Page 71 of The Breaking Point

“Hey,” he says like it’s a regular Sunday and not a day he’s actively ripping his life apart.

“Hey?” I repeat, stepping in. “Heyis what you have to say to me right now?”

His brows pull together, like he wasn’t expecting this. Like he’s shocked I’m not here to coddle him like the rest of them.

“Markus,” I snap, arms crossed. “You know I have two sons, right?”

He blinks, caught off guard by the sudden switch in tone.

“And if either of them was doing something so colossally stupid, sogoddamn selfish, I would whoop their ass until they physically couldn’t leave the house.”

He shifts, defensively. “Kate, I don’t know why-”

“Why it’s any of my business?” I cut in, my voice sharp. “It’s my business because your wife…your wife, sat on that very spot a month ago and cried like her world had ended when she thought you might be dead. Do youunderstandthat, or are you so far gone you just don’t care anymore?”

He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t flinch. But I see it, right there, flickering in his eyes, the guilt. The hurt. The fact that maybe no one’s said it to him out loud yet. Maybe no one’s looked him dead in the eye and held him accountable for breaking more than just protocol. For breaking her.

“You want closure?” I continue, voice lower now but no less firm. “Then go get it. But don’t pretend like it won’t cost you everything. Especially not her.”

The silence that falls next is thick enough to drown in.

He exhales, shoulders sagging like the air’s been punched out of him. “I just don’t know who I am anymore.”

I move to the coffee table in front of him, lowering myself down until we’re eye to eye. “Why not?” I ask gently. “You were ready to stay before. What changed?”

His eyes shift to the floor. “We had a plan,” he murmurs. “The guys and I. We were gonna start a security company. This was supposed to be our team’s last tour. One final assignment, then come home and build something real. I just didn’t realize it would betheirlast. Not most of theirs.”

I swallow hard, sitting with that for a beat. Then: “And you think going back will… what? Make it better? That if you’re back there long enough, the guilt will fade?”

His jaw clenches. “They’re all dead, Kate. And the ones who made it out… they’re barely there. They don’t even feel like the same people anymore.”

“And you do?” I ask softly. “You think going back is going to bring them back? Or bringyouback? Because all I see is a man trying to outrun the grief with more trauma.”

He doesn’t answer.

I lean in. “If you go back, the only thing that’ll happen is you’ll kill Quinn too. Bit by bit. And maybe yourself. And Aiden…” I shake my head, voice catching. “You know he loves you. Likefamily. Like a brother. Do you think watching you walk into hell again won’t destroy him too?”

Markus scrubs a hand over his face.

I take a breath. “Quinn told me you won’t go to therapy.”

He gives a hollow laugh. “My wifeisa therapist. Every time I talk to her, it’s like I’m in a session already.”

I nod slowly. “I get that. But Markus, she’s also yourwife. She can’t carry all of your pain and still be your partner. She’s breaking under it.”

He doesn’t argue. Just sits, haunted.

“And I know my issues don’t even touch yours,” I continue. “But I’ve been going to therapy. Aiden too. And it helps. It really does. Not right away. Not in some magical, movie-ending way. But one day, you wake up and realize your feet feel a little more solid on the ground.”

He lifts his gaze to mine, silent.

“You deserve that too,” I say. “Not punishment.Peace.”

“Give yourself some time,” I say gently. “Heal first. Just… take a breath. Let yourself be whole again before making any decisions. And in the future, if youstillfeel like you need to revisit it, then fine. But don’t make a choice like this while you’re still bleeding.”

He doesn’t respond, but his jaw flexes.

“Besides,” I add, softer now, “do you really think the answers you’re looking for arethere? Wherever it was?” I tilt my head. “I know it’s classified, that you can’t talk about it, but if it’s that deep, aren’t therealanswers with the people who classified it in the first place? Not buried in a field halfway across the world?”

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