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  He heard gunfire start up behind him just as the Russians in the office started taking aim at the Romans. Sawyer and Colt were systematically picking off the men that were popping out of their hiding places to fire at them, like a sinister and deadly game of Whac-A-Mole.

  Walker was losing more blood than he cared to admit, but the adrenaline flowing through his body kept him going. He wasn’t leaving here without knowing that Ashleigh would be safe, even if it killed him.

  He took aim at the chest of the man who was covering Dimitri Solokov himself and fired. His aim was dead on as always, and the man dropped.

  Solokov’s eyes were wild as the man dropped beside him. He tried to make for the door behind him but Walker roared and leaped out, darting between the few remaining Russians with Sawyer and Colt covering him.

  Walker reached Solokov just as he reached the door that would provide his escape. He barreled his shoulder into Solokov’s pudgy waist and crashed him against the wall of his office. Solokov kicked out in an attempt to get away from Walker, but he wasn’t budging. He caught Solokov’s meaty fist as he dodged the man’s uppercut and swung his own fist into Solokov’s jaw.

  Solokov howled and spat blood at Walker, but he didn’t give up. He kicked and punched and even sank his teeth into Walker’s shoulder, none of which he even felt as anger clouded his vision and his fists kept pummeling into Solokov’s body, not stopping until the man went down.

  He trained his weapon on the coward at his feet and took perverse pleasure in seeing the bloody, beaten-up Russian staring up the barrel of his gun. The gunshots around him had quieted down, and he did a quick count of his men.

  His head was starting to swim and the blood loss seemed to be catching up to him quickly now as blackness blurred the edges of his vision. Colt appeared next to him and trained his own gun on Solokov, but he gave Walker a worried once-over and nodded to Sawyer behind him.

  Ace, Ronan and Carter had returned from the hallway and while all the men looked like they had gone a few rounds, none of them appeared seriously injured.

  Having completed his quick assessment, he turned his attention back to Solokov.

  “Ashleigh Walsh,” he said, his breathing ragged and deep, “is released permanently and completely with immediate effect. No coming for her, not for anything, ever. Whatever bullshit debt you believe she owes you, is written off. If I so much as think I see you or anyone associated with you, I will go after anything, everything and anyone you have ever even considered feeling anything for.”

  Carter ambled over to Solokov and trained his gun on his head as well, for good measure.

  Walker hated to admit it, but he saw no fear in the man’s eyes, only resignation.

  “Agree or I blow your head off, no skin off my back,” Carter snarled. “I might do it for entertainment value anyway. SEALs are known for their fucked up senses of humor, right Colt?”

  Colt’s eyes shot to Walker’s before he howled with mocking, sadistic laughter. “Right you are, brother. It’s now or never.”

  “You release her and every dollar of imaginary debt she supposedly has and forget she ever existed, and we might consider letting you wake up in one piece,” Walker growled at him, the pain in his abdomen threatening to take over with every word he spoke and every movement he made.

  Solokov laughed manically as Walker swayed. Colt rammed his gun against Solokov’s head, and the laughter was replaced with a shout of pain.

  “I believe you have approximately ten seconds to answer the man. My finger is starting to feel mighty twitchy on this trigger,” Colt growled as Sawyer led Walker to a nearby chair.

  He lifted Walker’s shirt to inspect the damage and hissed at the wound that he found.

  “Fuck, Walker. How are you still standing?” Sawyer breathed and started making makeshift bandages from the t-shirt he had ripped off his back.

  Solokov let out a groan as Carter clocked him again. “You don’t want to test our patience any longer,” he ordered and pressed the barrel of his gun against Solokov’s temple for added effect.

  Finally, Solokov slowly put up his hands in defeat and relented.

  “I want to hear those words come out of your mouth or I pull this god damn trigger,” Colt spat at the bleeding Russian.

  “You can have your whore. She’s not worth the trouble you’ve gone through to secure her release.”

  Carter and Colt both growled at Solokov’s phrasing and decked the man with their guns practically in unison, knocking him out from the force of their strikes.

  The only sound in the office as they stumbled into the hallway they had come from earlier was that of the injured Russians’ groans.

  Walker was propped up between Colt and Sawyer when they reached the street where Ashleigh and the girls waited for the police and an ambulance to arrive, just as they had planned.

  Ashleigh’s face fell when she saw Walker practically being dragged out of the building by his brothers. Her skin paled, and she broke into a run toward him.

  “Let go of me for a second,” Walker groaned. Sawyer and Colt exchanged a long look but did as he asked, taking only a couple of steps away from him, keeping close just in case they were needed.

  Ashleigh stopped short as she reached him, looking like she was about to be sick to her stomach when she saw the state he was in up close. Tears started streaming from her eyes as he pulled her closer to him, her narrow shoulders heaving with sobs.

  “Hey now,” he said, trying to keep his breathing as even as he could, but his voice was rough and ragged all the same. “I’m okay, Ashleigh. I’m okay, it’s over.”

  He leaned his head down and pressed his mouth to her soft lips, trying to reassure her that he was here, he was alive, he was okay. He felt her come up and link her hands behind his neck carefully as she kissed him back more passionately than she ever had before.

