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R hae stood frozen, her hand stilling on Navy’s back as she watched Denver disappear out the barn doors.

Dear god. He was here. Of all the places in the world, he was here.

She came here thinking she’d never see him again. And here he was.

The man she was in love with.

Her mouth opened, but the words wouldn’t come. Her feet felt cemented to the barn floor, her mind blank except for the wild pounding of her heart.

Before she could even muster the courage to call out his name, he took off. Long strides that ate up the distance, boots stirring up dust behind him until he was nothing but a memory disappearing into sunlight.

Rhae’s gaze snapped to Willow, searching her friend’s face for some kind of explanation, some hint that she’d seen it too—that it hadn’t just been a mirage.

Willow’s eyes were as wide as saucers, but they weren’t on her. They were locked on Navy, who was squirming in Rhae’s arms, babbling nonsense and kicking tiny feet against her stomach.

“That was…weird.” Oaks’s voice cut through the silence, and he looked from Rhae to the barn doors. His brows were furrowed with concern. “Let me check on Denver. You’ll be okay?”

Rhae nodded absently, hardly able to process his words. Oaks took off, heavy footsteps thudding away, leaving her alone with Willow and the thousand questions burning in her mind.

Willow didn’t say anything for a long moment. She just stood there, studying Rhae with that sharp gaze she sometimes got when she was sizing up a situation. Rhae shifted Navy to her other hip, the baby reaching up to grab at her necklace again.

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Say something,” she whispered, voice barely above a breath.

Willow blinked, the shock slowly fading from her face, replaced by something much more intense. “You never told me you had a relationship with my brother.”

Rhae swallowed hard, fingers tightening on Navy’s onesie. “What makes you think so?”

Willow’s gaze flicked down to the baby in Rhae’s arms. The answer was clear as day.

Navy had Denver’s eyes, his dark hair, the same little dimple in her left cheek.

There was no denying it. In fact, Rhae was shocked nobody noticed before now, except…

she was a baby. Their eyes were known to change colors.

Rhae exhaled shakily, rubbing her temple as Navy began to fuss. Without a word, Willow stepped forward and reached out, hands gentle as she took the baby from Rhae’s arms. Instinctively, Willow began bouncing her, murmuring low words that soothed Navy almost immediately.

Willow didn’t look away from Rhae. Her eyes were softer now, but still demanding. “Care to explain?”

Rhae’s shoulders slumped. She couldn’t run anymore. Couldn’t hide behind silence and excuses. Not with Willow staring at her like that.

“I was in love with him.” The words tumbled out before she could second-guess herself.

Her voice cracked, but she kept going. “I never had a chance to tell him I was pregnant. He had a mission. I never heard from him. Decisions had to be made. For our child. I did the best thing I knew to do.” The statements were all connected and yet somehow disjointed.

She took a shuddering breath, eyes dropping to the floor. I had to disappear…for my own reasons. She couldn’t speak the words. To anyone. Not yet.

Willow’s expression shifted, her hands still gently bouncing Navy, who was now playing with the ends of her hair. “You didn’t hear from him for a long time,” Willow murmured. “Neither did I. He never really told me what he did. I knew he was a SEAL, but there was more to it.”

Rhae nodded, the ache in her chest intensifying.

“Were you ever going to tell us?”

Rhae laughed, the sound hollow. “How would that work? It’s not like he ever announced we were a couple. So, I was supposed to show up and introduce you to Navy, and you’d just…take my word for it? Or we’d have DNA testing done? Then you would all think I was just here for a handout.”

Rhae dropped her voice to a whisper. “I don’t need anything like that. I have money. I’m not after money.”

She just didn’t spend any of it. She couldn’t access her accounts without bringing trouble down on her head. Luckily, she didn’t need access to her bank account because the Black Heart Ranch covered all of her bills and what they didn’t, she paid for in cash.

Rhae swallowed, steadying her breath. “But I thought…if I could just ensure Navy had some relationship with her family…even if they didn’t know, that was enough for me.”

Willow’s eyes shimmered with something close to admiration. “I can respect that. I see why you kept it hidden. And we already love you guys, but now…” She looked down at Navy, wonder spreading across her features. “This is my niece .”

Her voice was barely a whisper, filled with awe. Rhae’s heart twisted painfully.

“When are you going to tell him?” Willow asked, eyes lifting back to Rhae.

