Page 7 of Reclaiming Izabel

My chair scraped back as I sprung up, backing away from the screen in disbelief.

“When?” I rasped.

“Yesterday,” Hank said solemnly. “A bike messenger took a corner too fast and hit her.” He blew out a breath. “She hit the pavement with too much force, caused some complications and severe bleeding. They had to do an emergency C-section.”

Hank’s words grew muffled as I processed the horror Izabel had gone through—must still be going through.

Losing our daughter…

“… she’s banged up, but otherwise okay…”

Rage flared through my veins at his words. “She. Is. Not. Okay,” I gritted. “She just lost me…and now…”

Without saying another word and with emotion making it difficult to speak, I pivoted on my heel and exited the comm room, ignoring the pain shooting down my bad leg and the discomfort in my back. I was leaving this place and going home to Izabel. My wife needed me. We would figure out a way to survive the threats against us.

I was stuffing clothes into a duffel when the door to my room opened. Out of the corner of my eye, I made out my teammates, Brick, a ginger-haired former SEAL, and Edmunds, one of Viktor’s Guardians.

I ignored them and continued packing, even as the air bristled with my aggression.

“Where are we going?” Brick asked slowly.

“Home,” I clipped, muscles coiled, ready to take on my teammates. I zipped the duffel closed and turned to face them squarely, lifting my chin in challenge. “Izabel needs me.”

“We heard what happened,” Brick said, eyes wary, voice soft. “We’re sorry.”

I nodded. “I’ll catch a flight from Ramstein.”

“How do you propose to do that?” Edmunds asked evenly. “You don’t exist. Drake Maddox is dead.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” I shot back. “A couple of keystrokes and I can be reinstated.”

“And how about Fire Team?” Brick challenged. “Remember them?”

I charged my friend and slammed him against the wall.

“What do you think?” I snarled. My head felt like exploding from the force of my anger, not knowing where to direct my fury. “I have nightmares. Every fucking single night, I’m trapped in that cave. I see my brothers blown up. Repeatedly. I hear their screams for help.” I let go of Brick’s shirt and staggered back. “But it’s not real because they didn’t even get the chance to scream. They were simply…obliterated.” I shuddered. “Sometimes, I wished I had died along with them, but…Izabel.”

These past few months, I was a man conflicted.

Duty to avenge my brothers versus my love for my wife.

Guilt that I survived and hope that I would be reunited with my Iza.

Just when I’d accepted that going after the bastards was the right thing to do, the universe threw me a curve ball and all I could see was Izabel’s despair.

It was tearing me in half.

“I have to go to her.” I turned away from them and resumed shoving the rest of my things into another bag. The hairs on my back prickled as I sensed an imminent threat and, before I could react, something stabbed my neck.

“What the fuck?” I roared, clamping down on Edmunds’ wrist at the same time jabbing him in the face.

Cartilage cracked, and blood spattered.

I yanked the still-embedded needle from my neck and squared off against Brick, but they simply watched me.

My vision darkened even as hopeless rage consumed me. “Fuck you both,” I slurred, falling against a chair. I tried to remain upright. “Damn you.” I was about to pitch forward when someone caught me.

“Sorry, man.”

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