Page 61 of Married to the SEAL

The baby grabbed his feet, his noises now higher and happier still. He showed no ill effects from his ordeal, quickly slipping back into his routine with his mother and Matteo.

A knock at the door and Vasile walked in, smiling and scooping up his grandson. “There’s my little man.” Before the door could close behind him, Cowboy and Hawk walked in.

“You about ready to go?” asked Cowboy.

“Yeah. I am. Just let me get my things.”

He stood up, his stare set on Grace. “Guess I’ll be seeing you around.”

“I guess so.”

He walked out of the room with the men of HERO Force by his side. It could be no other way.

“I still think I should have been your best man,” said Cowboy.

“You are. You both are.”

“Hawk doesn’t love you the way I do, Red.”

Matteo put his arm around Cowboy. “I’m going to miss you guys.”

An hour later, he was standing beneath a white arbor in the sand, staring at Grace as they renewed their vows.

“When you first came to this country,” she said, “I thought you were only interested in the money. That I was just another job to you. But then I got to know you, and spend time with you, and then I got to like you. And I realized you didn’t take this job for the money at all, that you did it to help the people of Lutsia, because that’s just the kind of man you are.” She took a breath, her bottom lip trembling. “And then I realized I loved you.”

“I promise to take care of you, Grace. As much as any world leader needs taking care of. I promise to be a good father to Nico and to any more children we have along the way. You’re the only person I ever wanted to spend my life with.”

The priest leaned heavily on a cane, but his smile was wide and true. “Aren’t you glad we didn’t skip the vows that time?” he asked. “By the power invested in me by the holy Church and the People’s Republic of Lutsia, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

41

Cowboy satat his desk staring into space as he listened to the hubbub around him. A large manila envelope was opened, a stack of papers beside it, and nothing would ever be the same again.

He could hear a couple of the new guys laughing with Hawk. They were just getting their feet on the ground, about to take HERO Force to the next level, and now they were going down. Crashing and burning like the goddamn Hindenburg.

He’d lived an interesting life and made more than his share of enemies over the years, but he never expected anything like this.

His cell phone rang.

Jax.

“You get one, too?” Cowboy asked.

“Yep. What are we going to do?”

Cowboy blew out air. “What the hell are our choices? We’re guilty as fuck.”

“Doesn’t matter. We fight it, Leo. We fight it with everything we’ve got.”

“As soon as the facts come out, HERO Force is done for anyway.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Cowboy shook his head. “I love to agree with you, man, but you are living in a dream world if you think this is anything other than impending doom. If you and me were back in that shit storm again tomorrow, I’d do the same goddamn thing. But that doesn’t make it right, and there ain’t a court in the world that’s going to let us get away with it.”

“You might be right, but I’m not willing to let HERO Force and everything we’ve worked for get flushed down the shitter because of one misstep.”

“This could go bad, Jax.”

“It went bad a long time ago. Go home. Get some sleep. Kiss Charlotte for me.”

“Yeah. And you kiss Jessa and that baby.”

“It’s going to be all right, Cowboy.”

Cowboy hung up the phone. He wasn’t so sure.