Page 92 of Ruthless Commander

I didn’t leave a message.

Because I already knew.

He wasn’t going to answer.

I strode to my closet, grabbed a bag, and started packing. The fact she’d had a bag already packed nagged at me. The woman knew me better than I knew my own damn self. I walked to the bed and tossed my clothes inside, then went back, grabbed my weapons, and dressed as the shower spray switched off.

She was out before I knew it, toweling her hair with one hand as she dumped her bathroom supplies onto the bed beside her bag, then started dressing, pulling on black jeans, a black t-shirt, and heavy boots.

“You knew.”

She laced her boots and straightened. “Of course I knew. I knew the man I married. I have no intentions of changing him…just like I’m sure you have no intentions of changing me.”

She floored me.

Every. Single. Time.

“I’ll make the calls,” I murmured. “Find his last location. We can start there.”

She stood, then bent down and lifted her bag. “That sounds perfect.”

By the time I’d made a couple of quick calls, grabbed my bag, and headed out, she was right behind me. One call later and I found Edon had landed in Colorado two weeks ago. Since then, his handler hadn’t heard from him. While Xael listened, she texted our pilot, instructing him to get our jet ready.

An hour after my brother called, we were driving to the airport. Darkness waited as I pushed the Lexus harder, listening to the engine respond as I left our coastal oasis behind and headed for the city, the private airstrip, and the sleek jet we owned.

I worked the gears while my thoughts drifted.

I didn’t like this, not her silent and purposeful beside me.

Not her here at all.

My pulse raced as I narrowed in on that feeling. I’d known something was wrong, just like I’d known he was in trouble in Ispeli Prison in our home country all those years ago. It was a heaviness…a scream trapped in the back of my mind.

I felt that now more than ever. Our headlights swept through the endless dark landscape. There were very few lights out here, just a vast emptiness we both craved. Silence. Peace.Each other.

I glanced at my wife, who stared straight ahead.

She shouldn’t be doing this.

Did you marry the wrong woman, Mateo?

Fuck, that question hurt. More than I expected.

The faint sparks of city lights glinted in the distance. I focused on the road, turned toward the airstrip on the outskirts of the city, and braked outside the towering ten-foot fence. The lights were on in the hangar. As I rolled down the window and leaned out, punching in the code for the gate, I caught a glimpse of the tail end of the jet.

We’d be in the air before I knew it…

Still, it wasn’t fast enough.

I drove the car through the gate, parked in the extra bay of the hangar, and climbed out. Xael hadn’t said a word, not for the entire drive. She climbed out too, pulled our bags out of the trunk, and headed for the waiting plane.

“Xael, Mateo.” Our pilot greeted us at the foot of the boarding stairs.

“Warren.” My wife answered with a smile. “Thank you for being on stand-by.”

He should be, we paid him enough. I gave him a nod. “You have the details?”

“Flight plan has already been confirmed. We’re ready for wheels up when you are.”