Page 52

Chapter 52

Constantine

We walked down the hall and into the living room, where we were all pulled into different conversations.

Sean and Emilia were the first to get my attention. “You shouldn’t be here. You have a newborn back home.” I couldn’t help but lecture Emilia like I had Alessandro in New York.

Emilia quickly dismissed my words. “Of course, I have to be here. Aurora’s my responsibility, si? ?”

“No sense in trying to get her to change her mind about feeling guilty.” Sean shook his head. “Once my wife has her mind made up, there’s no bloody turnin’ back.”

“Like someone else I know.” I may have been peering at my son from across the crowded room as he spoke to Carter— fuck my life —but I was actually referring to myself.

“Aurora accidentally opened Pandora’s box with this plan. Some League leader she’d have made,” Sean remarked. “My brother and cousin are watching Carmello and Aurora in Dublin now, so they’re not here with us. They won’t let either of them out of their sight.”

Good. Someone needed to babysit the reason why we were in this mess in the first place.

“Sebastian and Wyatt are working on the infil plans in the next room over.” Sean patted my shoulder twice. “Join us when you’re ready. Grab Carter on your way in so we can start, will ya?”

“Sure,” I muttered, focusing solely on the man he’d asked me to grab.

Carter slowly shifted my way as if sensing he had eyes on him, and the moment we made eye contact, two decades' worth of guilt hit me. It had been over twenty years since I’d dated Rebecca to help my father close a deal, yet the regret still felt as fresh as yesterday.

Carter gave me a tight nod before resetting his focus on Juliette approaching him. He hugged her— fuck my life again —as a greeting, and I assumed they hadn’t had a chance to say their hellos when I’d been outside with Enzo.

“Are you okay?” Hudson joined me, and I remained hovering near the doorway like a statue. “Enzo mentioned that you have some concerns.”

“No idea what he’s talking about.” I was in even less of a mood to have him lay into me next. “Just tell me this daylight op will work.”

“Aside from it being a daylight op,” Hudson said as Izzy strode over, “I think Sebastian and the others have drawn up a solid infil plan. They hit the ground running with the mission prep before their plane took off from Dublin.”

“We’re lucky Emilia was so convincing in her talk with Aurora that she got her to reveal the Rizzos have Lennon in the first place,” my sister reiterated. “We have the element of surprise on our side since they have no clue we’re onto them.”

Something told me Izzy stating the obvious was meant to reassure me, and Enzo had clued her in on his concerns about me, too. She leaned against Hudson, shooting me some serious puppy-dog-worry eyes. “And thanks to Gwen’s help hacking AISE’s satellites, at least we know exactly where to hit. And that Lennon’s actually there.”

I know all of this, but that doesn’t change the fact I also have a gut feeling I’m going to die today .

I wouldn’t be sharing that with her, though. Instead, I searched out Juliette again since she had the uncanny ability to calm me down.

She, Colin, and Easton were talking to a younger-looking blonde. I hadn’t met Gwen, but I assumed that was Wyatt’s daughter they were chatting with.

“Everything will be fine.” At the feel of Izzy’s hand on my forearm, I trained my eyes on her. “It has to be. From what I’ve heard,” she said while looking at her husband, “you’ve got a baby to make. Colin wants a brother, huh?”

Hudson shrugged and went to open his mouth, but I beat him to it. “I know, I know. You can’t keep anything from her.” At least the smile parked on my lips was now genuine. “Colin did give us his OK in that department.”

“Good. See.” She stood tall, without Hudson as support, as if that was that. All good now. I’d be fine. If only it were that easy.

“I’m supposed to be grabbing Carter and joining everyone in the other room.” I couldn’t believe I was using Carter as a way to deflect.

“We’ll meet you with the others, then.” Izzy pinched my arm, and I sent her a teasing scowl in response. It made her smile, and her smiling made me happy, so . . .

I waited for the room to clear out, realizing Carter was hanging back, more than likely to talk to me. This feels highly coordinated , and I wasn’t the least bit surprised. I cracked my neck as if that’d kill the tension, then walked over to him while he scrolled his phone as if he hadn’t noticed it was just us.

As shitty of an actor as I am.

“Carter,” I greeted through my teeth as he pocketed his phone.

He quietly faced me, and I thought back to the last time we’d been alone—my offer for him to hit me before we’d operated.

“I, uh, heard you saved the world or something like that.” I tipped my head to the side as if what he’d done with the help of his wife, Diana, was no big deal. “Thanks.” I cleared my throat to fill the silence as he continued to study me.

He dragged his knuckles along his bearded jawline, eyes on the floor. “I’m sorry about your son.” The words were low, deep, and not what I’d expected from him. “I can’t imagine ever, uh, dealing with that.” His gaze slowly journeyed to my face, and the hate I’d expected to see in his eyes wasn’t there. “What matters is he’s in your life now.”

