“Callie has two weeks until she’s due. That woman is ten times more stubborn than I am, and she won’t let that baby come early if I’m not there.” He set a fist over his heart. “We are all coming.” He leaned forward, snarling, “End. Of. Fucking. Story.”

“Don’t do this to me,” I breathed out.

“Colin will lose his ever-loving mind with you over in Ireland without him on a rescue for the girl he loves. Never mind that he’s already run once. You know he’ll do it again if you don’t bring him.”

He didn’t even pause for a breath during his lecture. Well, I needed one.

“And as you pointed out, we have the entire League and Juliette’s brother’s team to keep everyone safe. Better for Juliette and Colin to be overseas with us than here without you.”

Before I could shut down his slightly reasonable point, someone knocked.

“Dad?” Colin, of course. He had to be there to plead his case as well.

“Yeah?” I choked out, waving him in as if he could see me.

Alessandro opened up, letting him in. “I’ll call my wife and let her know I’ll be back Tuesday instead of tomorrow.” He didn’t give me time to argue, patting Colin’s shoulder on his way out.

“Let me guess, you’re here to lay into me, too?” I dropped onto the guest bed and rested my forearms on my legs. I was worn the fuck out.

Colin shut the door and propped himself up against it. “Do you think we’re right about everything?”

I let go of a ragged breath. “By the time I get to Dublin, we should have all the answers we need.”

Which I did believe. In Carter, I trust. I couldn’t believe I was thinking that, but it was true. Between Gwen’s cyber skills and Sebastian’s mountain of resources, they’d get to the bottom of everything. Hell, they might even locate Aurora and press her for Lennon’s location before my plane touched the ground. Maybe even save Lennon for me.

With any luck, I’d only need to provide Lennon a ride home and deliver her into my son’s arms. Give him the happily-ever-after I wished I could’ve had with his mom seventeen years ago.

And maybe, just maybe, if everything worked out peacefully, I could get out of this vortex trying to suck me in at every turn and have that happily-ever-after with Juliette now.