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“Yeah,” I whisper, nodding as I meet her eyes and pray she doesn’t look away from me. “But try and remember one thing here - I’m on your fucking side. You have made it obvious that you rarely need anyone to protect or defend you but I’m here, Izzy. I’ve got your back and I always fucking will.”

My words hit a mark that I didn’t realize I was aiming for and as I stare into her gorgeous eyes, I can see the walls erecting themselves again, locking her away from me. I fucking hate it. She squirms in my arms, pulling away from me as she twists her lips together and glances over at the door.

“We should head back.”

Nodding, I resist the urge to rip my hair right out of my head as I tuck my phone into my pocket and turn toward the door. Izzy may be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met in my life but I won’t stop. I won’t give up until I find a way to make her realize she can trust me. I won’t stop until I do whatever it takes to convince her to be mine.

Unless I lose my mind first.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Isabelle

Diego shoves the door open, letting the warm Louisiana night air breach the hallway and I suck in a breath as the heat washes over me, soothing me. It’s the perfect night for sitting out on the porch with a glass of wine and letting go of the day-to-day shit that weighs you down. On a night like this, you can close your eyes and listen to the grasshoppers sing or stare up at the stars as they twinkle down on you and nothing else matters but that one quiet, blissful moment. My mind drifts back to the second-floor balcony at my house and doing just that with Diego during our weekend together. The memories flood my mind and I can’t help but peek up at him. There is a deep scowl on his handsome face and the muscles in his jaw flex. The irritation lining his face makes my heart fall into my stomach and my chest ache. This incredible man has done nothing but support me unconditionally since the moment he found out I was carrying his child and I haven’t been fair to him. In fact, sometimes I’ve been a downright bitch and he doesn’t deserve that shit.

I could blame the pregnancy or the crazy hormones that go along with housing a whole ass human in my body for nine long months but it would be a crock of shit. The real problem is that he gets to me like no one else can, he sees through all my bullshit and even worse, he calls me on it. He holds me accountable for my shit in a way that no one else does and he’s so good at it that I don’t even realizing it’s happening until it’s too fucking late. He peels back layers of me with an ease that turns my whole world on its head and quite frankly, it’s unsettling and infuriating.

And so I lash out.

But he never wavers, never holds it against me, and never backs down. Sure, he hasn’t pushed me since our date the other night but I’m nowhere naïve enough to believe that he’s just giving up. Diego doesn’t throw in the towel and call it quits when things get hard. That’s not who he is. Plus, all I have to do is meet his warm brown eyes to see that same dogged determination he flashed me when all of this started, the persistence that wore me down to begin with, and the same tenacity that will wreck me.

“Hey,” Diego says to Maverick and Henn as we step out of the building. Daryl, the usual security guard, stands off to the side, smoking a cigarette and he nods to me in greeting. Diego lets the door close behind us and shifts closer to my body but he doesn’t touch me. “How is it going out here?”

Maverick nods. “All quiet.”

“Ah, Jesus Christ, man,” Henn groans, pulling a pistol out from the waistband of his jeans. “You just had to go and say some shit like that, didn’t you?”

“You superstitious, Henny?” Maverick asks, a teasing grin on his face as he watches Henn scan the parking lot. Henn flicks an annoyed glance back at him as he nods.

“You’re damn right I am. Saying the Q word is asking for goddamn trouble.”

Maverick’s grin grows, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “What? Quiet?”

“Motherfucker. I’m gonna fuck you up, I swear to God.”

Maverick just laughs. “Whatever you say, brother.”

“Listen, asshole,” he growls, transferring his gun to one hand as he takes a step toward Maverick. “It’s a proven fact that saying dumb shit like that is a sure-fire way…”

His words are swallowed up by the loud bang that pierces the air and echoes off of the other buildings on the empty street. I jump and my heart climbs into my throat, lodging itself there as my mind struggles to find equilibrium. Something tears through Henn’s shoulder. Warm liquid spatters all over my face as a chunk of the brick façade of the building shatters to my right, a fraction of an inch from where I’m standing. With shaking hands, I reach up and swipe a drop of the moisture from my skin before pulling my hand back to inspect it. The lone light hanging above the door into the building illuminates the red liquid coating my fingertips and I gasp.

Blood?

What is happening?

It feels like everything is moving so quickly and in slow motion at the same time and my head is fighting to make sense of the chaos that’s raging inside me and all around me. But it’s impossible.

“Move!” Diego yells, his voice breaking through the thick fog of my confusion and I try to turn to him but he takes control of the situation, wrapping his strong arms around my body. He starts dragging me away from the parking lot. Maverick and Henn follow us, walking backward with their guns drawn. Everything is rushing around me, frantic and out of control, but I swear we’re moving in slow motion as I stare out at the lot, trying to sort through the calamity of the last five seconds. A familiar head of brown hair pops up from behind Diego’s truck and as I stare at Luca, pointing a gun directly at me, it feels like all my organs shrivel up inside me. Another shot slices through the quiet night and a second chunk of brick crumbles to the ground not far from me.

Out of all the stupid things I’ve done when it comes to dating and men, my biggest regret is Luca. I know they say hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that but how the hell did I let this happen? Diego’s comment about my shit affecting our baby pops into my mind and I grit my teeth to fight back the tears as Diego hauls me around the side of the building. Of course, he was right. The only reason I even went out with Luca was to desperately cling to my former life so I didn’t have to accept that I was pregnant and everything was changing.

And now look at me.

God, how different could things have been if I had ever given any of the guys a real chance? Diego presses my back against the brick and shields my body with his as I look up at him, my heart cracking. No, not any guy but this one… What would have happened, what could have happened if I had been able to get over myself and give this man a real chance? Maybe it’s just the fact that I might die here in a second or the baby in my belly but looking up at Diego, I imagine the life I could have. One full of love and laughter with a man who I know would do anything for me and our gorgeous baby boy. Pain spikes in my chest and I grip his cut.

“You see where it came from?” Diego asks as soon as Henn and Maverick are safely around the side of the building with us. I turn to them and catch sight of Daryl ducked behind one of the trees that line the property. I’m sure when he accepted this job, he never truly thought he’d end up in a situation like this and I can’t help but feel guilty that he’s suffering the consequences of my actions. Hell, all of them are. I turn back to Maverick and Henn, an ache radiating through my chest. Maverick’s lips are pressed into a thin line, his easy smile long gone as the focused eyes of a soldier flick over the scene. He shakes his head.

“No.”