The Lonely Heroes

One of my toughest decisions was to join the Army after graduating high school. My second toughest was to decide it was time to get. I wanted more than that life had to offer—namely the return of my humanity and a life beyond the pain that had leached into my soul during my deployments. Without a hint at what to do next, I said goodbye to my Army life and headed home to Missouri.

“Mr. Torrente? You need to come down here.” My receptionist isn’t one to make demands, so I hurry down the stairs to see what all the fuss is about. Little did I know, the moment I walk down those stairs, my life is going to change in ways I can’t begin to fathom.

When a man I revere and his wife are killed in a freak auto accident in Greece, something feels off about the accident. He’d been my savior when I was at my lowest, and if it hadn’t been for Saber, I’d have likely not lived to see the sunrise the day after being dishonorably discharged from the Army. That great man put me on the path toward a new life and saved my old one in the process.

My life has been upended with a three-word text, and a meeting with my boss’s boss nearly finishes me off. I’m in a downward spiral, and I have no intentions of pulling out. My brother Hank has other ideas. He’s called in a big gun, Gabriele Torrente, who drags me to New York and pushes me to get myself together. At a family event, I hook up with the hottest guy I’ve ever met, intending to just relieve some tension. The guy turns out to be more than I could imagine.

Positive. One word with a lot of meanings—but not all of them are good. When I remember my time in the Navy as a SEAL, I know one word will define me and shape the course of my life until I die. Loss seems to follow me everywhere I go, but when Benji Hoffman comes back into my life, he makes me rethink a lot of things—mainly… How can I love him and not kill him?

A strong sense of loyalty courses through the lifeblood of the Torrente family, and as a member, Mateo is duty-bound to move to America to assist his favorite cousin, Gabriele, when threats are made against the family. Mateo possesses a skillset that is required to protect Gabriele’s children and to assist in identifying a traitor in their midst.