Page 107 of Not Mine to Keep

“You have a lot of reasons.” My heart broke a little at his confession, despite the smile from him. I moved our hands to my stomach. “And who knows, maybe one day you’ll have more than just me to come home to.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Alessandro

Constan?a, Romania

We were twenty mikes—a.k.a.minutes—from the Barone compound that was sandwiched between a forest and the Black Sea.

It was 0400 hours now, and The League had confirmed with their eyes in the sky both Rocco and Claudio were currently on-site and more than likely awake, anticipating the ambush to happen in Oslo.

Hudson, Gabriel, and the other team members we’d assembled at the last second were also a few mikes from their target. I wouldn’t be able to hear the good news Calliope’s aunt was safe, because I’d already be falling from the sky to infil the compound at the south side when they infiltrated the home in Norway.

Sebastian Renaud, Sean McGregor, and Sean’s cousin, Cole McGregor, were heading up a team of ten other League members and were in place on a yacht off the coast, waiting for our go-ahead to move in by sea.

When Constantine and I had arrived in Romania, the six former SF guys we’d asked for help, who were now in private security andstationed abroad, had been at the airport in Bucharest, waiting for us with Sebastian.

Sebastian’s words of encouragement had gone something like,“No one dies tonight. My wife is pregnant with our second kid. Cole’s wife—my sister—just had a kid. You already know the drill with Emilia.”He’d stabbed at the air, looking at us all like he’d kill us himself if we fucked up and placed him or his men in danger.“We clear? No one goes home in a body bag.”

“Roger that,”I’d said, not a fan of taking orders from someone who’d never served, but from what I knew, Sebastian had killed a hell of a lot more bad guys than I had, so I supposed that counted for something. I’d tip my hat to him and be an obedient soldier tonight if it’d help get the job done, because as long as it was mission success and I made it home to Calliope, I didn’t give a damn who was calling the shots.

It’d been a few years since I’d done a HAHO jump, and I wasn’t afraid of heights, but the idea of not making it home sure as hell scared me now. I’d never dealt with the weird butterfly sensation in my stomach pre-op before. Normally, I was pumped up and charged, ready to go. But now? The afterlife be damned.

I took a knee and went through my things, doing another weapons check. I had my Ruger Precision rifle, which was my preferred long-range shooter. I was also equipped with a Sig Sauer P320-M18, which was the civilian version of the military’s M18. Then there was the seven-inch blade sheathed at my side. Plenty of ammo. Night vision goggles attached to my helmet. The same body armor I’d worn as a Ranger, but much improved since then. So yeah, I was good to go.

Standing now, I snatched my phone from my pocket and started toward Constantine, who was talking to our pilot. I read Calliope’s last message, my mind wandering back to our kiss goodbye at my parents’ house yesterday.

My Wife:Be careful. Come home soon. X

My Wife:And don’t forget the research I sent you. I know The League did their own, but just in case ...

I’d changed her contact name in my phone yet again on the flight over.

Me:Hopefully no tunnels here, but I let the team know to be on the lookout. Thank you

Me:And define ‘X’

My Wife:Love

My lips twitched into a full-on grin at the sight of the word instead of the standard “kiss” for anX.

Me:Well, thenX squared.

My Wife:Define X squared.

Me:Love. You. More.

I backspaced the words before I sent the message, because fuck, I couldn’t confess my love over text before I was about to infil a compound and kill people. It’d look like an “If I die” text and not genuine.

Me:You know exactly what it means.

My Wife:Mmm-hmm. Tell me when you get home.

Me:Roger that

Me:And don’t be nervous. Everything will be okay. Your aunt is minutesaway from being safe, and I’m about two hours away from being on a plane to head home to you.

I powered off my phone before I could read her response, feeling a bit torn up about making a promise like that without being prophetic and knowing the final outcome. I tossed my phone to the pilot to hold on to, then turned my attention to my brother as he checked his MK 13 sniper rifle.

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