I nodded, unsure what else to say to him. We weren’t exactly going to hug it out. “Yeah, well, uh, thank you for the assist today. I appreciate it.”

“Easton’s a good friend, and Colin’s his nephew. Of course I’d be here.” He pushed his hands into his pockets. “But I am glad Colin has his father in his life now. I know that was hard on him.” He closed his eyes as if battling through something. “It’s good that it’s you. You know, someone I know who will never fail him.”

I stepped back, refusing to believe my ears.

“From what I’ve heard, you’re not the man I once thought you were . . . so, that’s, ahem , good.” He opened his eyes, dispelling a deep breath. “So, just don’t fuck up and die on your kid today. He needs you.” Before I could respond, he gave me a hard nod and walked away.

I took a moment to process what he’d said, doing my best to ignore the darkness trying to latch hold of me before I joined everyone.

When I entered, the room was already packed with operators, including a few I didn’t recognize. I assumed The League or Carter brought them in. Everyone, including my brothers, seemed to notice Carter standing there, and they cleared a path for him to join Sebastian and Wyatt, who were in the middle of a heated discussion.

Emilia stepped forward, parking a hand on both their chests. “Too much testosterone between the two of you, my God.”

“Dad, you’re going to be right out there with me,” Gwen said to Wyatt, looking up from her laptop at him. “Why do you have to be all growly and dad-like, treating me like a kid in a room full of all these operators.”

“Because you’re still my kid, I don’t care how old you are,” Wyatt bit back.

“This is the best plan. So, deal with it, Wyatt.” Emilia slowly lowered her hands. “You English and Irish . . . always going at it, I swear.” She huffed out a dramatic breath, flipping her long braid off her shoulder and to her back.

“Yeah, and with bloody good reason,” Sebastian shot back.

“And I’m American now, by the way,” Wyatt casually tossed out, cracking a smile, which also managed to break whatever tension I’d walked in on.

I joined them by a large screen mounted on the wall showing aerial footage of the compound. “What do we know?” Hopefully, refocusing their attention on my question would get everyone back on the same operational page.

As Emilia ticked off details, I made a bullet-point list of them in my head. “The Rizzos’ compound is a clifftop estate on the Gulf of Salerno. Only one way in from a winding road guarded by armed men. The place is heavily fortified. A seventy-foot rock wall that drops into the sea provides a natural barrier on one side, and then concrete walls with motion sensors surround the rest of the perimeter. They’re also smack in between Punta Campanella, a nature preserve, and Roman ruins on the other side. They have two watchtowers on the western and eastern flanks. The main house, where we believe Lennon and the other two hostages are being held, is dead center. Lots of open land to cross to get there in daylight.”

Hostages. Dead center. Not words I wanted Colin to overhear.

I scanned the room to locate him. He was Gwen’s shadow, along with her father, looking at her screen. And hopefully, tuning out Emilia.

“Any idea on how many hostiles we’re dealing with?” I asked. “This feed is from this morning, right?”

“Correct. We can’t get a headcount for the interior,” Sebastian answered, folding his arms, “but my guess is at least thirty tangos.” He tipped his head in consideration and added, “Striking midday may mean they’re lighter on security than they would be at night. We’ll still be dealing with roaming patrols and snipers in the towers. We also believe they’ll have reinforcements at an off-site location that’ll come when their alarms are triggered.”

He strode closer to me, standing alongside Carter. I was used to seeing him in a suit, not tactical clothing, and now that I was looking at the two of them side by side . . .

Colin spoke up before I could, reading my thoughts. “Anyone ever tell you two you look alike?”

“We get that from time to time, yes,” Sebastian said in a semi-amused tone, offering a polite smile as well. Given the man was known as the Devil of Dublin, I appreciated his reaction to my son’s off-the-cuff question.

“Sorry, I, uh, just sometimes can’t help myself. My mouth engages before my brain can shut it up.” Colin lifted one shoulder as he accepted a piece of gum Gwen offered.

At least he didn’t look terrified about what was going to happen. And why would he be? He has faith that I’ll keep my promise and get Lennon back.

“I have that problem, too. Don’t feel bad,” my sister said to him with an easygoing smile that my son returned.

And yeah, she was right about that. Izzy had no filter, just like my son.

“What’s the plan?” I locked my arms over my chest, turning to survey the room.

“Mission objective one is to get the hostages out. Extraction by sea,” Carter said.

“The secondary mission is to kill every one of these arseholes and wipe out their bloodline once and for all. Something The League should have already done had we not been dealing with The Alliance for so long,” Sebastian added in a gruff voice, clearly taking on some of the blame for this, even though he didn’t need to.

