An arrogant Navy SEAL slammed me against the wall in a military airport lounge and called me a civilian. He had no idea he was putting his hands on his new commanding officer.

The world tilted.

I stared at the photo, my fingers tightening around the phone until my knuckles turned white. Lila. My Lila. Twenty-six years old, bright as sunshine, the little sister I'd missed every single day for seventeen years.

Engaged to Jake Carter.

The same man who'd just slammed me against an airport counter ten minutes ago.

"Elena?" Marcus's voice cut through my shock. "What is it?"

I handed him the phone without a word.

He looked at the photo, then at me. His jaw tightened. "That's Carter."

"That's my sister," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Lila. My little sister."

The air in the SUV felt suddenly too thin. Seventeen years. I'd spent seventeen years away from my family, doing the work that needed to be done, missing birthdays and holidays and graduations, all to keep them safe. All to keep them far from the world I lived in.

And now that world had walked right into their lives.

Wearing a Trident and an engagement ring.

"When did this happen?" Marcus asked, handing the phone back.

"I don't know." I stared at Lila's face in the photo. She looked happy. Radiant. She had no idea who she was marrying. "I haven't spoken to her in... God, Marcus. I haven't spoken to any of them in three years."

Three years since the last mission that went bad. Three years since I'd faked my death to protect them. Three years of watching from the shadows, of checking their social media accounts through burner phones, of making sure they were safe without ever letting them know I was alive.

And now this.

"Do they know?" Marcus asked quietly. "That you're alive?"

I shook my head. "Only my father. He helped me set it up. Told everyone I was KIA. It was the only way to keep them safe after the cartel put a price on my head."

"The cartel that's been dismantled for two years?"

I looked out the window at the rain streaking down. "Old habits."

The SUV pulled onto the tarmac where a military transport plane waited. I climbed out, my mind racing. Lila was engaged to Jake Carter. The same man who'd assaulted me in the lounge. The same man whose file I'd just asked Marcus to pull.

I needed to see her.

But I couldn't. Not yet.

If I showed up out of nowhere, back from the dead, it would destroy her. And if Carter found out who I was to her before I was ready...

I couldn't let that happen.

"Marcus," I said as we climbed the ramp into the plane. "Change of plans. I need you to handle the initial briefing at the base. I'm taking a detour."

He stopped, turning to face me. "Elena, the task force—"

"Will survive without me for forty-eight hours," I said. "Carter's going to be there. You can keep him occupied. Tell him I'm called away on urgent business. Tell him anything. But I need to go home."

"Home," he repeated. "To your family."

"To my sister," I said, and my voice cracked just a little. "She's marrying a man who thinks it's okay to put his hands on women who challenge him. I need to see for myself what's going on. And I need to do it before he realizes who I am."

Marcus studied me for a long moment. Then he nodded.

"I'll handle it," he said. "But Elena? Be careful. If Carter is who we think he is, and he finds out you're Lila's sister... he won't take it well."

"I know," I said. "That's why I'm not going as Colonel Vance. I'm going as Elena. The sister who came back from the dead."

---

The drive to my parents' house took three hours.

I rented a car from a civilian agency, paid cash, used a fake ID. Old habits. Hard habits.

The house looked exactly the same. White picket fence, rose bushes that my mother tended every spring, the old oak tree in the front yard where Lila and I used to climb.

I parked down the street and sat there for a long time, just watching.

Then the front door opened.

Lila came out, laughing, holding a grocery bag. She was taller than I remembered, her hair longer, her face more mature. But her smile—God, her smile was exactly the same.

She walked toward a pickup truck in the driveway.

And Jake Carter got out of the driver's side.

He smiled at her. A real smile. Warm. Loving. Nothing like the arrogant smirk he'd worn in the airport lounge. He took the grocery bag from her with one hand and pulled her close with the other, kissing her forehead.

She leaned into him. Happy. Safe.

My stomach turned.

I knew what he was capable of. I'd seen it firsthand. But she didn't. She looked at him like he hung the moon.

How many times had that smile fooled her? How many times had he switched from loving to terrifying when the doors were closed?

I gripped the steering wheel until my hands ached.

I couldn't confront him here. Not now. Not with Lila right there. She wouldn't believe me. She'd think I was the crazy sister who'd come back from the dead to ruin her happiness.

I needed proof.

I needed to see the real Jake Carter. The one who came out when no one was watching.