Page 60 of Her Forever SEAL

It took less than a minute.

Rylie stood over him. She looked at what was in front of her for a long moment, her face doing the careful neutral thing it did when something needed to be managed before it could be felt. Then she turned and walked to Sophia, putting herself deliberately between Sophia and what was on the floor.

“He had a capsule,” she said. “Concealed. We missed it.”

Sophia looked past her anyway. At the foam. At the stillness of him. At the absolute deliberateness of what he had chosen.

“Aw, fuck,” Angie shouted through the comm.

Before she even said what was wrong, Sophia knew. The man outside had done the same thing. He’d killed himself.

19

tell your SEAL this is just the beginning

Sophia’s keys fell out of her left hand as she continued to look at the phone in her right. She read the words again. They didn’t change.

She looked up. The only light on in her kitchen was the one over her stove. The time was seven-thirty-five. She needed to get her daughters from Beth. The woman had graciously picked-up Lisa and Kayla from school and taken them back to her house, along with the rest of her kids today.

She looked down at her phone again.

tell your SEAL this is just the beginning

They’d dropped Bree off earlier today, and she’d come home to shower, to recover. Now it was time for her to pick up her girls.

tell your SEAL this is just the beginning

She gagged. Oh God, she was going to throw-up. Her phone clattered to the floor as she stumbled for the kitchen sink. Her stomach heaved once, then twice, then a small stream of vomit came up, tearing at her throat.

Another.

Then another.

Sophia yanked at her hair, so it would stay out of the way.

Tears and snot combined with the vomit.

Her stomach kept heaving, even after there was nothing in her stomach to throw up. She clutched at the faucet to keep herself up.

Get it together, Gault.

One more heave.

Stop it! Get it together!

Sophia swallowed and grimaced. She avoided looking at what was in the sink and lurched across the counter for the paper towels. She grabbed a handful and wiped off her face.

One breath.

Two.

Think. Come on. Think.

“Mason. I need to call Mason.”

She looked around at the counter and couldn’t see her phone. It took a moment, then she remembered it falling to the floor. She found it. It had survived. Damn well better have considering how much the protective case cost.

Her laugh sounded hysterical.