“What was that all about?” Mike, “Tiny”, asked Liam.
“She’s leaving me.” Or she at least thought she was. He was tired of being passive in their relationship. He was a take charge kind of guy in the military he should be at home as well. His heart ached at the long road ahead of her forgiveness. He wanted Cora. He loved her. It took him a long time to realize it, and now that he had he didn’t want to lose her but how could he assure her that some secrets were required between them? If he didn’t he was facing a long life of them breaking up and getting back together.
“And you’re just going to stand there while it happens?” Mike looked at him irate.
“What do you want me to do? Cora wants to leave, so I’m letting her leave.” He tried to persuade her, and she wouldn’t listen. He would give her some time and try again. It worked in the past, it would work again.
“Idiot,” Tiny mumbled before stomping into the house.
“Tiny’s right,” Midas told him.
“I don’t want to hear it from you. You were willing to leave Hannah in Oregon.”
Midas looked towards the house. “Because I love her. But I didn’t want to leave her, and she had been without her family for over a year and a half. She needed that connection again. Cora is hurting right now. You kept things from her, and it doesn’t make her feel important to you. You have to tell her how you feel.”
He should tell her before it was too late. He lost her once, and he never recovered. Losing her again was unacceptable. He would talk to her tomorrow. Everyone was right in saying he didn’t do well with arguing. He always chose to walk away. In this case he needed sleep before he talked to Cora. As tired as he was and an angry as she was someone was bound to say something they couldn’t take back. She wasn’t leaving until tomorrow. He had plenty of time to come up with an all-out war to get his woman back. Failure wasn’t an option.
Chapter Sixteen
Hannah knocked on Cora’s door lightly. The door was cracked open, but if Cora didn’t want to talk to her, she wouldn’t push her. She knew all about wanting to lick her own wounds in private. She had done it more times than she could count. She understood Cora’s upset, but Hannah knew Ben had done what he had done for a reason. No one liked to be kept in the dark about a plan especially when it concerned her safety but she trusted Ben and Cora needed to trust him too. So now she was here to try and talk sense into her friend. It wouldn’t be easy. Cora had been fighting her feelings for Liam for a long time and now that she finally was opening back up to him to have him keep something like this from her was a lot for her to take in. Ben had kept things from her in the past too. He never told her that his ex-commander had ordered her away but kept her at his house instead. He had never told her how he really felt about her when they were younger. Hannah didn’t want to see Cora throw away her chance at happiness over this. She was living proof that life can change at a moment’s notice and a chance at happiness shouldn’t be squandered. Hannah thought about the past hour and how much had already changed.
Sitting in the computer room watching all the fighting had frightened Hannah. She had wanted to run upstairs and help, but she didn’t know how. Sure, she fired a gun once when she was being rescued from Panama, but she didn’t think she could do it again. She watched in horror as Alejandro’s men climbed the walls and several being electrocuted before others rammed the gate. She jumped and screamed when explosions went off, and vehicles blew up. The computer didn’t have any sound, but she could still hear it above her. The monitors shook, and a picture fell off the wall. Several more explosions erupted, and each scared Hannah more and more. Then she heard the gunfire. Hannah couldn’t take it anymore, she got up and ran towards the walls, feeling for a groove in the wall that would indicate a tunnel but stopped. She couldn’t leave Cora. Cora was fighting up there with Charlie and his men. She couldn’t abandon them. What if they needed her? Ben would want her to stay and be strong. Alejandro would never take her back. Ben wouldn’t let him. She had to stay. Hannah slowly walked back towards the monitors. It was still dark on that half of the house, but the monitors had night vision on them. She had to do a double take when she saw seven men come out of the tree line. Something about them seemed familiar. It reminded her when she was being rescued in Panama. “Ben,” she whispered to herself. She covered her mouth with her hands and sobbed happy tears. He was home. She had no idea when he came back. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was back. She watched in fascination as the men spread out and took out one enemy after another. They were all perfectly synced as they killed an enemy and dropped them slowly to the ground before tracking the next. They used knives instead of their guns, so the enemy didn’t know they were there until it was too late. Watching killings before sickened her, but watching Ben she was mesmerized. He was so lethal and yet so gentle with her. Who would have guessed? It should repulse her, witnessing so much death,
