In fact, all of them knew how it felt to lose a parent but Gene. His father died when he was in his thirties, and his mother and brothers were still alive.
“Elizabeth,” Chris said.
She stopped him.
“We have to be realistic. His goal is me. If he gets any of you, I’m offering myself up, and he knows it. I won’t let him torture any of you. He doesn’t want any of you. He wants me, so my end strategy, if I can’t find and beat him, is that I’d rather he take me out. Then, it’s over. Just tell them I died loving them, and under no circumstances let them know what he did to me.”
Gene didn’t like this.
Not.
At.
All.
“He’s not getting us, and he’s not getting you. I didn’t just marry a broad so I can lose her in the same year. Fuck that shit, Elizabeth. That’s not happening on my watch.”
She was to the point.
“I hope not, but I’m losing faith in me now, too. I may not beat this one, andThe Huntersmay not be able to help. This might be the end of my story.”
She turned her head because she needed to get this shitshow on the road.
Oh, and she needed to get off of this call.
Desperately.
“MATE, disconnect call. We’re landing.”
With that, she disappeared on the screen, and there was that uncomfortable silence in the room.
Finally, Callen broke it.
“Ethan, for the love of Christ,” he stated. “What the holy fuck? You couldn’t tell her you had faith in her?” he asked, angrily. “You couldn’t just fall on your goddamn sword instead of being so ridiculously bitchy?”
He said nothing.
Why?
Callen was right.
His brother laid into him, and he deserved it.
“She’s carrying all of this. You could have given her that. You could have swallowed your fucking pride and just gave her that little thing. She’s out there alone, and we’re in here safe!”
He was aware.
Honestly, he didn’t know why he didn’t. Now, he wished he did. A part of him was shattered apart thinking that he might have just seen her for the last time, and it ended like this.
Instead of rationalizing it, or talking it out, he did what he did best.
He ran.
“I’m going to start working on a profile to see if I can figure out who is next,” he stated.
When he went to walk away, Callen reached for him because he wasn’t done, only, Gene was there and stopped him so his new husband could escape.
When Ethan was gone, Gene kept his voice low.