  “You’re okay,” she breathed against his lips when he broke off their kiss. “That’s all that matters. Thank God you’re okay!”

  “I love you, Ashleigh Walsh. I genuinely, truly love you,” he whispered, holding her head close to his and stroking her cheek with the backs of his fingers just before the blackness that had been threatening finally overwhelmed him and pulled him into its infinite depths.

  25

  Six Months Later

  * * *

  Ashleigh stared at her reflection in the ornately carved mirror that hung in the bridal room, unable to take her eyes off the beautiful wedding dress that still took her breath away even all these months after she had originally bought it.

  The bridal room was actually the main bedroom of the big farmhouse on Roman Ranch, the house Walker had grown up in.

  Her heart lurched when she thought of Walker, her handsome, strong SEAL who wasn’t quite as indestructible as he had liked to believe. Tears sprung to her eyes as the memories came flooding into her mind.

  Those first two weeks after the shootout had been, hands down, the worst two weeks of Ashleigh’s life -- and that included the time she’d been forced to sleep in Dimitri’s bed for a month because she’d been caught trying to run away in the middle of the night.

  Walker had lost a lot of blood by the time he had fainted, and was finally raced to the hospital after telling her that he loved her for the very first time.

  She had stayed by his side, refusing to let go of his hand and praying that she would have the opportunity to tell him that she loved him back. God, how she loved him!

  She had collapsed onto her knees when they wheeled him away from her at the hospital and rushed him to an operating theater, shouting about blood and a thready pulse and a million other things that had sounded like a garble of Greek and death to her as she helplessly watched him disappear. Sawyer had found her still sobbing in the middle of the hall when they had arrived minutes later, had scooped her up and carried her to Remy’s side in a stark waiting room nearby. Her anguished sobs hadn’t subsided until what felt like hours later when a doctor came to tell the
m that Walker had pulled through and that while his condition was critical, he was stable. Then the tears of relief came. And, of course, the heart-wrenching guilt that he was in this condition because of her.

  It was only after speaking to the doctor that Sawyer and Colt allowed themselves to be led away from the small crowd that had assembled in the waiting room by a nurse to be examined themselves.

  Ace, Carter and Ronan had been carted to the emergency room as soon as they had arrived at the hospital, under protest, but had returned to her and the Romans as soon as they had been stitched up and cleared. Other than some relatively minor scrapes, cuts and bruises, none of them had been injured too badly.

  They had each added a new scar or two to their collections, to be sure, but they hadn’t worried about it in the least. Instead, they paced the waiting room with the Roman brothers and refused to leave until they could see Walker for themselves, despite numerous doctors and nurses informing them that they needed to get some rest.

  Ashleigh’s heart had hammered in her ears and she had felt like she was floating in a bubble, detached from what was happening around her as she replayed every minute that she had spent with Walker and continuing her prayers to any deity that might be listening that their story wasn’t over, as they waited for him to wake up.

  It was hours before anyone was allowed to see him and by this point, having given up on convincing any of them to leave, the nurses had offered a small staff bathroom where they could get cleaned up. Rose had gone to fetch their overnight bags from the respective cars outside and had forced them one by one to take the nurses up on the offer. Only Ashleigh didn’t budge, refusing to leave her seat until it would be to go see Walker.

  Colt and Sawyer had both relented to the pressure from their wives to clean up, but had each returned in no more than four minutes, their eyes wild and dark with worry and their fists clenching as they continued to wear paths in the waiting room carpet from their pacing.

  The police had come and gone after taking statements from each of them, informing them that Solokov and his men had all been taken into custody for human trafficking and a list of offenses longer than Ashleigh’s arm. It appeared that the police had been building a case against them for a while, but had needed the final nail in the coffin that the shootout and what had been found within the club thereafter had provided.

  The policemen called the men heroes and shook their hands as they told them that they had saved many innocent lives by their actions, but merely shot glances in Ashleigh’s direction. The guilt that had been weighing heavy in her stomach felt like it flowed through her veins, turning her blood to ice under those accusatory glances, like they had known it was all her fault. Just like she did. It had taken Remy one look at Ashleigh to put the pieces together and just like that, the Romans and Walker’s old unit were hugging her and repeatedly assuring her that she wasn’t to blame, that the only person to blame was Solokov and the assholes who worked for him. While she hadn’t believed them at the time, she had come to accept that they had been telling the truth and no one had ever blamed her for what happened.

  When he finally opened his eyes after the anesthesia had worn off, she had told him how much she loved him and had been telling him the same thing multiple times a day, every day since. She had stayed at the hospital and was at his side for every hour they allowed her to visit in the intensive care unit for the first few days. Once he was moved to a private room, the nurses had eventually given up on telling her to leave and made up a cot for her with strict instructions that she could injure him if she tried sleeping on the hospital bed with him.

  Despite his pain and the obvious discomfort it caused him to move, Walker had pulled her into the hospital bed with him every night, holding her tight to his side and whispering how much he loved her.