“Guess this means your wife is letting you kill people again.”

Easton’s joke was lost on me. Not on Sean, apparently.

“Hey, that’s my sister you’re talking about.” Sean laughed, and Sebastian simply waved off Easton’s remarks, ignoring him.

“We’ll go in with a three-pronged approach,” Sebastian carried on. “Sea, land, and air. TOC will be at sea.”

“TOC will be Isabella and me, and that’s part of the plan my father got all bloody grumbly about,” Gwen said, her English accent cutting through as she rolled her eyes at her father.

I tipped my head toward Wyatt as a thank-you for being overly cautious since he’d also be protecting Juliette and Colin. “Who’s on what team? What’s the insertion strategy?” I focused back on the mission, doing my best to be objective, which was hard given the circumstances.

“Once I’m in position to hack their security cameras and get us an interior look, I’ll loop the camera feeds at their gated entrance as well as the ones pointed toward the cliffs to give both teams some cover for the approach,” Gwen explained while closing her laptop and standing alongside my son. She lifted her chin to Carter, deferring to him to continue.

“The rest of Falcon Falls is currently Stateside. No time to get here. That means we’ll be Alpha Team. You,” Carter said, “me, Hudson, and your brothers. We’ll go in on the yacht with Wyatt, swim to the rocky inlet, and scale the rock wall to infil from there.”

“You two, same team?” my son blurted out. “Who’s the team leader?”

“Carter.” My mind was made up. “This is personal for me.”

He’d know where I was going with that. And if bygones were truly going to be bygones, I could man up and be number two.

Carter kept quiet but nodded in agreement.

“My people will be Delta,” Sebastian said. “Emilia, Sean, and I will head it up.” He introduced two more League members I’d never met who’d be on Delta as well and then continued sharing the plan: “We’ll be disguising one of those Mercedes vans outside as a delivery truck. Once Gwen gives us the green light, we’ll roll up to the gate and take out the guards when they approach.”

“At the same time they do that, we’ll breach from the cliffs.” Carter gestured to Easton. “He’ll be our pilot on the Little Bird, handling things from the sky and heading up Foxtrot Team. Two gunners to take out their snipers in the overwatch towers. From what I’ve heard, Hudson is one of your best snipers, so once we’re on the property, he and I will move into the overwatch positions there.”

“And I’ll also be ready to take out any reinforcements they may call in for backup, stopping them before they can get into the compound,” Easton said.

I’d prefer Easton to be with Juliette and my son, but I supposed we had no choice if he was our only pilot.

“And what, you just pulled a helicopter out of nowhere?” Colin, with that remark, of course.

“While Carter’s been known to pull a Black Hawk from his ass on occasion, we owe this helo to Emilia,” Easton told him, a sly smile crossing his lips as Carter said something under his breath in response.

“So, we’re swimming and rock climbing today?” Alessandro griped, heading for the gear and weapons table at the center of the room. “Two of my least favorite things to do. Aside from running, of course.”

We were cut from the same cloth.

“The MCX Rattler should work just fine if it gets wet.” Alessandro picked up the rifle and examined it.

Colin eagerly stood by his uncle, checking out the artillery, and Enzo circled the table to join them.

“I suppose we’ll take a short break, then get back to it soon,” Emilia said, then pulled her husband off to the side of the room.

I focused back on my son as Enzo pointed to a box of ammo and said, “Those are armor-piercing rounds.”

“No way. That’s badass,” Colin remarked.

“And this beauty here is good for CQB. The blackout rounds are subsonic. Less noise and more stopping power.” Enzo handed Colin the .300 Blackout. Also known as the Sig MCX Rattler rifle.

I quickly maneuvered around my brother, knowing seeing our son holding a weapon of war would give Juliette a heart attack. Because no, this was not Call of Duty. “Yeah, I’ll be taking that.”

“Well, you’re no fun.” Colin rolled his eyes.

“None at all.” Enzo elbowed me in the side before offering Colin the Sig Sauer P320 sidearm just to mess with me.

“Payback will be fun when your kids are old enough for—” I dropped my words, realizing I’d let myself head north and into the future—a future where I was still alive.

At the feel of Juliette lacing her fingers with mine, my thoughts derailed, and the chatter buzzing around us became white noise.

Don’t do this.

Don’t ask me to make you a promise I can’t keep.

With her beautiful green eyes sharp on mine, she set her free hand on my cheek, acting as though we were alone for an intimate moment. “You have to.”

It was like she was in my head again. Although, I suppose my face was doing enough talking for me.

“No choice.” Her green eyes glistened. “Promise me.”

I closed my eyes, rested my hand over hers, sinking into the warmth of it on my face. I did my best to rebuke the damn evil from getting into my head and whispered, “I’ll make it back to you both no matter what.”