Accidental Shield (Marriage Mistake #6)(102)

I’m thankful for every one of these men helping me. I’d already offered them payment, which they’d refused. They don’t want money. They want another shot at Cornaro.

Same justice I’d wanted, once, but now, honestly?

I just want Valerie home.

Safe and sound and in my bed where she belongs. Every night.

I don’t know if I have the patience for a live capture.

I’ll kill that SOB this time. Fucking dismember him.

I turn off the highway, onto a gravel road that goes nowhere, except to the gulch. I’m pissed because this is taking me farther away from Valerie, but it’s the only way in, so I have to deal.

About a quarter of a mile later, I see Davis, standing next to his vehicle. He waves me into the trees.

I turn, slam the truck into park, and leap out. “Was she hurt?”

“No. She was walking fine, last I saw. I’m sorry, man, I couldn’t overtake them. There were four dudes in the boat and two in the truck.”

Shit.

They came in force. Outnumbered and outgunned us.

I could kick my own ass for failing to do more to secure my stretch of beach, though there’s only so much a private citizen can do to stop a water landing.

Davis is built like a brick shithouse of a man. Solid and wide and tall. Something in his tone has me wondering.

“How many drove away with her?” I ask, scratching my neck.

“Only the two guys in the truck. They were a diversion. The rest were in the ship.”

“The four on the boat?”

He shrugs. “Couldn’t get a good look, but sure seemed that way. The boat went back out to sea. A little runner or something. Saw her and Ray get transferred to a bigger ship a little ways offshore.”

“Empty?” I really shouldn’t ask, because what I don’t know won’t hurt me. “Did they abandon the runner?”

He shakes his head.

“So they brought it back. Were any of those four men driving?”

“No. Not anymore. I’d called Nate for back up. He’s on the boat with them now.” He pauses, a broad grin crossing his strong onyx face. “You know how sneaky he can be. He’ll have it commandeered in no time. Should meet us on the beach shortly.”

With Cornaro’s own boat. I like it. If I wasn’t so pissed, I’d smile.

No SEAL worth his salt gets hard over guys going full Rambo.

It shouldn’t ever get to that point. It’s the perfect blend of shadows, stealth, and subterfuge that make our missions a success and men into heroes.

“Good thinking,” I tell him, giving his shoulder a brotherly slap.

Davis nods at the road, the sound of screeching tires. “Here’s Cash. The rest of the boys are already headed for the docks to intercept our new ship.” He pauses, turning up his face as he eyes me. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah. That runner’s our ticket in. Let’s go.”

Cash parks and catches up to us. He’s traded his usual island doctor polo shirt and slacks for proper tactical gear, his green eyes flashing in the darkness.

“Here’s the scoop—it’s a luxury yacht with all the amenities,” he says. “Four decks, one hundred and eighty feet, six state rooms, two with balconies. Shit cost him forty million two years ago.”

I’m not surprised Cash knows all that about the mothership. He’s a bloodhound for details. He probably had the ship’s schematics on hand long before tonight.

If I wasn’t still trying like hell to forget our botched rescue, I’d have known it, too. I told myself forgetting was the best way to get over Bali.

Cash, he never tried to get over it, not for a day since we returned. He was dead set on getting even. That poor lady died in his arms.

He’d tried harder than all of us to save her.

The rest of us just had weapons to fight for her. But Cash tried to save her medically, watched her bleed out all over him.

For him, that was worse than a total failure where we lost several good men.

That’s also why I’ve carried my burden. I wanted to relieve some of his, but that hadn’t happened. Whether I’d shouldered the moral weight of her death or not, he still has his own guilt to carry, this boulder of pain bigger than the load the gods dumped on Atlas. I couldn’t change that for him.

Not then.

Now, I can.

After tonight, none of us are bearing more burdens because Val is coming out of this alive.

Joel Cornaro will never see another sunrise.





19





Black Pearl Muse (Valerie)





“Interesting. My crew spoke highly of your beauty, Ms. Gerard, but they never mentioned you had such a devious little head on your shoulders. Maybe it’s you I should’ve been doing business with from the very beginning after Stanley’s untimely departure.” Joel Cornaro eyes me from head to toe, a slithering gaze.

My insides quiver at the glare in his eyes. The wry sneer on his face. The absolute darkness exuding from his person. The rattle of those thick gold chains around his neck every time he walks.

Ray and I sit on a white leather couch inside a luxury yacht vastly bigger than ours. It’s newer, which means it’ll be faster, too.

Flint won’t be able to find us once this ship heads out on the open sea.