Page 39 of Rescuing Macie

“Dead?” Macie gasped.

It was the tone of her voice that snapped Colt out of the daze he’d been in. He stood and helped Macie to her feet as well. Then he pressed her cheek to his chest and turned to look at Teddy and Ghost.

The man was lying on the floor, his eyes open and staring unseeingly up at the ceiling.

“If I had to guess, I’d say you severed an artery in his brain. The force of his head twisting probably broke the artery, then him hitting the ground didn’t help any. He’s definitely dead,” Ghost confirmed.

“Fuck,” Colt said under his breath. He hadn’t meant to kill the man, just to keep him from hurting Macie.

“Self-defense,” Lucky said definitively.

Colt turned to look at him. “It was, but I’m not sure anyone will believe me.”

“They will when they see the video,” Lucky said nonchalantly.

“Video?” Macie asked, her voice muffled from being pressed against Colt’s chest.

“Never leave home without it,” Lucky quipped. “Grabbed your ladder and was going to breach the window after you made your move. I caught it all on video. Commander, you were definitely protecting Macie from being further harmed.”

Colt closed his eyes in relief.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Truck. “Owe you, sir. Huge.”

Colt eyed the large man and pressed his luck while he could. “I want permission to ask your sister to marry me. Since her dad is an asshole, I’ve got no one to ask but you.”

He heard Macie gasp and felt her tighten her arms around him, but Colt kept his gaze on Truck’s.

The two men eyed each other for a long moment before Truck nodded. “One condition.”

“Name it,” Colt said.

“I want to be there to give her away. Don’t care if you do a courthouse quickie, fly to Vegas, or have the full-blown shindig. I want to be there.”

“Deal,” Colt said without having to think about it. It wasn’t even a concession, he’d already planned to ask Truck to be at their wedding, wherever and whenever it happened.

“Ma’am?” Grover said in his deep, rumbly voice.

Colt turned to see his soldier holding pieces of paper that had been torn.

Macie gasped and reached for it with a cry. She held the sonogram of her long-lost baby in her hands and sobbed.

Colt felt helpless. He didn’t know what to do to make this better.

“Can I see it?” Brain asked.

Macie let the other man take the pieces from her.

“I think I can fix this,” Brain said, once he’d examined the sonogram.

Colt glared at him, not wanting him to get Macie’s hopes up.

“You can?” she asked.

“Well, I can’t make it perfect, but I can scan the pieces, and put them back together on the computer and reprint it. It won’t be like new, but it’ll be pretty darn close,” Brain said with confidence.

Colt could see Truck looking on with the saddest expression on his face as he realized what Brain was holding, and why his sister was so upset. It was obvious brother and sister needed to talk.

“I’d appreciate that,” Macie said, her voice breaking.