previously been sent to rescue you.”

“Did my father get to see her before—before…” she couldn’t finish the sentence; his death was still too painful.

“He did. I was there.”

A sense of foreboding settled around her. “Reaper?”

“Your father gave his life to protect her. He made her vow to find you and that’s exactly what she’s been trying to do ever since he died.”

Caroline reeled back on her heels, no longer seeing the sunset or hearing the roar of the helicopter blades swirling overhead.

It was too much to take in. The man she’d known her whole life sacrificing himself for a sister she thought dead. And Ranier had been the one to pull the trigger.

A new emotion, one Caroline had never experienced before burned in her chest. Ranier had taken everything from her. Everything. Hatred turned and boiled in her gut. “I’m going to kill him.”

“You’re not going to do anything. Your sister’s husband is part of Task Force Scorpion. They’re hunting down General Ranier. You’re going to go home and live out your life in peace and quiet.”

“You’re hell-bent on killing yourself, remember? There’s nothing you can do to stop me from going after him. I’ll hunt him to the ends of the Earth; do anything to destroy the man that so completely destroyed me.” She didn’t recognize her own voice; it was dark and rough, reflecting this new state of reality.

If Reaper would not offer her help, then Ranier really had won. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“I do,” she said. Her father would’ve left her the entire estate in all his holdings. Caroline had a near limitless pot of resources at her disposal.

She’d hire every mercenary in existence to hunt Ranier down.

Reaper sighed, long and hard. His arm snaked around her shoulders and pulled her close. Caroline stiffened but he refused to give an inch. “Fine, you win.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if you truly are willing to help me and my men, until we find another way, then I accept.”

The boiling pit of acid that formed in her stomach began to cool, changing into a nice warm feeling that spread into her numb fingers and toes. “Are you just saying that to appease me?”

Reaper pressed his lips against her temple, his arm constricting, locking her to his side. “No, I told you I’m never going to lie to you. All I want is your happiness.”

The hard shell of hate inside her began to crack and she collapsed into his side, her stiff muscles relaxing. “What would make me happy is to know that you’re alive and safe. I’ll find and hire every scientist in the world if that’s what it takes to heal you and your team. And then, when you’re ready, we’re going to hunt down General Ranier and serve him up the justice he deserves.”

For the first time in a long time he smiled at her, and it was a smile that reached his midnight eyes. “You’re bloodthirsty.”

“Damn straight. Anyone that harms the people I love will pay the price. And I intend to see that he never does this to anyone else again.”