Page 47 of Ex-SEAL Bad Boy

We’re holed up in an abandoned barn outside of Greenville, South Carolina.

My phone keeps pinging with texts from Yiva, informing me of what’s going on with the story.

With any luck, this will all be over soon, and we’ll be able to return to life as usual.

I don’t want life to return to normal, at least not like it was before Sophia and I connected.

Hard to believe it’s only been a little over a week since I pulled her out of the water after she nearly drowned, and now I’ve put her in a situation where she’s in just as much danger.

I’ve been wondering how I will break it to Liam that I’ve fallen in love with his little sister. I know he wants me to be happy, but I feel it won’t go well. He knows me too well.

But I’m not the same man I was a few days ago. Trauma has a way of doing that.

What I need him to understand, though, is that Sophia helped turn me into what I am today. I won’t revert to bad Ethan as long as she’s with me.

She has saved me in the same way I saved her.

I doubt he’ll buy it, but I can’t change what’s happened.

The temperatures here are more moderate than they were along the coast, for which I’m grateful.

We’ll be able to sleep in the barn and be out by first light.

We can then begin to make our way back up to Virginia.

The risk will be far lower by then, and with any luck, we’ll be home in a few days.

I’m not sure what I’ll find when I get there. Mother and Father will be furious, but I’ve grown a pair when it comes to them.

As powerful as they are, I now know how to damage them, and they know that now. The stories I can tell.

They’ll bluster, of course. They’re unused to being challenged. But then I’m a Blackwood, so I’ve been taught by the best.

I look over toward the spot where Sophia is bedded down. She’s asleep, lying on a towel, using some of her clothing for a pillow. And I thought the motel in Carolina Beach was a dump.

Judging from the last text I received from Graham, I might not need to worry too much about my family coming down on me. The feds are also beginning to look into their activities.

It probably won’t matter much. They have friends in the Justice Department as well. Still, it might just be enough to make them more careful in the future.

That’s probably just wishful thinking. They are what they are.

I won’t feel safe until Whitmore is in custody, and even then, will I ever really be safe? He has a long reach. He might decide he’ll have to be content with revenge.

Then again, maybe he’ll suffer the same fate as Epstein.

Many people stand to be incriminated if Whitmore suddenly starts talking.

It’s all still very much in flux.

I rub my eyes, realizing I could also use shut-eye, so I lay beside Sophia.

Between my injury and the hard floor of the barn, there’s not much chance things will get hot tonight, but maybe I’ll have sweet dreams.

I wrap my arm around Sophia, and she stirs in her sleep.

I hear a crack outside, and instantly my head snaps up.

The first thing I notice is the quiet.

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