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She would not let their deaths be for nothing.

Even if she was terrified, even if she didn’t know how to fight Ravencroft, she had to find a way to endure. Denver would come for her. She had to cling to that belief.

Her SEAL wouldn’t stop until he found her.

* * * * *

The second Denver got confirmation from Dante, his heart stopped beating—and then roared back to life like a war drum.

“She’s alive.” His voice cracked. For a moment, he pinched the bridge of his nose hard, chest heaving with emotion and relief.

Dante’s voice came over the encrypted line. “Satellites tracked movement from a private jet to a convoy on the ground in… You’re not gonna fucking believe it, man.”

“What? Tell me.”

“She’s in New Jersey at the Rivers’ family estate.”

“Jesus.” His fists knotted, and he bowed his head. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

Dante continued talking, filling him and his brothers—filling in the Black Heart Security team—with every scrap of intel he dug up. “After her parents died, the estate remained in Rhae’s name, with a trustee.”

“Robert Ravencroft.” The name scalded the back of his throat and burned a path of rage through him.

“It’s undergone some renovations.”

“Like what?” His voice held an edge.

“Fortifications. Gates. Bars on the windows.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. Are you telling me that Ravencroft made the house into a prison?”

To keep Rhae inside.

He already knew she came from New Jersey… so damn close to the Blackout Charlie team’s base, a mansion seized by the government and granted to the team for use as a base, hiding them in plain sight.

His team could provide backup. They could get to Rhae within minutes .

He could practically feel the ghosts of past missions breathing down his neck, and that old sensation of floating accompanied the ringing of his ears, a product of the medical condition that ended his contract with the Charlie team in the first damn place.

Even as these thoughts tripped through Denver’s mind, he knew it was impossible for Charlie to step in. Unsanctioned missions would get them in deep shit with their commander.

“Thank you, Dante. I… There aren’t words.”

“Always got your six, man. Good luck.”

Denver ended the call and turned to face his brothers.

Carson slipped a fresh clip into his sidearm and slipped it along his spine. “We’re doing this?”

“Dante confirmed. She’s at her family’s estate in Jersey.” His voice was raw, stripped of everything but certainty. “We storm the estate tonight.”

Gray already had a map up on the big screen, checking the coordinates.

Willow had the baby perched on her hip. Their matching gray eyes were wide and locked on Denver. “Will someone please take the family jet already?”

Carson gave a dry snort. The joke among the family was that Willow wanted to take the jet everywhere, and would fly five miles into town for supplies if she could.

“Yes, Willow. We’re taking the jet.”

“Good,” she snapped, then relented. “Because I’m not letting you take my niece on the road.”

Denver stepped toward her, brushing a kiss over Navy’s head. The little girl squealed and reached for him, her tiny hands clamping on his old dog tags like they were her favorite toy. He kissed her again, on her forehead and then her cheek.

He lifted his gaze to Willow. “Navy won’t be going. Keep her safe for me. Guard her with your life.”

Willow clutched the baby closer. “I will.” Her voice broke.

He kissed Navy once more, the weight of his role as her father settling into his chest like armor. Then he turned and walked out the door, every step forward sharpening into a stride of purpose. Now that he knew Navy was safe, he could focus on one thing: bringing her mother back.

Theo fell in beside him, gear slung over his shoulder. “You good?”

“No,” Denver said honestly. “Not until she’s home.”

Theo nodded, jaw tight. “You’re not going alone.”

“I never expected to.”

His brothers fell in around him, linked through comms devices. Their presence meant more than he could admit.

“I’m glad you’re with me,” Denver said as they crossed the parking area to the security SUV and piled in, Carson at the wheel.

When they arrived at the airfield, Colt was there waiting. He pressed a kiss to Aspen’s forehead before joining them, leaving his life partner standing there with worry pinching between her dark brows.

The jet was sleek and ready. His brother Gray was a former Navy pilot and it was only right for him to take the cockpit, running checks, with Carson barking orders to a two-man ground team helping load equipment.

These weren’t just buddies. They were family. His blood brotherhood. It had started with SEAL Team Blackout Charlie, but it had expanded. He’d widened his circle—and the core was stronger than ever.

