Gunner’s breathing roughened beside him. “Mercer was always the best shot.”
Rocco glanced toward him briefly. “Better than me?”
A faint ghost of a smile touched Gunner’s lips. “Nobody was better than you.” The old compliment hit strangely hard, because once upon a time, they’d really been brothers.
Mercer fired again toward the cabin and then paused. He was listening for any movement and was waiting them out. Rocco signaled silently for them to split up. Tony and Luca moved left, and Rocco and Gunner circled right.
Rain masked their footsteps as they closed in. They were just behind him when Mercer saw them. “Traitors!” he roared. Gunfire exploded instantly. Rocco hit the ground hard behind a fallen log while bullets tore through branches overhead. Gunnerfired back beside him as Mercer laughed wildly through the storm.
“They buried us alive, and you still defend them?” Mercer shouted.
“We’re not defending anybody!” Rocco shouted back.
“You’re fighting for your new life, Roc. You were handed a second chance when the rest of us were left to die.” Mercer was wrong. The life Rocco had now—he had built that himself with blood and grief and therapy and fists and Luna’s stubborn love. Nobody gave him that—he earned it.
Mercer fired again. Gunner suddenly lunged up beside him, returning fire. “Move!” he shouted. Rocco sprinted forward instantly while Tony and Luca closed in from the opposite side. Mercer realized too late that he was surrounded. His attention split, and that was all it took.
Tony tackled him first as Luca ripped the rifle away. Mercer fought like a wild animal beneath them, screaming curses and grief and rage into the storm, and then suddenly, he stopped, because Gunner stepped forward.
Mercer froze, staring at him. “You too?” Mercer whispered brokenly.
Gunner looked devastated. “We deserved better than this.”
Mercer laughed bitterly. “This is all we had left.”
Gunner slowly lowered his weapon. “No,” he said quietly. “It isn’t.” Mercer’s face crumpled. Years of rage finally cracking beneath exhaustion, and for the first time all night, the fight left him.
Three Months Later
Rocco stood outside Luna’s office, watching snow fall softly over the street. He felt peace—real peace, for the first time in a damn long time.
Mercer was in federal custody alongside several others connected to the cover-up overseas. The military investigation reopening had become national news. Gunner was getting treatment through a Veteran’s rehabilitation program two states away. Recovery wasn’t easy; it probably never would be, but he was trying. And Rocco finally understood something important about survival—that you didn’t heal by pretending the past never happened. You healed by choosing to keep living anyway.
The office door opened suddenly. “You planning to stand out there dramatically all day?” Luna asked. Rocco grinned immediately. God, he loved her. She walked toward him, bundled in a dark coat and scarf, still looking at him like he hung the damn moon.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Better now,” he said.
Luna rolled her eyes affectionately. “That was disgustingly smooth.”
“Been practicing,” he teased. She laughed softly before stepping into his arms automatically. Home—that’s what being with her felt like.
Luna tilted her head up slightly. “You okay?” Rocco looked down at the woman who saved his life without ever firing a single shot, and smiled.
“Yeah,” he said honestly. “I finally am. I’ve got the woman I love, my friends, and today, Jonesy told me that he got me a fight.”
“He did?” she asked.
“Yep, in Vegas. It’s a big deal, and I was hoping that you’d want to go with me,” he said.
“I’d love to go to your fight,” she said. “After all, I’m kind of your trainer,” she teased.
He chuckled, “Just don’t tell that to Jonesy,” he said.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said.
“I’m proud of both of us, honey,” he said. They had come a long way from the shell of a man he used to be, and the woman who saved him. They were a team now, a unit. He had found the woman who accepted him—all of him, and he was never going to be that same loner that he was when he came back from the war, ever again.
