He simply nodded.
Well, then, she was in.
“I’m staying.”
Chris warned her.
“Chrissy, it could end your career. It’s that kind of a thing,” he admitted.
She shrugged.
“Family sticks. Isn’t that what you guys always say? I’m in. Let’s go do some sketchy shit. It was a good run while it lasted. If I’m going down, it’s going to be in a blaze of glory—or naked under a hot Native husband. Those are the only acceptable ways to put a cap on this career. Retreat is for pussies.”
Chris actually laughed.
Then, he shared.
“Same.”
And then, they got to work giving Rayna RunningWolf some dignity that Devon stole away from her.
Meanwhile…
Walking into Ethan’s office to deliver this news was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. While losing Jet had been tough, and finding Vivian had died was difficult, this…
This was brutal.
No one liked a notify, and now, she was having to do just that with someone personally connected to her.
She’d seen what had been done to Rayna, and that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Know what else would haunt her?
Facing Caspian was about to be ungodly.
As she walked in, Ethan was in the waiting area outside his office with Caspian and Callen. They were trying to keep the man busy.
When the Marine looked up, the look on his face said it all.
Deep down, Caspian knew.
You always did when someone died. Those invisible strings that connected people together were strong, and once broken, the soul was the first to know.
“Cas?” she said, not sure how to do this.
When the man stood, he was anything but calm, in his eyes, she saw the storm brewing.
Quickly, he moved toward her.
“Where is Rayna?” he asked, his voice filled with worry and panic that she wasn’t there with Elizabeth. “You were gone a long time. Where is she?”
When she didn’t answer, he actually got the answer to his question.
Oh, she’d seen the response a million times before, and each time, it was just as horrible as the last. One never got over hearing their partner, someone they were in love with, had died.
That raw, festering pain…
It exploded around them, and the man she thought of as one of her children dropped to his knees, and the wail of anguish was one she’d never forget for as long as she lived.
