Just One Touch (Slow Burn #5)(50)

Unfortunately, DSS didn't have the time or the manpower to mount a full assault on the factory and finally mete out the justice Jaysus deserved. A mission like that would take days-not hours-to plan, not to mention they'd need to pull in a fuck of a lot more manpower and coordinate with local law enforcement. Hell, bringing in the military wouldn't be uncalled for because the drug lord ruled over an army of insanely loyal men all willing to die for their leader.

So this had to be a mission of stealth, and no one could know they'd even been there until they were long gone with Jenna. Standing here waiting for the go signal was eating a hole in Isaac's gut the size of the Grand Canyon.

Every single man employed by DSS had volunteered for the mission, even those who hadn't even met Jenna and didn't know anything about her circumstances. Isaac was damn grateful for the loyalty and sense of honor ingrained in every single one of his teammates, because even with every agent moving silently into position, they were still outnumbered at least four to one. And while Isaac stood here with his thumb up his ass, God only knew what Jenna was enduring. No, Jaysus wouldn't kill her, but he'd make her life a living hell to ensure her absolute obedience. Just like the fucking cult all over again-a different name and a different agenda, but crazy as fuck just the same.

For a brief moment, Isaac allowed himself to stop obsessing over the single most important thing in his life, and he turned his head upward, closing his eyes in prayer.

I know you and I haven't really had much of a relationship, God. I haven't spoken to you since I was a kid and I was angry-so very bitter-because you didn't answer my prayer to save my family and you left me alone for so very long. But Jenna hasn't lost her faith in you despite being shown a twisted, perverted representation of you. She humbles me and if she can still find belief and trust in you in her heart, then how can I do any less? She's teaching me. By seeing you through her eyes, I'm learning and I'm trying to be a better man. I'm starting to understand that everything happens for a reason, even if those reasons are not understood at the time, and that prayers aren't always answered the way you want, but it doesn't mean they aren't one day answered. Please keep her safe for me. She's all that's good in this world, God. She's truly one of yours and I vow to you that I'll protect her with my life and that I'll never do anything to cast doubt in her belief in you and your mercy and grace. I'm not worthy, but she is, and it's for her I ask that she be spared, not for me, even though I'm selfish and want her with my every breath, with all my heart and all my soul. I don't know if you can hear me or if you stopped listening when I turned my back on you so many years ago, but I'm begging you to save one of your angels and I ask only one more thing. That you trust her to me, that you save me by saving her, because without her I am lost. And I finally realize that you did hear my plea not to be left alone and with no one who loved me, because you gave me Jenna. I'm trying to learn patience, God, and it's hard, but if Jenna is my reward for that patience then I'll never ask for another single thing of you. Only her.

Isaac lowered his head, shocked at the dampness on his face and the heavy ache in his heart. But he was suddenly buoyed by a ray of hope shining down on him and warming him as surely as if the sun's rays were beaming down on him in mid-afternoon.

"Thank you," he whispered.

It was all he could manage through shaking lips and a heart suddenly full of so much love and relief that he was dizzy with it. They were going to pull this off. He knew it as surely as he knew that Jenna was the only woman he'd ever love. He'd have her back in his arms where she belonged before the night was over, and if he had to make good on his promise to tie her to his bed, he'd feel no guilt whatsoever, because she was never getting away from him again.



       
         
       
        

Life, a sense of purpose, sizzled through him, replacing his earlier fear and dread and the horrible sense of doom that had settled into his very bones as he'd stared bleakly at Jenna's prison. Now he waited with anticipation for Shadow to give the all clear so his men could converge, slip in and out undetected with Jenna, and then haul ass to a safe, private place where he could make a few things clear to her, such as his insistence that she never come up with another harebrained scheme designed to protect him and the others.

He nearly snorted over that notion and he knew his men would love to have a few words with his angel as well, but they'd just have to wait until he let her out of his bed, and well, they might be waiting a damn long time.