  The original wedding had been canceled, of course, given that the groom was bound to a bed in the intensive care unit at the time when it was supposed to be taking place.

  The Colonel hadn’t been impressed that the wedding had to be canceled, or that his sons had thrown themselves in the line of fire at a moment’s notice, but then again he rarely ever was impressed.

  He had grudgingly congratulated them on taking down what had later become apparent to be a nationwide ring of human traffickers and had eventually forgiven their ‘blatant recklessness.’

  Once he was discharged, they had headed home and she had been surprised to find their bedroom decorated with thousands of twinkling fairy lights and candles and rose petals.

  Walker had insisted several days before being discharged that she hand his mother’s ring over to Sawyer so that he could have it cleaned, but she’d later learned that it had been part of his plan to propose to her ‘properly,’ as Walker had put it.

  He’d also arranged for the girls to decorate the bedroom for their homecoming and had sunk down on one knee as soon as they entered the bedroom, before she could even begin to comprehend what was happening.

  He had slid the ring out of his pocket and held it up to her, delivering a speech that had her in tears before asking her to marry him ‘for real this time.’ She had been so shocked and so moved by it all that it had taken her several tries before she had managed to breathe a strangled yes and then launched herself into his arms.

  He had winced in pain, but had laughed as he told her that he’d rather take the pain amplified a thousand times than not have her in his arms.

  They decided together that they wanted to have the wedding on the ranch and refused to let anyone sway them. It had always been his home, and it was the first place that she had ever really felt at home in, safe and loved.

  Since there was no rush for the wedding this time, she’d thrown herself into researching what she actually wanted for her wedding and with Remy, Rose and Shelby helping, everything was absolutely perfect.

  The sound of Shelby’s voice yelling as she ascended the staircase that led to the main bedroom drew Ashleigh out of her reverie and back to the present. “Coming through! Champagne for the bride!”

  She accepted the champagne gratefully and took a long sip. She and Shelby had become fast friends over the course of the past six months and most days, Ashleigh struggled to remember a time when that hadn’t been true.

  Shelby had also proven to be a miracle when it came to wedding planning and thus far, was proving to be a lifesaver in keeping the bride calm.

  Even though she’d had five and a half months to prepare for the big day, now that it had finally arrived, she was crazy nervous. Seeing the dress and makeup and shoes and hair and just the whole picture, all the bits and pieces together was setting her on edge.

  A small part of her still refused to believe that this was her life now, that these people around her were her family, that a man like Walker was about to become her husband. Somewhere inside, that traitorous voice of low self-esteem that had been hammered into her by her captors whispered that Walker wasn’t going to be waiting for her at the end of the aisle, that he would realize what a mistake he was making and choose a more suitable wife.

  She pushed the thought out of her mind immediately and chided that faithless husk of a voice inside of her to shut up.

  Walker would be there. He had proven to her time and time again that she could trust him, that she could rely on him, that he loved her as much as she loved him. Hell, he’d almost gone and gotten himself killed so she would be free and safe.

  She turned away from the mirror and took a few deep breaths before giving up on trying to calm her nerves by breathing and opted to down the rest of her champagne instead.

  She saw Shelby give her a sidelong glance, but she winked and brought over another flute of champagne.

  “After this one, I’m cutting you off, lest I let you have too much and you miss out on yet another chance of becoming Mrs. Walker Roman,” Shelby teased as she handed Ashleigh the flute. “This wedding is perfect for you two, and I’m not arranging another one!”

  She was right, of co
urse. It was all so perfect and Ashleigh had no intention of waiting even one more day before becoming Walker’s wife, so she slowed down on the second flute of champagne and set it down on the side table after one small sip.

  Rose came up behind her and gave a low whistle as she ran her eyes over Ashleigh, having been the only bridesmaid who was still having her hair done by the stylist responsible for all three bridesmaids when Ashleigh’s stylist and makeup artist had finished with her and as such, the only one who hadn’t seen the complete picture yet.

  “Girl, you look so hot! Walker’s going to faint again when he sees you.” She ignored the glare Ashleigh shot her way at the joke she made about that night and grinned instead. “Seriously though, you look gorgeous!” “That she most certainly does,” Remy said as she walked over to them with Harper waddling next to her.

  One of the reasons they had chosen to wait a little while longer when they set the wedding date was so that Harper would be steadier on her feet and could be their little flower girl. Shiloh, of course, was the ring bearer and he was also carrying a cute sign down the aisle as he walked with his sister.

  The dress she and Remy had chosen for Harper was soft and flowing white, and she had a crown of fresh flowers sitting atop her head. She looked like such an angel that Ashleigh’s heart squeezed when Harper toddled over to her and smiled, holding her hands up for a hug.

  “Not now, Harper. Aunty Ash can’t pick you up in that dress, sweetheart, and she probably can’t bend down to hug you on the ground either,” Remy told Harper gently and looked to Ashleigh for confirmation.

  She nodded, but Harper looked so heartbroken that she scooped her up, ignoring the feeling that she was about to topple over and gave her a big hug anyway. Remy and Rose tutted, but laughed as Ashleigh handed Harper back to Remy.