Run To You

Prologue
    “H er name is Estella Immaculata Leon-Hollowell and she lives in Miami.”
    Vince Haven handed his good buddy, Blake Junger, a cold Lone Star, then took a seat behind his battered desk at the Gas and Go. “That’s some name.”
    Blake took a drink and sat across from Vince. “According to Beau, she goes by Stella Leon.”
    Vince and Blake went back a long way. Blake had graduated BUD/S a year before Vince and they’d been deployed at the same time in Iraq and Afghanistan. While Vince had been forced to retire for medical reasons, Blake had served his full twenty.
    Vince opened the folder on his desk and scanned the information that Blake’s twin brother, Beau, had compiled for him. Beau had his own personal security business and had his fingers in a lot of different pies. He was one stealth dude and knew how to gather information that your average Joe couldn’t access. He could also be trusted to keep all information strictly confidential.
    Vince looked at a copy of a birth certificate, and there it was in black and white. His fiancée, Sadie Hollowell, had a sister she hadn’t even known about until her father’s death, two months ago. A twenty-eight-year-old sister born in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The mother and father listed: Marisol Jacinta Leon and Clive J. Hollowell.
    “So, we think she knows Clive is dead.” He moved the birth certificate aside to look over a color copy of a Florida driver’s license.
    “Yeah. She’s been told. Told and didn’t care.”
    That was cold but understandable. According to her license, Stella Leon was five feet, one inch and weighted one-fifteen. Which, knowing women as he did, Vince figured meant she was probably closer to one-twenty. She had black hair and blue eyes. He stared at the photo on the license, at the startling blue of her eyes set beneath dark brows. She was an exotic mix of dark and light. Hot and cool. Except for the color of her eyes, she looked nothing like Sadie, who resembled her blond beauty queen mother.
    “She works as a . . .” He squinted and put his face closer to the paper to read Beau’s handwritten scribbles. “. . . bartender at someplace called Ricky’s. Her former careers include lead singer in a band, waitress, cashier, sales, and selling photographs to tourists.” He sat back. “Busy girl.” Especially since she didn’t have to be. She had a big trust fund she drew money out of every month. He read further. Stella Leon had a police record for minor offenses and had lost a small claims lawsuit filed against her by a former landlord.
    Vince closed the folder and reached for his beer. He’d give the file to Sadie and let her make the next move. Get in touch with her long-lost sister or just let it go. Sometimes it was best not to tear off a scab. “What’s your brother up to these days?” He took a drink, then added, “Besides ferreting out information.”
    “Usual shit.” Blake and Beau were the sons of a former Navy SEAL, William T. Junger. Beau was the older of the two by five minutes, and while Blake had followed in his father’s footsteps, Beau had chosen the Marine Corps. “Running his businesses and trying to stay out of trouble.”
    “Remember when we met up with Beau in Rome?” Whenever the twins drank too much, they always argued over who had the tougher training program, the Navy SEALs or the RECON Marines. Being a former Navy SEAL himself, Vince had his opinion, but he wouldn’t want to have to prove it to Beau Junger.
    “Barely. We were piss drunk.”
    “And got into a fistfight on the train.” The brothers’ arguments were notorious for being loud, relentless, and sometimes physical. If that happened, it was best just to get out of the way because as Vince had learned, if a guy tried to break up the fight, the Junger boys turned on the peacekeeper. They were two contentious peas from the same pod. Almost identical in every way. Two blond-haired all-American warriors. Iron-souled patriots who’d seen and done a lot and didn’t know the word “quit.” Vince took another drink. The kind of men a guy wanted at his side in a battle.
    Blake laughed and leaned forward. “But get this, he says he’s saving himself for marriage.”
    Vince choked on his beer. “What?” He wiped drops of beer from his chin. “You mean no sex?”
    Blake shrugged one of his big shoulders. “Yeah.”
    “He’s not a virgin.” There were those who said that Vince had had a thing for easy women. Before he met