Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(112)

“I know. I wasn’t blaming him. I blame me. This is on me, Ten. I need you to understand that I don’t blame you. I know what you’ve been thinking. I knew it from the moment you called and told me the news, and I knew I had to get down here before anyone did something stupid. Including you, Ten.”

He couldn’t quite be offended by the remark. After all, Tag wasn’t punching him in the face and he still had a few of those left. “I’m shipping everyone out tomorrow. I’ll handle things from here. I’ll help you get our people back and then you’re out of this. I’ll come at the problem from a different angle. I need to figure out where the money is and how he’s scrubbing it.”

Tag chuckled. “You think you’re in charge?”

“I think this was my mission and I’m taking it back.” He wasn’t going to risk anyone else.

“No.”

Ten frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s generally accepted as a way to communicate negativity. Your torture seems to have rattled your thinking process, though it was always a little off, brother. No means f*ck no, you’re not in charge.”

So arrogant. “I get that you want revenge.”

“I don’t want revenge. I want justice. And that’s where we differ. That’s why I’m staying in charge and your ass is going to be on a plane back to the States in a few hours, so start packing.”

“You can’t dismiss me, Tag. You’re not my boss.”

“No. I’m your family and that means making decisions for you when you’re incapacitated. You recently came out of thirty-six hours’ worth of torture. You watched two team members die. You’re not capable of thinking straight. That’s the very definition of incapacitated, and if you don’t agree with me, I’ll take it a step further. I’ll hold you down, dose you up—yes, I brought sedatives—and you’ll still be on that plane. Charlie’s waiting for you. She’s got the guest room all set up.”

Ten felt his jaw drop. “Are you trying to tell me you would hold me hostage?”

“I prefer to think of it as giving you time to come to the proper conclusions about the rest of your life. Don’t discount the guest room. It’s got a really nice bed and I’ve been told the restraints don’t even chafe.” Tag turned to him. “Or you could do the right thing and take door number two.”

Ten knew he should be pissed. Tag was taking control where he shouldn’t.

Or should he? If Tag actually cared about him, maybe this was his place. Ten wasn’t stupid. He knew what door number two was.

“I don’t have anything to offer her.”

Tag’s lips quirked up in a sad smile. “That’s the funny thing about women. The good ones don’t require anything.”

This was the part Ten didn’t understand. “I don’t get it. I don’t get the exchange. I know I can make her orgasm. She can pay for that. I don’t trust the rest of it.”

“Ask her. Ask her what she wants from you. Tell her what you need from her. I think you’re going to find you have what she wants.”

He didn’t see how. “I don’t even have a job.”

“The good news is she does,” Tag replied. “She’s way smarter than you.”

“That she is. She deserves better.”

Tag’s face twisted in a grimace. “Don’t tell her that. Women don’t like that shit. Let me give you some advice. ‘Yes, baby.’ That’s all you need to say when you’re not on a dungeon floor. Now when you’re playing, feel free to get as nasty and caveman-like as possible, but in the real world, our two words for survival are ‘yes’ and ‘baby.’ Tell her yes, Ten. Walk away from this. I need one f*cking good thing to come out of this. Look, if you don’t love her…”

“I love her.” He wasn’t going to hide the fact. “I didn’t know what it meant until I met her.”

Tag sighed, a weary sound. “Then that’s my one good thing. Because you know this is really all about me.”

It was never about him. It might seem like it, but almost everything the man did was about helping someone else. “I don’t understand you.”

Tag stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to. All you have to do is follow my advice. Take your woman. You think you need revenge, but justice is so much more important. A really smart woman taught me that. Go home with Faith and we’ll handle McDonald together. We won’t let him get away with it, but we need to do this in a way that won’t get us killed and bring more grief to the people we love. I’ve got Li on the money trail. We put together a solid case including the corporations funding him, bring in the press, and take them all down. Once McDonald is in prison, well, karma tends to take over there.”

Karma being Big Tag. “I thought this wasn’t about vengeance.”

“Justice first, and then a little revenge is good for the soul,” Tag said. “But nothing is more important than her. It can’t be if you’re going to be her husband.”

Faith’s husband. The idea that he’d once thought of proposing to Dawn turned his stomach. It was nearly sacrilegious to think of another woman. Faith was the one. It was stupid, and before he’d met her he hadn’t believed in “the one.” Probably no man did until he found her.