Chapter 17

January 18th

9:31 A.M.

"I wishwe'd at least got a glimpse of something," Scarlett said, running her hands through her hair and wincing when that tugged on the gash by her hairline. Other than a killer headache and some new aches and pains she'd been lucky.

They both had.

Tate hadn"t received any serious injuries either. Things could have so easily gone the other way. Dead or in the hospital fighting for their lives, either could have been the outcome of this morning's events.

If Tate had been killed because of her, she never would have forgiven herself.

It was her fault they'd been at the park. Her selfish actions could have cost her everything. Too late, she had realized that she'd rather have Tate than answers, but by then they were already caught in the trap and blown up.

Worse than the new bruises littering her body and their accompanying pain was the anger at herself. Why had she been so selfish? Why hadn"t she listened to Tate when he had so much more knowledge than she did when it came to things like this? Why had she been so arrogant as to think she had what it took to help him take down the mole?

Tugging on her hair again, this time she welcomed the sting. It didn"t feel like enough though. She could have gotten a man who was very important to her killed.

Killed.

"Stop doing that." Tate's hands closed around her own, untangling them from her messy brown locks and lowering them until they rested in his lap.

Sitting in the back of one of his teammate's cars, they were on their way back to the little apartment where they would regroup and catch Prey up on what happened this morning. Maybe there were cameras at the parking lot that had captured something useful.

At least then she wouldn't feel like she had risked Tate's life for nothing.

Everything.

That's what he was risking for her.

Now that a warrant was out for her arrest, he could be charged with harboring a fugitive. He'd lose his career and his freedom. And for what?

Her?

Didn"t seem like a good trade-off. Especially since she'd gotten him shot at, his car ruined, his house shot at, and gotten him blown up.

Yet he hadn"t complained.

Not even once.

Even when he'd had doubts, he had done everything in his power to keep her safe.

And that was what convinced her that she was doing the right thing giving him a chance. He hadn"t gone about it the right way, but he'd been trying to outrun his fears when he'd been a jerk to her, and now he was facing them head-on. All for her.

Warm fuzzies renewed her determination to make this morning's efforts worth something.

"They must have been there watching," she said, thinking aloud. "To make sure we got blown up. Do you think they saw us get out of the car?"

"I didn"t see anyone, and I didn"t feel eyes on us," Tate replied.

"Still, they had to be there, at least until we got blown up."

"We'll get this all sorted out. I promised you that, Scarlett, and I intend to keep that promise."

There was a determination in his voice that hadn"t been there before. As soon as he started believing in her innocence, he'd been determined to help clear her name, but it hadn"t been quite like this. This felt like the kind of all-consuming determination that would wind up getting him killed.

Not what she wanted.

"Don't do anything crazy, Tate," she begged, latching onto his hands like she never wanted to let go. Because she didn"t. She was one hundred percent committed to giving this tiny, little fledgling relationship everything she had. There were no guarantees of where it would go, but she didn"t want regrets.

His gaze shifted from her to the rearview mirror, where it met with his friend's before returning to her. "I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Scarlett. Never ever doubt that."

"I know," she said, brow furrowing in confusion. Why did he sound so desperate for her to believe that? If him going with her to the park this morning, even though he didn"t think it was a good idea, wasn't proof enough then what was?

Tate nodded slowly like he had doubts, but then he wiped them away, clearing his expression. "At least we know whoever the mole is they don't have much field experience. If that blast was supposed to kill us—and I have no doubts that it was—then they didn"t add enough explosives. No one with even the slightest bit of training would make that mistake. If you have a target you need to get rid of you get the job done because you might not get a second chance."

"What if they do get a second chance?" Just because she had no intentions of doing something as selfish and stupid as running into a trap ever again, that didn"t mean she was free and clear. Raul was determined and he had resources, he could pay someone off, do a deep dive into her life, and find her connection to Tate—which wouldn't be hard since he already had to know she'd been at his house—and find the guys' hangout spot and the apartment where she was hiding.

"They won"t." Tate said it with such confidence that, for a moment, she faltered.

How could he know that for sure?

He couldn't.

Yet, there had been no room for doubt in his words.

"I know you'll do whatever you can?—"

"Whatever I have to," Tate corrected.

"But that doesn't mean …" Scarlett's words trailed off as she saw where they were. Panic gripped her in a vice. "This isn't the way back to the apartment."

It looked like …

But no.

It couldn't be.

Could it …?

No.

Tate wouldn't do that to her.

He wouldn't.

But the conviction in his words rang through her mind.

Maybe …

"This looks like the way to Prey," she said nervously. Tate wouldn't take her back there when he knew exactly what would happen to her if he did. There was absolutely zero chance that the building wasn't being watched by every law enforcement, and security agency in the country. As soon as she set foot out of the car, she'd be in handcuffs.

