“Shh …” He pressed a finger against her lips. “I love you, Jemma. I will always be there to back you up when you don’t need my help and to protect you when you do.”
She exhaled a slow breath. “You … love … me?”
“Did that slip out?” Rocco asked, stroking her cheek softly with his fingertips. “You had to know.”
Jemma cleared her throat. “But do … you … know?”
Rocco’s eyes danced in the dim light. “What? That you love me, too?”
Jemma was quiet as the words she’d dreamed of saying to Rocco stuck in her throat. She could only hope he could see the truth in her eyes and know how much he meant to her. How much she regretted putting everything between them on hold to seek vengeance against Nomar. If she had to do it all over, she wouldn’t make that same mistake.
Rocco whispered, “I do now?—”
The vessel shook with a devastating force, tilting sideways, sending Jemma tumbling away from Rocco. Heavy footsteps banged overhead, jostling the sub from side to side, rocking it wildly.
Jemma reached for Rocco.
Her fingertips stretching toward him as he slipped further away, tumbling toward the control panel where another man sat navigating the SPSS. She tried to move toward him, but the turbulence pressed her backward, pinning her against the side. She had no strength to fight the force pulling her away from Rocco no matter how much she wanted to get back to him.
A rapid staccato of bullets clanged against the exterior of the sub. The sound rattled her to her core as she realized they were under attack.
And there was only one man bold enough to come after them to claim what he believed belonged to him.
Nomar Ortiz.
Chapter 61
Rocco jolted forward, his body ricocheting off the walls of the sub as he tumbled to a stop near Lachlan.
“We have visitors,” Lachlan said with a calmness that belied the attack they were under.
Rocco scanned the row of pistols secured to the curved side wall of the sub and grabbed a Browning and a Beretta M9 from the rack. They’d brought more than enough fire power for an occasion such as this. It was a possibility they’d hoped wouldn’t occur but had prepared for—an ambush on the open seas by Ortiz and his men.
He secured the Browning in his waistband and gripped the Beretta M9 as he shifted closer to the hatch. He glanced back across the dimly lit cabin. Jemma was sprawled against the back of the vessel, clutching a side bench to stop herself from rolling back and forth from each jostle.
Rocco welcomed the chance to face off against Jemma’s nemesis. But this would be the last time. He would make sure of it.
“I’m going up,” Rocco announced.
“No, you’re outnumbered,” Lachlan said, pointing to the periscope.
Rocco peered through the narrow lens. Two heavily armed thugs hovered around the hatch, beating crowbars against the door trying to force it open. In the periphery, he could barely make out a speed boat racing alongside them. Waves sloshed over the view making it damn near impossible to discern how many more guards might be on the boat.
The banging on the hatch grew louder. The steel enclosure whined and squealed from the force to open it. The gunmen outside wouldn’t expect them to open the door and welcome them inside. A move that could work to Rocco’s advantage.
Scrambling up the ladder, he dislodged the latch and forced the hatch open. The night air rushed in to fill the suffocating space of the SPSS with its salty chill.
There was a loud grunt as one of the gunmen lost his balance. A splash followed as Rocco raced up the ladder, gun first. He fired at the other gunman, sending him into the waves of the Caribbean.
There were shouts from the speed boat, frantic yells lost in the crashing waves battering the SPSS. Rocco heaved his body higher, and turned to assess the situation.
A series of shots fired at him.
He ducked in time as the bullets hit the inside of the hatch door. Rising quickly, he fired a round of shots toward the speedboat, connecting with one guard who fell backward. Rocco lowered his body back inside the sub and shut the hatch.
A heavy thud rocked the boat.
Rocco surmised another one of Ortiz’s men had jumped on top of the sub to pick up where the others left off. He eased up slowly, ready to take the man out when shots came from the distance, riddling the man’s chest as he toppled into the water.
