Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1112

James came to a sudden halt.

His dark eyes, cold and sharp, locked onto the man standing in his way. The kind of deadly energy that comes from living too long on the edge filled the air around him, making everyone freeze.

“I’ll take the blame.”

“Right now, my order is the only thing that counts.”

“Start the boat.”

“If anything happens, I’ll answer for it with my life.”

The captain facing him was completely shaken. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. He finally just gave up and rushed to radio the boats waiting on the river.

A few minutes later, the speedboat roared up to the shore. James carried Will on board, and the whole team made a quick, silent getaway.

...

An hour later, a helicopter touched down right on the hospital helipad at the border military base.

Medical staff rushed out, already waiting by the landing pad.

“Move! Get him to surgery now!”

“His blood pressure’s crashing, start a transfusion!”

Watching Will get wheeled into the operating room, James felt everything leave him at once. He leaned hard against the cold wall, dragging in heavy breaths.

He looked like hell.

Mud and dried blood covered his face. His uniform was torn, arms and back marked with cuts that still bled through the fabric.

The rest of the Dragonscale team didn’t look much better.

Most of them had just dropped to the floor, too tired to care about anything but breathing. Their eyes were empty, haunted.

For almost three months, they’d barely slept, chasing leads and running missions across Southeast Asia.

Their bodies, their minds, everything was at its limit.

Tonight’s fight had nearly finished them.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway, sharp and impatient.

“What happened here?”

The voice was deep, commanding.

James lifted his head, meeting Kingston’s furious stare, then looked at his teammates, battered and bruised.

Every one of them was the best at what they did, but now, they looked like they’d been through hell and barely made it back.

James’s voice was quiet. “Sir, do you honestly think the support team could've gotten out of that jungle and to this hospital in under an hour?”

Will couldn’t afford to wait, not even for a minute. At the support team’s pace, it would’ve taken at least an hour and a half. But because they trusted each other, because they moved like one, they did it in an hour.

James pointed at the operating room doors, his voice low but steady, every word hitting hard.

“I know a soldier’s job is to follow orders. I know how important that target was.”

“But.”

He took a shaky breath, eyes burning with a stubborn kind of hope.

“If finishing this mission means letting my brother die, then I don’t want it.”

“We’re special forces. We’re supposed to be the wall protecting our country and our people.”

“But if we can’t even protect the people fighting right next to us, what right do we have to talk about protecting anyone else?”

“That’s a life, sir. Not just another number on some report.”