Tate wouldn't do that to her.

He wouldn't.

He couldn't.

Betraying her like that would damage the fragile trust they were building possibly beyond repair.

"Whatever it takes to keep you safe, Scarlett," he said, voice hard and uncompromising, reminding her more of the man from the Mexican jungle than the one she'd spent the last couple of days with.

"But they'll arrest me as soon as we get there," she whispered, already knowing she was fighting a losing battle.

"You said you understood that your safety was my top priority," Tate said.

"That was before I knew you wanted to get me arrested."

His jaw clenched together so tight she was surprised his teeth didn"t crack. "I don't want you arrested, but I do want you safe. Raul's orders have changed, now he wants you dead, at least, this way you'll be safe."

"Until he uses a contact in prison to kill me while I"m alone and unprotected." She wasn't going to be any safer in prison than she was out of it. And in there she wouldn't have anyone at her back. She'd be truly on her own.

Again.

Always alone.

"You'll be kept in solitary away from the other prisoners."

"Yippee." Like that made it any better. If he thought she was going along with his plan then he was crazy. Totally crazy.

Yanking her hands free from his grip, she unsnapped her seatbelt at the same moment she lunged toward the door. She'd rather take her chances running on her own than be arrested and imprisoned.

But the door handle didn"t move.

Apologetic blue eyes met hers in the rearview mirror as Tate's arms curled around her, holding her tight against him.

"Sorry, Scarlett. I hope you know how much I hate having to do this. But I want you alive so I can have a future with you."

"There is no future if you do this," she said, meaning it with every ounce of her being.

For a second, his grip loosened, and she felt his fear, but then it locked tight again. "I hope you don't mean that. I hope you'll see I"m doing what I have to in order to keep you alive."

Maybe in his mind, but not from where she was standing.

She'd fight, but it all seemed so hopeless.

Minutes later, they pulled up outside Prey's office building.

Just like she expected, the second they were out of the car and walking toward the building they were approached by men dressed in black suits, their hands hovering over their weapons like they truly believed she was some criminal mastermind.

Like he wasn't breaking her heart in the process, Tate handed her right over to them, stood there impassively watching as her hands were yanked behind her back and secured with cuffs.

She didn"t look back as she was led to a car and shoved in the backseat.

Didn"t spare him a glance as she was driven away.

What would be the point?

It seemed like there was always something more important than her, and for Tate, like everyone in her family, it was his job. He could say all he liked that he was doing this for her, but he was doing it for himself, so he didn"t lose everything.

She wasn't worth more to him than his job.

January 18th

8:22 P.M.

His entire bodywas so tense that his muscles were actually aching.

Tate didn"t think that for as long as he lived, he would ever get the look of complete and utter betrayal on Scarlett's face out of his mind.

It was etched in there, a permanent reminder of the fact that he had hurt her in a way that might not be able to be undone.

All he could do was pray that Scarlett would understand that nothing was more important to him than keeping her alive. He got that she didn"t see it the same way. Already he'd done the whole locking her up for her own good thing, and he hadn"t intended on doing it again.

But this was different.

Things had changed.

No longer was it just Scarlett's freedom on the line, but her life.

Trapped between two terrible options, her sitting in a prison cell or her dead body sitting in the morgue—or worse, buried in some shallow grave never to be found—he'd done the best he could. There was no way he could guarantee a mole at Prey couldn't find a connection between him and the apartment.

Put in this position there was no good choice, but Scarlett wouldn't see it that way.

Still, even if she never forgave him—although he'd fight like hell for a chance with her—at least she'd be alive. Alive trumped dead every single time. It trumped everything. Including Scarlett's feelings. Including his own happiness.

Trumped everything.

Had to.

Because the alternative was a world without Scarlett's bright, shining presence.

As far as he was concerned that was unacceptable.

Even though he would make the same choice every single time, none of this was easy. Focusing enough to be any help at all as they'd worked on narrowing down their suspect list until they could zero in on the most likely had been next to impossible.

It was only knowing his entire future was resting on this that gave him the strength to do it.

And now they might be moments away from getting the proof he needed to free Scarlett once and for all. Then he'd beg, grovel, plead, get down on his knees, whatever it took to make her understand that hurting her hadn"t been his goal, but he cared about her enough to do whatever it took to protect her.

"Hey, relax, man, we're going to get this mess sorted, keep your girl safe," Blake "Rocco" Wise told him.

Looking over at the man seated beside him on the helo as they headed out to check out a lead on the mole, he had to fight not to scoff. The only thing that held him back was the fact that these men weren"t strangers to knowing what it felt like to have the woman you would do anything to protect in trouble.

Rocco and his team were SEALs, and every single one of them had gone through something with the woman they now called their wife.