Rhae swallowed hard. “First of all, I didn’t even know he was here. I thought…”

He was a dead man walking. Blackout. A lifer who would never walk away from his brotherhood. But he was here.

“Um…he didn’t even want to talk to me.” Her chest burned. “After that shock, I can’t blame him.”

Willow’s gaze softened.

“Willow, you may have to sit with this for a while—not say anything. Can I count on you?”

She bounced the baby a little and nodded. But deep down, the ache to find him, to see him again…to compare Navy’s face to his…was eating her alive.

Willow shifted Navy to her hip and grinned. In a cute baby voice, she said, “What do you think, Navy? Can Auntie Willow keep a secret?”

Rhae groaned, slapping a hand over her face. “So…no.”

Willow laughed, muted but genuine. “Don’t wait too long. We’re all going to want to claim her.”

Rhae’s lips curved into a bittersweet smile. “I’ll see what I can do.”

* * * * *

Denver pushed himself to walk faster, stretching each stride to a longer one. The urge to break into a run scalded him, but he forced it down. Buried it deep, just like everything else that had to do with Rhae.

Fuck. She really was here on the Black Heart. How?

The tap of boots on dry earth behind him alerted him that he wasn’t going to have any time alone to think things through. Oaks caught up to him fast.

He wasn’t surprised. Hell, nothing could surprise him anymore.

His older brother, second of the Malones, had always been Denver’s champion. When they were little, he stuck up for Denver, stood up to their asshole father. Shielded him.

It was one of the feelings that drove Denver to join the military. He never wanted to be too weak to stand up for himself again.

He filled his lungs to the point of bursting and whirled to face Oaks.

His brother stopped in his tracks. “What’s up, bro? You okay?”

He balled his fists. “How did this happen?”

A crease appeared between Oaks’s brows. “How did what happen?”

“How did Rhae end up here?”

He blinked. “Oh. We posted on the Military Times for a therapist. She applied and was a perfect fit for the program and for the ranch too.”

The lump in his throat felt as if it was comprised of toxic waste and battery acid. It burned, just like the pit of his stomach when he thought about Rhae holding that baby in her arms.

Oaks went on, oblivious to him coming apart at the seams. “She was looking for stability, a long-term position. We liked her. We hired her.”

He made it sound so goddamn easy. Didn’t he know none of this was easy?

No. He didn’t. No one did.

“What about her husband?” The words were jagged shards slicing up his throat. He felt himself bleeding out.

Oaks shifted his weight and thumbed his hat in a gesture Denver remembered well from their youth, one he saw whenever Oaks was ruffled or put on the spot.

“Do you know nothing about hiring people? We can’t ask whether or not she has a husband.”

The world stilled for him, narrowed to a laser point. “Have you seen him? Has he been around?”

Oaks shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

Denver clenched his jaw hard. “How long has she been here?”

“About six months. I don’t know her exact date of hire without looking at her file.”

“In all that time, no guy showed up to see her?” he pressed.

“Not that I’m aware of. I think someone would have mentioned a stranger coming to see our therapist, considering everyone on the ranch knows everyone else’s business. She’s barely left the property. Maybe twice, both for doctor appointments for Navy.”

“Navy?” He perked up at the name. “That’s what she named her daughter?”

“Cute, right?”

Of course. She must have had the baby with a military guy.

“She’s a therapist. If you have so many questions, you could go talk to her. I didn’t even know you knew each other.”

His stomach felt hollow. Why would she mention him?

He sliced his fingers through his hair. The longer strands of the civilian haircut shocked him a little less every day, but seeing Rhae again left him shaking inside.

Oaks watched him closely, concern spelled across his features.

“I need a minute.” Without another word, he turned and strode away. The animal inside him wanted to find a place to hide and lick his wounds—or drown them at the bottom of a bottle.

He rushed directly to the security office. Thank Christ, the house was still and silent, the office empty. Slamming the door behind him didn’t alleviate a damn bit of his frustration. He hurried to the desk and yanked the computer toward him.

Denver threw himself into searching for any and all information on Rhae. A black hole of searches led to nowhere. No mention of her. No photos. No baby announcements—goddamn, his heart hurt —and no smiling family portraits.

Just…nothing.

His jaw creaked with strain as he leaned back in the chair, rubbing his hands over his face.

Rhae had vanished off the face of the earth.

Eighteen months. Eighteen months he’d been looking for her, and never found a trace. Not in the usual databases, not in the deep-web crawlers he tapped into. And he knew how to find ghosts.