Page 54 of Searching for Valor

She rolled her eyes and gave a dramatic sigh as she pushed out of the chair and crossed to him. She dragged a finger down the dent in his chin. “For a smart man, you can be awful dumb sometimes. He already had his Anna, but you all froze her out.”

“Fuck. Not Izzy.” The woman’s name tasted bitter on his tongue. He’d been in that safe house the night she betrayed them. He’d had to fight for his life to escape, as had every other man there. By some miracle, their side hadn’t suffered any casualties, but it had been close. Three months later, and if he moved the wrong way too fast, his ribs still hurt from the bullet that had impacted his Kevlar vest.

“You can’t be serious. After what she did?—”

“I know, I know.” Anna held up her hands in a placating gesture. “Believe me, I haven’t forgotten. I saw all of the bruises on you afterward. But I know you saw them together before everything went to hell. The way they moved around each other, anticipated each other’s needs without a word… It reminded me of us.”

Zak’s jaw clenched. He didn’t want to think about Izzy Delgado in the same context as his relationship with Anna. “That was before she betrayed us. Before she nearly got Pierce and Rhiannon killed and the rest of us shot to hell.”

“I know you’re still angry with her, and you have every right to be. I was angry, too, until I realized my anger was misplaced. What she did was wrong. But, Zak, she was desperate. They had her family. She didn’t see any other way out.”

“There’s always another way,” he bit out.

She fisted her hands on her hips in a defiant gesture he knew all too well. “Is there? If it was me and the girls, and you had to choose between us or your team, what would you do?”

He wanted to say he’d find another way, that he’d never turn on his brothers like that. But the hard truth lodged in his throat. For Anna and his daughters and the little boy they were hoping to adopt, there was no line he wouldn’t cross. No betrayal he wouldn’t commit. His family was his world, and he’d burn the rest of it to ash to keep them safe.

“That’s not fair,” he said hoarsely.

“No, it isn’t. None of this is fair. Not what Izzy did, not the position she was put in. Not what’s happening with Rylan now.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I hate it when you’re right.”

“And yet I so often am.” Anna’s answering smile was gentle but tinged with sadness as she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. “If we want to help Rylan, truly help him, we need to put aside our anger and give Izzy a chance to make things right.”

“Rylan’s never going to forgive her.”

“I once swore I’d never forgive you for leaving me without a word and running off to boot camp,” Anna said softly. “But never is a very long time. People can surprise you, especially when they’re in love.”

“You think Rylan and Izzy were in love?”

“I think they were well on their way, and it’s still there. Rylan wouldn’t be so angry with her otherwise.”

Zak exhaled harshly. Every instinct in him rebelled against the idea of bringing that woman back into their lives, into Rylan’s life, after the destruction she’d wrought. But Anna had a point. Izzy and Rylan had something special once, a bond that went soul-deep. And right now, Rylan’s soul was drowning. He needed a lifeline, and as much as Zak hated to admit it, Izzy might be the only one who could throw it to him.

“I don’t like this,” he grumbled. “Not one bit. But… I’ll do it. For Rylan. He’d do the same for any of us.”

“He would,” Anna agreed softly. “He has, more times than I can count. It’s our turn to have his back, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us. You don’t have to be happy about it. You just have to give her a chance.”

He grumbled under his breath but didn’t argue further.

Anna kissed his cheek and then slid off his lap. “Go get Rylan’s dog. I know who you’re thinking of, and you’re right. He’s perfect. I’ll reach out to Izzy.”

chapter

nineteen

When the knock came,Rylan was staring at the empty bottle of vodka in his hand. If he smashed it against the sink and sliced the glass shard across his wrists, would it feel as satisfying as it did in his head? The sleeping pills had been an accident, but now he wished they had done the job. Whatever came next had to be better thanthis.

The knock was sharp, loud, insistent—Zak’s knock, as unmistakable as the man himself. The kind of knock that said he wasn’t going away until you opened the door.

Rylan didn’t want to open the door. Hell, he didn’t even want to be in his own skin right now.

“Go away,” he muttered and closed his eyes, his fingers tightening around the neck of the empty bottle. Maybe if he stayed silent, Zak would give up and leave him to his misery. But even as the thought crossed his mind, he knew it was futile.

"Rylan, open up! I know you're in there, you stubborn bastard." Zak's muffled voice carried through the door, tinged with equal parts frustration and concern. “Iwillkick this door down.”

Yeah, the guy wasn’t bluffing and that metal leg of his would do a lot of damage that Rylan didn’t want to deal with.

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