To that end, his retort died on his tongue.

"Not sure I can still call her my girl," he admitted honestly. "She doesn't understand why I had no choice but to let her get arrested. At least there I know she's alive."

"Sometimes you have to lay it all on the line, regardless of the consequences," Forest "Phantom" Dalton said softly. The man had risked his career, and ultimately, his freedom by going off on his own to rescue the woman he hadn"t been able to forget. Now Kalee was his wife, and the two were happy together, but in saving her he'd put everything on the line, and Tate had heard that it had caused relationships to be tense between the team for a while.

"Easier to say when your woman isn't sitting in a jail cell hating you," he muttered. The thought of Scarlett hating him was eating him alive. Slowly devouring him from the inside out. How was he going to survive if he couldn't get her to forgive him?

Big picture.

Each time he doubted that he'd made the right choice, that's what he had to remind himself of. The big picture was going to keep Scarlett alive.

"She doesn't hate you," Cole "Rex" Kingston assured him.

What did Rex know about his woman hating him?

The man had saved Avery's life, believed in her when she'd been written off as a deserter. He'd gone above and beyond to track her down and save her from being buried alive as a prisoner of war.

Completely the opposite of what he'd done to Scarlett.

Rex had been Avery's savior, but he had been Scarlett's villain, responsible for getting her arrested.

"Pretty sure she does," he argued. It had been written into her voice and her face as soon as she realized he had no intention of taking her back to the apartment, and that instead, he was taking her to Prey where they both knew she'd be arrested as soon as they got there.

"Nah, man," Mark "Bubba" Wright countered. "I've known Scarlett for a while. She's sweet as they come. She doesn't hate you. She's scared and she's hurting, and she thinks you messed up. Right now, she can"t see the big picture but she will." Bubba and his now-wife Zoey had rekindled the attraction between them when their plane crashed leaving them stranded together in the Alaskan wilderness. Again, there was nothing Bubba had done to betray his woman.

These guys had all been their women's heroes, and in this moment, he was resenting the hell out of all of them.

"What do you guys know about failing your women?" he snapped. Including Rocco, Decker "Gumby" Kincade, and Beckett "Ace" Morgan in his glare. Gumby had rescued his now-wife Sidney when she was trying to save a dog, and Ace had saved his now-wife Piper, when she had been fleeing civil unrest in Timor-Leste with three little girls in tow after an attack at an orphanage.

Heroes.

Every last one of them.

So why couldn't he be Scarlett's hero for once?

Instead, he let her down at every turn.

From pushing her away when he should have held on to her, to not believing in her and giving her the warmth and comfort she needed when he rescued her in Mexico, to sleeping with her when he still had doubts.

For all his fears of losing the woman he loved, and it destroying him, he had been the one to cause himself to lose Scarlett. While he admitted that at every turn he'd made the wrong choices, he couldn't deny that this time, he knew he'd done the right thing despite all the doubts and fear.

"Sorry," he mumbled before anyone could offer any retort.

Lashing out at these guys wouldn't change anything, and it wouldn't help at all. These guys had dropped everything when Eagle called them in, and they were coming with him to check out the boat where they hoped Warren Barone was hiding out. The former lab worker at Prey, who had been fired for being drunk and unreliable, was the best lead they had for the mole, and thankfully, he appeared to have taken a boat out into international waters, meaning Tate, as a SEAL, could be involved.

"I'm grateful you"re here, and you"re right," he said to Bubba. "Scarlett is amazing. If anyone can forgive me it's her. It's just … I keep letting her down, right from the beginning. And now I"ve done it again."

"To keep her alive," Ace reminded him.

"Any one of us would do the same thing," Gumby said.

"You would?" Tate asked.

"I love my wife more than anything in the world," Rocco said. "But her life and safety would absolutely come before her happiness if I had to make the choice. Caite is amazing. Brave and smart. She risked everything to save me before she even really knew me. I'd protect her with my life, and I don't think there's anything I wouldn't do to keep her alive. I"m not saying it doesn't suck to be Scarlett right now, but at least Raul Castillo can"t get to her where she is, and I believe that once everything is over, she'll realize that you were trying to do what you thought was best in a no-win situation."

And if she didn"t …?

If Scarlett couldn't get over her feelings of betrayal, the happy ever after he'd just reached out to try and grab hold of would go up in smoke.

It was all well and good to say he was prepared to lose her so long as she was alive to be angry with him, but if it came down to that, he didn"t know what he'd do.

In just a few short days, he'd allowed all the feelings that had been building inside him for the last three months to finally bubble to the surface. Scarlett had become the most important person in his life, and letting her go would be next to impossible.

Tate would fight for her, for them. With everything he had.

But that didn"t mean he'd win.