After spending five hours bobbing in the ocean, I’m a wet noodle by the time I belly up to the bar beside Duke and Rogers. Completely exhausted, my legs won’t stop cramping, and my skin’s spongy. It’s one of the best feelings in the world—maybe a close second to sinking inside Quinn’s warmth while she’s making hot little noises.

Fuck. I’d give anything for a chance to do that again.

As the guys put in our usual order with Stinky Pete, our favorite bartender, I pull my phone out and check for the thousandth time since being released from training for the night to discover what I already suspected: Quinn hasn’t answered any of my messages. Not even the ones where I asked her to at least let me know she’s physically okay, and not with my brother. Every last one of my instincts burn to hop on another plane back to San Francisco to check in on her, even if it means getting kicked off the team.

Until I was forced to leave in time to catch my flight early this morning, I stuck around in the suite downtown, praying she’d return. Every minute that passed was like waiting for a damn IED to go off. I couldn’t watch TV, couldn’t sit still, and drinking myself into a stupor was a bad idea when I’d start training again as soon as I returned to Coronado. Instead I sat down and wrote Quinn a letter that explained my feelings for her, and what my father had done. Six drafts later, I decided they all sounded moronic, and torched them in the fireplace.

I know I shouldn’t expect her to ever forgive me, but it’s impossible to pretend I’m not still crazy in fucking love with her, and simply move on. There has to be some way to convince her to come back to me.

In the ocean, I spent a good chunk of time trying to devise a plan that would allow us to still live happily ever after. Inflicting vengeance against the men in my family has never been far from my thoughts, especially since Quinn left the hotel. I should’ve done something years ago. Hell, I should’ve turned my old man into the cops the day he shot Quinn’s father. By the time I realized that it would’ve been the right thing to do, I was genuinely afraid of my father and what he was capable of doing if I were to rat on him or the mafia. He had threatened to make Quinn disappear on more than one occasion, and I was terrified he’d follow through.

Half the time I don’t know the right thing to do anymore. Maybe being raised by a criminal messed with my moral compass. The only thing I can be sure of is that both my father and my brother should be dead.

“Still no word from that hot little blonde of yours?” Duke asks, shouldering me hard.

Wiping my hands over my tired face, I shake my head. I told him and Rogers a fabricated version of the truth of what happened when I went up to see her, not wanting to get any of my buddies involved in my complex web of shit. All they know is that I had plans to take a trip with Quinn until I confessed to something deep that she may never recover from.

Duke leans over to pass me one of the dark tap beers. “Since you seem to be done sticking your dick in every hot chick who gives you the eye, and you seem to be ready for this whole serious relationship thing, I’m gonna give you a little free advice.”

Rogers chuckles from his other side. “Just because you finally found The One you’re suddenly the king of healthy relationships?”

Duke ignores the jab. Instead brown eyes narrow as he shrugs his broad shoulders. “Women need time to get over anything traumatizing. And they can hold a grudge a helluva lot longer than we can. One time while Shelly was pregnant with Ricky, I forgot to bring her fucking ice cream from the store. Not that big of a deal, right? It took Shelly three days to forgive me. Be patient with her, man. She’ll come around when she realizes that little dick of yours is the best she can do.”

“Christ,” I mutter to myself, wondering how I’m supposed to take a story about ice cream seriously in comparison to what I’m dealing with. Rolling my eyes, I swallow a mouthful of beer, cherishing the warm burn as it trickles down to my uneasy stomach. If he knew what Quinn was dealing with, I’m certain he wouldn’t make light of the situation.

“Send her flowers,” Rogers pipes in. “Women love that shit.”

Again, I shake my head. “It’s going to take a fuck-ton more than a bouquet of daisies for her to forgive me.”

“Maybe you should try a grand gesture,” Duke suggests, brows furrowed in thought. “Something that will get her attention and show her how much you care.”

Rogers sits taller, grinning from ear-to-protruding-ear. “Like one of those airplanes that pull signs over the beach!”

I chuckle under my breath. Rogers is a good man, but the little freckled fucker is always so clueless on the ways of women. It’s no surprise to any of us that he’s single.

“No, numb nuts,” Duke says over his shoulder with a disgusted shake of his head. “Something that counts. Like doing something nice for her grandparents in the nursing home, or donating a good chunk of change in her name to her favorite charity. Hell, with all the money you come from, you could probably afford to send her on a vacation to a five-star spa in Bali.”

