Page 35 of Redemption's Inferno

“Not without a ring!” she huffed, the fierceness returning to her eyes. “Played that game before, you know.”

“It’s not like there’s a chance you’ll wind up havin’ another baby on your own!” he rolled his eyes.

She narrowed hers. “How in hell do you know, you tosser! Women my age are still havin’ babies!”

“You trying to tell me something?” he demanded.

“Seriously?!” Chains glared at both of them. “Mum, you’re 55! What are you goin’ on about? You’re not having another baby!”

“I could if I wanted!” She pulled away from Nate and folded her arms across her chest. “This bloody wanker won’t be tellin’ me what I can and cannot do with my own body!”

Emilie snorted, immediately clapping a hand over her mouth to cover her laugh. Nate’s lips began to twitch as well and Emilie couldn’t stop another twitter from escaping behind her hand.

“It’s not funny, missy!” Dolores shot her a look so full of mischief Emilie burst out laughing.

Nate joined in and Chains shook his head. “You’ve lost your minds, the lot of you!” he groused, turning back to the windows to make sure they were secure.

“It’s lucky you were awake,” Emilie told her.

“Well, with all the noise coming from your end of the hallway, it’s not like a lady could get any sleep, now could she?” Dolores said primly.

Emilie felt her face start to flame. “Oh my goodness…”

“Don’t say anything, Em.” Chains glanced up, fixing his mother with a look. “She’s just trying to get you to tell her what’s going on between us.”

“As if half the neighborhood couldn’t hear what was going on between you!” Dolores glared right back. “Made enough noise to wake the dead, you did!”

“I’m so sorry!” Emilie’s eyes were wide with embarrassment.

“I’ll stay down here the rest of the night,” Chains said, ushering them towards the stairs. “In case the wanker thinks he might come back.”

“I’ll stay as well,” Nate said, pressing a kiss to Dolores’ cheek. “Any more trouble tonight and we’ll get the authorities to make a report. Might be kids looking to make some mischief.”

“Yeah.” Chains nodded at Emilie, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

She hesitated, unsure what to do. They’d been interrupted at a most inopportune time, and she desperately wanted to explain why she’d said what she did, but he’d already looked away and was settling on the couch, his laptop open.

“Well, good night then,” she said softly, turning to head up to bed. Not that she would get any sleep tonight. With a rueful sigh, she glanced back over her shoulder and saw his intense gaze following her. Their eyes met for a moment and she could see their conversation was definitely going to be finished at a later time and relief flooded her; she didn’t want to leave things this way.

Settling in the chair across from Chains, Nate waited for the younger man to look up. “You think this was a prank or it has something to do with you?”

“Never had a lick of trouble,” Chains muttered. “I’m home a week and this happens? I have to think it’s about me.”

“What do you have that could come back to haunt you? I know it could be anything, but there has to be something that stands out.”

“The last mission,” Chains said automatically. “It was a joint effort with the CIA and both U.S. and British military. The Americans had a line on bin Laden and we were out in the desert, thinking we were close. Then the Israelis showed up, a couple of Russians made an appearance, and it was a mess. Things went south and I was the one in charge of that operation. Dammit.”

“How many did you lose?” Nate asked quietly.

Chains stared out the window. “Eight. Six Americans, four in a helo that was shot down, and two more, plus two Brits, captured and killed on the ground.”

“Where were you?”

Chains set his jaw. “I was in the helo, but I jumped. Figured a couple of broken legs were better than dead. Landed in a bloody tree, if you can believe it. I thought the others—maybe not the pilot—but the two next to me, would follow. I don’t know why they didn’t.”

“Who rescued you?”

“The Israelis.” He took a breath. “Someone on the inside gave us up, but my superiors wouldn’t hear of it and the Americans were cagey. When they tried to turn it on me, I walked away.” He clenched his jaw. “I should’ve stayed and fought. I didn’t betray my country or my brothers in arms. Never would. Don’t understand what happened but the idea one of those men turned on us—I couldn’t do it anymore. Too much ugliness. Maybe that makes me a pussy.”

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