As the jet powered up and lifted into the sky, Denver strapped in and opened the tactical plan Dante had sent. They had a thermal scan of the estate—multiple floors, one secure room, and guards rotating through in lazy patterns. Too confident. Too comfortable. That would be their downfall.

“She’s in the study,” Denver said quietly. “Looks like she’s being watched. Cameras in all four corners.”

His blood ran cold at that. The idea of Rhae locked up, watched but isolated…it twisted something primal in him.

“We go in quiet,” Denver said to the Black Heart team as they soared above the clouds. “Drop in hard, sweep the estate, extract her and neutralize Justin, or whoever the fuck he really is. No witnesses.”

Carson looked up from the map on the laptop. “Neutralize?”

“He touched her. He doesn’t leave.”

Theo turned in his seat, brows raised. “You want this to end in blood?”

Denver’s jaw ticked. “I want this to end.”

Theo leaned forward. “And Ravencroft?”

Denver’s spine stiffened. “I’ll pull that bastard apart, piece by piece.”

They landed at an airstrip close to the estate as sunset flooded the sky. Too bright for a stealthy infiltration, but they’d make do. The air smelled of cold stone, moss and rain—bringing back a wave of nostalgia for Charlie team. He turned his head in the direction of the base, not far away.

There was a car waiting, and the drive was short—but too long for Denver.

As soon as they arrived, he took off for the house, his boots grinding the gravel with precision. “Let’s go get her.”

The estate loomed in the dark like a mausoleum untouched by time. He never asked for specifics about Rhae’s youth. It was something they could never share. Now he was seeing her life in the twisted iron railing and manicured hedges.

He could also feel the ghosts here. And he could imagine her, so vulnerable, locked inside that fucking prison Ravencroft created for her.

He signaled his team forward, ducking under the hedge line and moving up to a basement door hidden between shrubs.

“I got the door.” Theo rushed in silently. In no time, he had the door wired with explosives. When they detonated with a quiet pop , Denver wasted no time.

He followed the map in his mind, inching toward the east wing, where he’d seen lights burning faintly behind curtained windows.

She was there. He could feel her in his bones.

Blood pounded so loud in Denver’s ears that he barely registered the creak of old floorboards. One turn. Another.

And then he was outside the study.

One look at the door filled him with rage. It was fitted with a deadbolt and two padlocks. As if that would keep him out.

He glanced to Theo. “No hiding our position now. Hit it.”

Theo shot the locks off.

Denver kicked the door in.

And there she was.

Rhae.

She huddled on the leather couch, eyes wide. Her lips parted in a gasp the second she saw him. “Denver—”

Relief hit him so hard it buckled his knees, but he didn’t falter, didn’t stop. He rushed in and scooped her up.

“Hey,” he breathed, voice shaking. “Hey, baby. I’m here.”

“Denver,” she sobbed, collapsing into him.

He wrapped her up, cradling her against his chest, settling himself in her scent, her warmth, her trembling frame. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. It’s over.”

But it wasn’t.

Ravencroft slinked into the room behind him and Theo.

He caught sight of the bastard out of the corner of his eye. In one swift move, he shoved Rhae behind him and aimed his weapon between Ravencroft’s eyes.

“Make one move and I fucking drop you,” Denver growled.

Ravencroft smiled. The look in his eyes was unhinged as hell. “She doesn’t belong to you.”

“She never belonged to you.”

“Maybe not. But she’s here. With me.”

“Not anymore.” He grasped Rhae’s fingers with his free hand. “Theo, tie the fucker up.”

Before Theo could move, Ravencroft whipped out a gun.

The shot exploded through the room. Rhae’s shriek blended with Denver’s shot.

He dropped the man with a clean shot right through the shoulder. Ravencroft flew backward with a scream, clutching the wound as Theo rushed in to secure him.

Into the comms device in Denver’s ear came Carson’s voice. “We’ve got Justin in custody!”

Denver didn’t wait for what came next. He was already carrying Rhae out of the room, cradling her tight against him, whispering that she was safe, that he loved her, that he’d never let her go.

He would never let anyone come between them again.

Not Ravencroft.

Not the ghosts of their pasts.

He would be her shield. Her sword. Her safe place.

And Navy’s too.

Forever.