I take another pull of beer before I turn to them, resting my arm on the bar as I look Duke in the eye. “What if it’s someone else who hurt her? What would you do to someone who messed with Shelly in a real bad way?”

Duke’s lips curl with a deep sneer. “Are you kidding? I’d string the fucker up by his nuts. Torture the shit outta him until he bled to death.”

That idea doesn’t sound so bad once I put a little thought into it.

“Someone hurt your girl?” Duke asks. He bounces on the bar stool, ready to roll. “Give me a name and we’ll help you fuck the guy up real good.” He slaps Rogers in the arm, spilling his beer. “Right, Carrot Top?”

“Yeah…of course,” Rogers says, licking the beer off his hand while giving Duke the side-eye.

Having been deployed with these two several times over the last year, I have no doubt they’d make good on their word. But I can’t ask them to get involved in something that could end with time spent behind bars or getting kicked out of the SEALs. They both have a bright career. And families. Maybe Rogers not so much, but he’s real close to his dog anyway.

“I have to be smart about this,” I tell them. “The men involved have gotten by with too much shit already. I probably only have one shot, so I need to make sure I hit them where it hurts.”

“Yeah, in the nuts!” Rogers shouts enthusiastically.

Duke turns, holding his hand up like he’s going to deck him one. “Shut the fuck up and let the adults speak!”

“Just sayin’,” Rogers grumbles to himself.

“They’re both heavily invested in the same company, and one is embezzling money beneath the other’s nose,” I say. I turn to Rogers. “What do you suppose it would take to bring them down without getting caught?”

His eyebrows raise in interest. “You want me to hack into their system? Anything without military clearance is a fuckin’ cake walk.”

Grunting, I take a long pull of my beer as I consider his offer. I already hate that Quinn’s involved in this, especially when Kellen may still be in bed with Agron and the mafia. Do I really want to get these guys involved too?

Duke claps my shoulder, his eyes hard with sincerity. “You know we’d help you out in a heartbeat, but it’s kinda hard to know the right thing to do when we only know a portion of what you’re dealing with. If you decide to tell us the whole story, we’ll do whatever we can to help. If not, I’m sure you’ll find the right thing to do. I have faith in you, Twitch. After watching you single-handedly take those fuckers out in Yemen, I know you can tackle this problem.”

I pretend to watch the sports highlights along with the guys as we drink our beers in silence, but my mind’s racing with ideas. I’ll find a way to fix this if it’s the last goddamned thing I ever do on this earth.

I’m not convinced I’ve actually caught any sleep when my phone rings from somewhere in the tangled mess of my bed sheets. My heart nearly vaults out of my damn chest as I scramble to find it.

It has to be Quinn.

But I look down at the screen to see it’s an unknown number. Answering with a swipe of my finger, I’m hopeful she’s calling on someone else’s phone.

“Hello?”

“You must think I’m pretty fucking stupid.”

Since the voice sounds identical to my own, it can only be one person.

With a grunt, I rub the bridge of my nose. “Most of the time, yeah. What do you want, Kellen?”

“You came back to the city just so you could fuck my fiancée.” Ice runs through my veins with his menacing tone. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

Shit. Did he have Quinn followed? How much does he know?

Sitting up, I pull in a calming breath, realizing I have to play this out carefully. Whatever I say to him at this point could both ruin Quinn’s plans and put her in grave danger. “What makes you think that?”

“Are you actually going to deny it’s true? I wouldn’t go there, brother.”

“What the fuck do you care? It’s not like you’re actually in love with her. We both know you have other women on the side. You were using her to blackmail our old man into the promotion you want. Doesn’t look like it’s gonna work the way dinner went the other night.”

“You think I’m going to let that asshole dictate my life? I couldn’t give a shit less whether he approves of my marriage to Cameron or not. The whole point of a bribe is to have power over the other person. I won’t let him take that away from me.”

For a moment I sit with my teeth barred, conflicted between smashing my cell to pieces with my foot, and tearing him a new fucking asshole for taking something far more valuable the night he forced himself on my girl. But I’d be severing the only way Quinn can reach out to me, and losing my shit with my brother over the phone won’t help a damn thing. I’d be better off poking a beehive than tangling with this psycho. Quinn’s too far away for me to effectively protect her. I need to find another way to diffuse him before he goes after her.

“It’s safe to say he received the message loud and clear that you’re willing to turn him in,” I say. “You don’t need her to carry through with the threat any longer.”

