Born to Fight

Chapter 11

Celeste

I stared at him.

Billy.

His name was Billy.

The realization hit me so hard that, for a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

After everything that had happened over the past few days—the grief, the loss, the fear, the unanswered questions—something inside me finally snapped.

“Billy?” I repeated, staring at him in disbelief. “Your name is Billy?”

He nodded slowly, confusion crossing his face.

“Yes.”

I almost laughed.

Not because anything was funny.

Because suddenly, after seventeen years of not knowing my father’s name, after spending my entire life wondering who he was, the answer was sitting across the table from me.

Billy.

And he was the reason my mother was dead.

“So you’re the reason she’s dead.”

His expression changed.

“What?”

“They killed her because of you.”

My voice cracked, but the anger burning inside me quickly drowned out the pain.

“They killed my mother because of you!”

I slammed my hand against the table.

Loki immediately lifted his head.

Billy flinched.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“The men who killed my mother were looking for you.”

His face went pale.

“I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t.”

I could hear the bitterness in my own voice, but I couldn’t stop it.

“They kept asking her where Billy was. They wanted to know where you were. And she wouldn’t tell them.”

Billy stared at me.

“My mother knew they were going to kill her. She knew it.”

My throat tightened.

“And she still protected you.”

I shook my head, tears burning behind my eyes.

“I don’t understand why.”

I pushed myself to my feet, unable to sit still any longer.

“She took whatever she knew about you to her grave. She protected the man who walked away from her. The man who abandoned her when she was pregnant.”

My voice rose with every word.

“And for what?”

Billy looked stricken.

“I don’t know why she bothered protecting you. You never did a damn thing to help her.”

The words tore out of me.

“Now she’s dead. I’m alone. And there’s someone out there who wants you dead!”

Silence filled the kitchen.

I could see the pain in Billy’s eyes.

For one brief second, I wondered if I had gone too far.

Then I remembered my mother lying on the kitchen floor.

Blood.

Her lifeless eyes.

The sound of gunshots.

No.

I hadn’t gone too far.

If anything, I had barely said enough.

I sank back into my chair and wrapped my fingers into Loki’s fur.

I needed him close.

I needed something solid beneath my hands.

Because everything else in my life had been ripped away.

“Celeste,” Billy said quietly.

I looked at him.

“I don’t expect you to believe me.”

“Good.”

His jaw tightened, but he continued.

“I would like you to hear me out. After I’ve told you everything, you can think whatever you want about me. Hate me if you need to.”

He paused.

“But please… just hear me out.”

I watched him carefully.

His expression was sincere.

At least, it seemed sincere.

“Because despite what you might think, I did love your mother.”

That caught me off guard.

I didn’t know what I expected him to say.

Maybe that he hadn’t cared.

Maybe that my mother had meant nothing to him.

But love?

I wasn’t sure what hurt more.

I slowly nodded.

“Fine. I’ll listen.”

Billy exhaled, almost as though he’d been holding his breath.

“When I first met your mother, I was deployed,” he began. “At the time, I was a SEAL. Your mother was an up-and-coming Intelligence Analyst. She was working closely with my team during that operation.”

His eyes dropped briefly to the table.

“We spent a lot of time together.”

He gave a small, humorless smile.

“And somewhere along the way, we fell in love.”

I said nothing.

“Cliché, I know. But that’s the truth.”

He took a breath.

“My marriage was already struggling. My wife had made it clear she wasn’t happy. We were talking about separating.”

His eyes lifted to mine.

“I made a selfish decision. I thought I deserved to be happy.”

I felt my jaw tighten.

“And maybe I did,” he continued. “But I went about finding that happiness the wrong way.”

At least he admitted that.

“My wife eventually decided she wanted to save our marriage. And I realized something I’d been trying very hard not to face.”

He swallowed.

“I had children who needed me.”

I stared at him.

“So I went back.”

The words were simple.

But they still hurt.

“By the time I came to my senses, your mother was pregnant.”

My heart clenched.

“I loved her, Celeste. More than you’ll ever know.”

He looked down.

“Leaving her was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

I almost laughed again.

Instead, I whispered, “You left her anyway.”

“Yes.”

There was no hesitation.

“No excuse. No justification. I hurt her. And I’ve regretted it ever since.”

I studied him.

“I hated myself for what I did to her. But I had a wife. I had two children. I had responsibilities that already existed before I met your mother.”

His voice cracked slightly.

“I chose my family.”

There it was.

The explanation I’d spent my entire life wondering about.

And somehow, it didn’t make me feel better.

He had known my mother was pregnant.

He had known I existed.

And he’d still walked away.

My mother had raised me alone while he went home to his wife and children.

He hadn’t looked back.

Not once.

At least, that’s what I’d always believed.

“And your mother raised you,” Billy continued quietly. “She did an incredible job.”

I looked away.

Because despite everything, I knew that was true.

