Page 29 of Declan

I still didn’t understand why I’d told Autumn, but the deed was done, and there was no taking it back. And for once I wasn’t dwelling on the pain that accompanied any thoughts about my wife and daughter. It was Autumn’s face I couldn’t stop thinking about.

Fucking torture seeing the sadness in her eyes. Christ, I didn’t even think that sadness was for me. It was more for Violet and Juliana.

I needed this shit day to end. I was at the end of my rope and we still had to call Tex back. And I needed to get Thad a ticket home so he could be with his wife.

I felt a headache coming on, one that had Thaddeus Bench’s name all over it. He wasn’t going to leave easy.

“Autumn.” I heard Thad snap.

Good Lord, if I was smart, I’d turn my ass around and let the two of them battle it out.

Brother to sister, or some such shit.

“Please, just be reasonable and listen,” Autumn returned.

I made it into the room and just as I expected, the two were squaring off. The woman had to be the second craziest female I’d ever met. And the only reason Jasmin took the number one spot was because she named her weapon, Penelope. Who did that? And Penelope? At least she could’ve named it Gravedigger or Punisher, or something tough. But, no, not Jasmin. Penelope the Sig.

“Do you know what a promise is?” Thad asked.

Autumn dangerously narrowed her eyes, then inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled.

“Reel it in, big guy. I’m not being ugly to you. I’m trying to make a compromise so you can get home to my sister and take care of your family.”

“You do know you’re my family, too, right?”

Fucking hell, Thad was going to push her over the edge again when she was trying to be calm. Not to mention she’d had more than enough emotional turmoil for one day.

“Let’s call Tex back and hear what he has to say. If his intel matches mine, then this is a two-person job at most.” Thad started to interrupt but Autumn put her hand up. “But, I know you guys like to work as a team. If Max and Brooks stay behind, then we’ll have a four-person squad. More than enough firepower to take out Madeleine. She’s not here to buy, she’s here to spread her money around, get her picture taken so she can continue to con the population at large into thinking she’s some sort of saint. She doesn’t have her army with her.”

“I think you’re forgetting that your hotel room exploded. And after that, ten men stormed the building to kill you.”

Autumn waved her hand in front of her like people trying to kill her was no big thing, all in a day’s work, and no one should be concerned.

“Ten. Not five hundred.”

“I know you have a death wish, so it might’ve escaped you but it only takes one properly placed bullet to take you out.”

Or a chest full of them.

“I’m trying,” she shouted. “Jesus, Thaddeus, are you always a sarcastic asshole? I know it only takes one. And you’re wrong, I don’t have a death wish. If I die, they win.”

She was trying, and Thad was stressed about Emmy and being a dick. If it had been Max riding her ass I wouldn’t have been surprised. But Thad was normally pretty laidback.

Which meant he needed to get home before he got worse.

“Autumn’s right,” I cut in. “If Tex confirms, Strotherby’s here with minimum security. You and Kyle go back. Max and Brooks stay here with us.”

“I’m not—”

“You are, brother. Your wife needs you. But more than that, you need to be home. You got my word I’ve got Autumn’s back. So you can breathe easy and go home and be where you need to be.”

Thad’s shoulders hunched slightly, but it was the relief on his face that told the story. The sacrifices he was willing to make for Emmy. Thad didn’t want to be in Afghanistan, he wanted to be at his pregnant wife’s side. But he’d come anyway, so Emmy wouldn’t worry about her sister.

“It’s Tex,” Brooks announced and held up his phone.

“I’m surprised he called back, after the bitch fest he heard,” Kyle joked.

Nothing surprised me anymore, and I figured Tex had seen and heard all there was to see and hear, therefore he could tune most shit out, including Thad and Autumn arguing.