“You want me to simply let her go so you can have her?” He laughs in a dark, bone-chilling sound that skyrockets my blood pressure. “I’m not going to give up that beautifully sweet pussy. Course it won’t be nearly as tight once I’ve knocked her up with a handful of my offspring, but in the meantime I plan to fuck her raw any chance I get.”

Uncontrollable tremors rip through me. “You motherfucker!” I roar with a rush of adrenaline so strong it feels like a heart attack. Clutching my phone, I jump off my bed to pace the room, jamming my finger into the air. “You lay one goddamned finger on her and I’ll tear your fucking heart out of your chest!”

“I’m not scared of you. We both know you’re locked into your job, and can’t do a damn thing to stop me. Cameron made a promise to become my wife, and I’m sure as hell not letting her back out for anything.”

“Why the fuck are you so determined to do this to her? Why can’t you just leave her alone? She’s never going to be happy with you!”

“Because I’m tired as shit of you always getting your way!”

“Getting my way? What exactly is it that makes you think I’ve lived a charmed life? Our old man was ready to send me to prison. Instead I willingly put myself through hell, training to be one of the most elite fighters in the world, losing my girl in the process.” Among heavy breaths, I remind myself to stay calm. Quinn’s life might depend on it. “Whatever this is about, you and I can deal with it. I have Sunday off—I’ll come up there and we can work something out. Just let her go, Kellen. She was never yours, and she never will be.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he sneers in a deep voice. “Tell me, brother…the first time you fucked her back in high school did she bleed? Did she beg you to slow down because it hurt? Did she ever actually tell you that she was a virgin?”

As much as I don’t want to entertain anything that comes out of the asshole’s mouth, I actually stop to think about the first time we slept together in my family’s guest house after I told her that I loved her on the beach. Can’t say I remember much except the fact that she was crying. I wanted to stop, but she said she was crying because she was so happy and in love.

“Where the fuck is this coming from?” I ask, squeezing my eyes shut.

“It’s time everyone in this family stopped keeping bullshit secrets from each other and exposed the truth once and for all. Meet me Sunday night in Dad’s office at Luxco, ten p.m. sharp. Security won’t be there, so I’ll leave the side-door unlocked. Come alone. If you love her, you’ll be there.”

The line goes dead.

Heavy breaths rake my entire body until I’m ready to pass the fuck out.

It’s time to end this.

When I pull up to Duke’s little shack with Rogers in the passenger seat, the sun’s cresting on the horizon and Duke is sitting outside on the front step. Head bowed, hands folded and elbows resting on his bent knees, he’s in the same calming pose he takes before we’re getting ready to do something dangerous like jump from a helicopter, or storm in on a target. He once told me it’s a matter of getting in the right mindset, like something between a prayer and a wish. He knows I wouldn’t tear him away from his wife and kids in the middle of the night unless it was important, and he seems to understand what I’m asking of him.

Duke collects a bag off the sidewalk and jumps to his feet, meeting my Jeep before I have a chance to pull into the driveway. Resting his arm on my open window, his eyebrows drawn down. A lessor man would cower with the display of ferociousness. Me? I fucking welcome it because it mirrors the determination solidifying in my gut.

“You all right, Twitch?” he asks. “What the shit happened to your face?”

I wipe my fingers over my clean-shaven jaw. “I’m ready to tell you the rest of the story.” Before blinding anger from my conversation with Kellen resurfaces, I look down at the duffle bag in his hand. “You grab everything I told you to bring?”

“It’s all right here,” he says, patting the bag with his other hand.

I tip my head to the backseat. “Get in.”

He throws the bag into the back, then his eyes volley between me and Rogers. “You do realize we’re going to be in the deepest of shit for skipping out like this.”

“That’s why we have to make it quick, numb nuts,” Rogers replies, mocking Duke’s tone from earlier. More than anything he sounds pleased with himself for being the one to get a jab in for a change.

“I’m not making either of you do anything you don’t want to do,” I say, eyeing them one at a time. “What I’m doing is dangerous as shit. If you want out, just say the word.”

Arms crossed and feet firmly planted, Duke shakes his head. “No way I’m letting you do this on your own.”

Grunting, I toss him the phony passport Quinn left behind in her little purse. “I’m ready to tackle this problem with Quinn head on.”

“Now we’re talkin’!” he cheers, glancing down at the picture of my brother.

As I fill the guys in on the situation, I head for the airport like the devil’s chasing me.

In reality, we’re headed right for him.