Page 42 of Carter
“You’ll come back to me,” she said. Not a question. A demand.
My throat tightened. God, I wanted to give her that promise. But I’d buried too many men to lie with easy words.
So I pressed my forehead to hers, my voice rough. “I’ll fight like hell to make sure of it.”
Her breath caught, but she nodded, accepting it for what it was.
As she pulled away, I felt the familiar steel settle over me. The soldier snapped back into place. The man who loved her would have to wait.
Because in a few hours, Graves was going to find out what it meant to threaten Harper.
And I’d make damn sure he regretted ever saying her name.
59
Carter
The SUV rolled to a stop a block from the yard, its engine rumbling low before Cyclone cut it. The night was heavy, damp with fog rolling off the docks, the stench of salt and rust thick in the air.
Through the windshield, the shipping yard loomed—rows of containers stacked like tombstones, floodlights sweeping in slow arcs, shadows moving between them. Armed guards, at least a dozen. Maybe more.
River’s voice was calm, steady, as he laid it out. “Graves will be in the control tower. Top floor. He’ll have eyes on everything. We clear the perimeter and breach through the south entrance. Gideon, Cyclone—you take high ground and cut the lights. Carter and I move straight in.”
I nodded once, my jaw set. My finger tapped the side of my rifle, itching for the fight. But it wasn’t just combat humming in my blood. It was Harper’s face, her voice in my head—Don’t die for me. Live with me.
That was the vow I carried into the dark.
We slipped out of the SUV, boots silent on asphalt. Theair was damp, every breath tasting like iron and seawater. I scanned the yard, counting angles, calculating lines of fire.
River signaled. Gideon and Cyclone peeled off, shadows vanishing into the stacks. A minute later, the floodlights blinked and died, plunging the yard into jagged dark.
The first guard didn’t even see me coming. My knife slid quick and clean, his body hitting the ground without a sound. River dropped the next. The rest scattered, confused in the blackout, and that was all the opening we needed.
We moved fast, silent, weaving through containers. My pulse was steady, my vision sharp. Every step was one closer to Graves. One closer to ending this.
The control tower loomed ahead, a narrow spine of steel and glass against the night. I could see movement inside—shadows pacing, one broader than the rest.
Graves.
Rage burned low and steady in my chest, controlled but lethal. This was the man who had marked Harper. Who had tried to make her a pawn in his game.
And tonight, I was going to end him.
60
Carter
The control tower loomed above us, its windows glowing faintly against the dark. My grip tightened on the rifle as River and I pressed to the base of the stairs.
“Two guards posted outside,” he murmured.
“I’ll take left,” I said, already moving.
The first never had a chance—my arm clamped around his throat, the knife sliding clean. He sagged without a sound. River dropped the other just as fast. We exchanged a quick nod, then ascended the steel steps, boots silent against the metal.
My pulse was steady, but underneath, rage burned low and hot. Every breath carried Harper’s face with it—her whisper in the SUV, her trust when she looked me in the eye.Live with me.
That was the only reason I hadn’t already torn this place apart with blind fury.
