“I just want to protect her,” he said in a low, tired voice. “I want to keep her safe.”
Yes. It was so clear to her now, and it hadn’t been before. All this time, that’s what Heath had wanted to do for her as well. That’s why he’d come here with her. And it was why he was lying on that operating table right now.
Her eyes ached with unshed tears. She fought them, channeled the sorrow and regret into choosing the words she would say to him the first chance she had.
Hours more passed before a nurse popped in and smiled at her. “Your husband is up in his room now, if you want to see him.”
She exploded out of the chair, was already partway to the door before she realized she was leaving Marcus here all by himself. She stopped and faced him. “Will you be okay if I…?”
One side of his mouth tipped up in the hint of a smile. But his exhaustion was clear. He was emotionally and physically spent. Her heart went out to him. “Aye. Go, be with him.”
She rushed from the room, followed the nurse up to the correct floor and down the hall to a semi-private room. The woman pulled the curtain partition partially aside and nodded at her.
Chloe stepped around it, and her heart clenched at the sight of Heath lying in the bed, his face all bruised and swollen, head bandaged up and various tubes and leads attached to him. She grasped his hand, curled her fingers around it.
His lashes stirred. He opened those beautiful, piercing blue eyes to look at her, and the weak, lopsided grin he gave her broke the wall that had been holding all her emotions in check.
The tears she’d managed to fight back until now suddenly flooded her eyes, scalding hot as they ran down her cheeks. She bent over him, trying to stifle a sob as she gripped his hand tight and touched her cheek to his.
“I love you,” she choked out. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry. So sorry, I didn’t understand what it was like for you before.”
“Don’t cry, firecracker,” he said, his voice hoarse. Tired.
It only made her cry harder. “I’m sorry, and I’ll never, ever put either of us at risk ever again.”
He made a low sound that sounded like something between a grunt and a chuckle.
She raised her head, frowning down at him as she shook her head. “I won’t. I swear.”
His blue eyes searched hers, the tenderness there almost unbearable. “Even if you did, I’d still love you anyway.”
It broke her heart and healed it at the same time. This man was one of a kind. She would never take him or his love for granted ever again.
Gently taking his battered face in her hands, she kissed him, infusing it with every ounce of love in her heart.
Chapter Nineteen
“Heath and Kiyomi?” Alex said, staring at Trinity in disbelief as they stood in the middle of his hotel room. She’d called him two hours ago for help and he’d told her to meet him here in London.
He’d had a bad feeling about this from the start. The added concern of the radio silence from her and the others since he’d arrived in London the other day made his suspicion worse. Now he knew what had been going on behind the scenes.
Three almost simultaneous ops, and two had wound up going sideways.
She nodded, pale and somber. “Yes, they’re both in surgery right now. Kiyomi’s going to be okay once they get the bleeding under control. But Heath… Pretty sure he’s going to have a long road ahead of him due to the internal damage.”
He bit down hard on his back teeth for a moment to hold in the words he was a hair’s breadth from shouting at her. He’d warned them. Fucking told them point blank to be careful about what they did, because his ability to run interference for them was severely limited now.
“And the body count?” There would absolutely be dead bodies to deal with after an operation of this scale. Especially when Valkyries were involved.
His blood pressure went up another ten points when she told him. He inhaled slowly. Let the breath out even more slowly until he could get a chokehold on his temper. “I told you my hands were tied.”
“Yes.” The word was soft. Contrite. But it was the guilt in her eyes that dispelled the brunt of his anger.
Guilt because two of her teammates had been WIA tonight. Yet for Trinity he understood that it was also more than that.
She was beating herself up over what had happened, wondering if she could have done anything differently to prevent this, or somehow made the difference in everyone getting out unscathed if she had been engaged in person tonight instead of running things behind the scenes.
She looked so upset he couldn’t take it. Aww, fuck. “Come here,” he muttered, grabbing her and pulling her in for a hug.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I know.” He held her tight, incredulous at how he could be so mad at her and the others and yet still love them all to death at the same time. “I’ll handle it.” Somehow.
When they pulled apart she wiped at her cheeks and her eyes were damp. “What do you want me to do?”
He sighed and put his hands on his hips. “I want you to go back to Laidlaw Hall so you’re not involved anymore than you already are, and let me deal with this.” He’d start with his contacts at MI5, but MI6 would probably get involved as well. He still had some pull there, and Marcus did as well.
Trinity wrung her hands, the action so out of character his eyebrows rose. “What about the adoption?” she whispered. “What if someone finds out I was involved and they take my baby away—”
“That’s not going to happen.”
She blinked fast, more tears glistening in her eyes. “But what if it does?”
He laid a hand on her shoulder, a fierce protectiveness forming as he held her gaze. “I’m not going to let that happen. I promise.” The US government had sanctioned the Valkyrie program that had taken away Trinity’s choice and ability to have a baby. She was meant to be a mother and wanted it more than anything. Alex would do whatever it took to safeguard this adoption.
She closed her eyes and bowed her head, releasing a shuddering breath. “Thank you.”
“Trin.” He waited until she looked up at him, exasperated and scrambling to figure out how he was going to tackle this. “Call Brody and talk to him on the way back to the Hall. You’ll feel better. Now go, and leave this to me.”
“Are you sure?”
He raised an eyebrow at her, and she gave him a little smile that put a bit of sparkle back in her eyes. “Thank you, Alex,” she whispered, throwing her arms around him.
He grunted and patted her back. “Yeah. Now get going. I’ll give the others hell later.”
She let go and stepped back, her lips curving. “I’m glad you decided to jump on a flight to London, just in case.”
“Yeah. Me too.” This was going to be a nightmare to clean up, and would mean calling in every favor he was owed here in the UK. But Trinity and the others, securing their futures, made it worth every bit of the shit storm he was about to endure.
****
“Who are you, and why the hell did you go silent all of a sudden?” Amber muttered, looking at the intel on her laptop.
She leaned back in her chair and rubbed a hand over her face. She’d been at this for hours already. Her eyelids felt like they had sandpaper under them. It was almost one in the morning. She hadn’t slept in more than twenty-six hours, and right now she was feeling every single one of them.