“I should never have told you any of this shit,” Deacon ground out.

“You did. Deal with it and explain to me how that means, since she threw herself in the pit of hell, you have to live there with her even when the bitch is dead.”

“She’s my wife.”

“Was your wife.”

“I loved her,” Deacon clipped. “Fuckin’ loved her. Visualize Hanna on a hook, takin’ cock that’s not yours, and tell me you would not take that on, that she was with you and you were happy then she was on that hook and you didn’t stop it.”

Raid shut his mouth. He’d visualized and Deacon hated himself for giving his friend that but he had no choice.

So Deacon was going to give all of it to him so he’d shut the fuck up.

“You want it all?” Deacon asked but didn’t let him answer. “Told you what I told you but didn’t give it all to you, brother. You got grit, but no man has that much grit, I fuckin’ know. So I saved you from the nightmare, but here it is.”

He took in a breath and held Raid’s eyes.

“I went back. Twice. Tried again to get her out. Twice. Once, got my ass shot at. By the time I got the firepower to take my back and made a plan to extract, my informant inside told me it was too late. She died on that hook, Raid. Overdose. They reckon she took cock from at least two guys in her dead body before someone figured it out and pulled her down.”

“Jesus Christ,” Raid whispered.

“Yeah. Pretty picture, isn’t it?”

“Brother.”

“Cleaned her with fuckin’ bleach, dumped her in a ditch. Made the news. Missing woman found dead. Grieving family still relieved because they now have answers. Bullshit. Her parents were relieved the nightmare she made of her life was over. My parents were relieved, hoping the nightmare she made of my life was over. I was not relieved. Buried her, walked away. Walked away from her parents who did not give me the knowledge to find the tools to help my wife. Walked away from everything.”

“I know.”

“And that’s where I gotta be.”

Raid held his eyes.

Then he said, “Tell me her name and where she is.”

Deacon’s chest started burning. “Fuck, man, you do not get this but you’re gonna have to. I’m not givin’ you dick.”

“She’s clean, let me and my boys make sure she is. Check in on her, she’ll never know. Keep an eye on her. Make certain nothin’ from you leads to her.”

“You think I’d let that happen?”

“No. I also think you love her and you’re gonna give me her name and location so my boys and I can look after her so you can make sure she’s covered even if you know she won’t need it.”

“Cassidy Swallow, Glacier Lily Cottages, Antler, Colorado.”

“My backyard,” Raid murmured.

“Yeah.”

“You love her.”

Deacon clenched his jaw again.

“You break her?” Raid asked.

That burn in his chest spread. “It’ll be you lookin’ in on her and don’t give me your shit, Raid. I know it’ll be you, you won’t send one of your boys. You’ll take care of her personally. So you’ll see. And when you do, you’ll know she’ll find a man.”

“You break her?” Raid pressed.

Tired of this shit, Deacon gave it to him.

“You heard the song ‘Say Something?’”

Raid again flinched. He’d heard it.

“Yeah,” Deacon whispered.

He broke her. He didn’t stay around to watch. He still knew he did it.

That burn spread further.

Raid stood, saying quietly, “Give me something.”

Deacon didn’t respond.

“Come stay with me and Hanna. Give it one shot. See what it’s like when a man feels like he lost everything good, gets a second chance, and learns his future includes better.”

Deacon remained silent.

“It can happen for you if you let it.”

“You want us to remain anything to each other, Miller, your time to stop talking is now.”

He said it. He meant it.

Raid knew it.

His friend nodded.

Without another word, Raid walked to the door.

He was standing in it when he looked back to Deacon, and because he was a damned fine man, if an annoying one, he pushed it.

“Known you a long time, never knew you to be wrong,” he began. “Until now. You deserve to be happy. You don’t think you do but you’re so fuckin’ wrong, it hurts to be in the same room with you. But even if you don’t believe that, I know in my gut you wouldn’t find a woman who didn’t deserve that too. And it’s you takin’ that from her.”

“According to you, I was wrong the first time.”

“Lesson one from Deacon when he taught me everything I know,” Raid fired back. “You got one shot to learn from your mistakes. You think you drilled that into me, I don’t know you never made the same mistake twice, you’re fucked in the head.” His voice lowered. “But I know you’re not. I know you know she isn’t Jeannie. And I know that this time, you should kick your own ass that you’d even insinuate that about the good woman who made a dead man’s heart start beating again. A woman you broke.”

On that, he closed the door.

* * * * *

Raiden Miller

Raid stood in the trees, binoculars to his eyes trained on the brunette doing something to the window boxes at one of the cabins littered by the river and through the woods.

He got it. He got it for a lot of reasons, not least of which she was fucking gorgeous. Unbelievable. Not a hint of makeup and she could be on the cover of Sports Illustrated in a bathing suit. If he didn’t have beauty warming his bed and making his life so sweet it beat back nightmares that would break a man, he’d want in there.

But he had that so appreciation was all that Cassidy Swallow got.

She turned and he focused in, the high-powered field glasses taking him so close he could count the strands of her hair.

He drew in breath and dropped the binoculars.

Then he walked silently through the woods to his truck.

He got in, pulled out his phone, and made the call.

“Deacon.”

“Just to confirm, she’s safe.”

No reply.

“Also to confirm, you broke her. She’s breathing, but she’s destroyed.”

On that, he hung up.

* * * * *

Deacon

Deacon moved through his hotel room, preparing to go out and initiate the extraction.