My mother had been everything.

My teacher.

My protector.

My best friend.

My entire world.

And now she was gone.

“Thank you for telling me your side.”

Billy looked at me.

“My mom never talked about you.”

Something flickered across his face.

“Not once?”

“Not really.”

I shook my head.

“Whenever I asked about my father, she changed the subject. She wouldn’t tell me your name. I didn’t know what you looked like. I didn’t even know what branch of the military you were in.”

Pain flashed across his face before he quickly buried it.

I felt a tiny stab of guilt.

But honesty was all I had left.

I pushed my chair back.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need some air.”

I stood.

“I think I’ll take Loki for a walk.”

Jamie immediately stood.

“Where are you going?”

I looked at him.

“Just outside.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No.”

His eyebrows pulled together.

“I’d rather go alone.”

“Celeste—”

“I need some quiet.”

Jamie studied me.

“I understand that. But I don’t think you should be alone right now.”

“I won’t be alone.”

I nodded toward Loki.

“I’ll have him.”

Jamie didn’t answer.

He just looked at me.

And suddenly I understood.

The concern in his eyes wasn’t just about me going for a walk.

It was fear.

Fear for me.

My stomach dropped.

The realization I’d been trying desperately not to think about suddenly became impossible to ignore.

The men who killed my mother had been looking for Billy.

And now they knew I existed.

My breathing stopped.

I gripped the back of my chair.

No.

No, no, no.

I couldn’t breathe.

I tried.

Nothing.

My lungs felt like they had forgotten how to work.

An icy hand seemed to close around my heart, squeezing until my chest burned.

“Celeste?”

Jamie was beside me instantly.

I bent forward, desperately trying to drag air into my lungs.

“I can’t…”

My voice broke.

“I can’t breathe.”

“Hey. Look at me.”

His hands settled gently on my shoulders.

“Slow breaths.”

I shook my head.

“They’re coming for me.”

“Celeste—”

“They’re going to come for me.”

Tears spilled down my cheeks.

“They killed Mom because of him.”

My entire body was shaking now.

“I’m next.”

Jamie gently guided me back into my chair.

“Breathe.”

I tried.

Again.

Again.

Eventually, air finally reached my lungs.

I sat there trembling, tears running silently down my face.

When I looked up, all three men were staring at me.

Jamie.

Josh.

Billy.

And suddenly, I was terrified of the answer to the question I was about to ask.

“I’m not safe, am I?”

Nobody answered.

My eyes locked onto Jamie’s.

“They’re going to come after me next…”

My voice dropped to a whisper.

“Aren’t they?”

Josh shifted uncomfortably.

“We don’t know that.”

“Celeste,” Billy added, “we don’t even know who they are.”

I turned on him.

“But they know you!”

Billy went completely still.

And for the first time since he’d walked through that door, I saw something in his eyes that frightened me even more than anger.

Fear.

Jamie

I watched the color drain from Billy’s face.

Celeste was right.

We didn’t know who the men were.

We didn’t know why they wanted Billy.

And we sure as hell didn’t know whether Celeste was their next target.

But there was something else bothering me.

The way Billy had reacted.

He wasn’t confused anymore.

He was afraid.

And that told me more than any explanation could.

I glanced at Josh.

He’d noticed it too.

Neither of us said anything.

Across the table, Celeste sat with Loki pressed against her side, one hand buried in his fur.

She was trying desperately to hold herself together.

But I could see the cracks.

She’d lost her mother.

Her home.

Her sense of security.

And now she’d discovered the father she’d spent seventeen years wondering about might be the reason her mother was dead.

It was too much for anyone to carry.

Especially a seventeen-year-old girl.

I wanted to reach across the table and pull her into my arms.

I wanted to promise her that nothing would happen to her.

That I’d keep her safe.

That I’d put myself between her and anyone who tried to hurt her.

But promises like that meant nothing unless I could keep them.

And right now, I didn’t know what we were dealing with.

Josh caught my eye.

His expression said the same thing mine did.

We needed answers.

Fast.

Because whoever had come looking for Billy hadn’t simply disappeared.

And if they’d been willing to murder Tina to get to him, there was no reason to believe they would stop now.

My gaze shifted back to Celeste.

She was staring at Billy.

And I realized something that made my stomach twist.

For seventeen years, she had believed her father had abandoned her because he didn’t want her.

Now she knew he had a family.

A wife.

Children.

A life he’d chosen over her.

And somewhere in the middle of all of that was a question none of us had asked yet.

Why had Billy stayed away for seventeen years?

I looked at him again.

He was staring at Celeste with an expression I’d never seen on my friend’s face before.

Regret.

Love.

And something else.

Something that looked dangerously close to guilt.

I didn’t know what Billy was hiding.

But I had a feeling the story he’d just told us wasn’t the whole story.

And whatever he hadn’t told us…

might be the very thing that had gotten Tina killed.