Avenging Laura (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

After spilling everything to her captain and those that were in the room, phone calls were made. Wolf got Tex on the phone and had the photos scanned and sent to him and Beth so that they could determine how recent the photos of the guys on missions were done. Wolf and the others tended to agree with her when she made the statement that she didn’t think those were recent.

She did relent on Ash calling Tommy, Willie, and Jack to let the parents know there was a possible stalker nearby and to keep an eye out. The real kicker came when they alerted her brother about what was going on.

Yeah, that was a shit show all on its own. Especially when he showed up with her grandmother in tow.

“Laura Renee MacLeod. When were you going to tell someone about those photos, miss thing?” her grandmother demanded as she sat down on the couch glaring at her.

Looking up at her brother, she gave him the death glare and only received a smirk back in return. She was so paying his ass back. She’d wait until he had a hot date and do it then.

“No, Grandma, she wasn’t. She was going to slink her happy ass out of town and become a one-man army,” Dominick ratted her out, his arms crossed against his chest as he stared her down.

“You do remember you have a date coming up with that skanky nurse whose phone number you stole from that other cop who was hot for her, right?” Laura glared at Dominick.

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” Dominick stared at his sister in confusion.

“I tell a certain person about the prank you pulled on her date last week. Then we can see how long your upcoming date lasts when she comes to join you on yours.” Laura smirked back at her brother, copying his pose.

“Bitch!” Dominick grumbled as he glared at her.

“Asshat!” Laura smirked back as she glared at her brother.

“Children, do not make me take my cane to both your asses!” Jeannette warned Laura and Dominick.

“Dom’s into that, Grams so I’d be careful if I were you.” Laura continued to glare at her brother.

“Like it isn’t yours?” Dominick fired back rolling his eyes at her.

Laura froze at his statement. She didn’t know how to respond to that one at first. She and Highlander hadn’t been intimate since her rescue. She couldn’t.

It wasn’t Highlander’s fault. She craved his nearness, his touches, his kisses. She just couldn’t. She felt dirty. Not worthy of his touches. His love.

She got up and stormed out of the room and locked herself in her bedroom. Once she had locked herself in there, she immediately started stripping and jumped into the shower and started scrubbing her body.

She had a rough loofah and soaped it up and started scrubbing her body until everything was bright red. If she could scrub the insides of her body, she would. She just couldn’t get the dirt off of her. Is this what the girls felt like when they rescued them?

She’d been held captive before. She’d been tortured before. Beaten, belittled, threatened, sneered at, skin touched as if they were going to do something to her. This was the first time she’d actually been raped. She was unworthy of him, their children, their life.

She broke down. She crouched down in the shower, her head against the shower tiles and sobbed. Sobbed for the losses she had in the past, the loss of her unborn child that they didn’t know she knew about, her marriage, everything. She wasn’t worthy of anything anymore.

Once she’d cried herself out in the shower, she got out and wrapped the big towel around her. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw the dark circles under her eyes. She was a mess. She wasn’t sleeping. She wasn’t eating. She barely existed. No wonder Highlander volunteered lately for the assignments they went on.

She jumped when she came out of the bedroom and saw her husband sitting on the bed in his uniform, elbows on his knees, staring down at his hands. She wasn’t sure what to do since he didn’t acknowledge her as she came out of the bathroom.

She stood there for several minutes, holding onto her towel, debating if she should go put on her robe. She watched as he fiddled with his ring on his finger.

“How long have ye been getting those photos?”

“When did you get home?” Laura changed the subject.

“I asked a question, Laura. How long have ye been getting those photos?”

Laura hesitated to answer. His calmness scared her. She would have preferred it if he was visibly upset.

“Since the week I woke up from the coma,” Laura answered quietly, wrapping her arms around her middle.

“Four months, Laura. Four fucking months, ye have been getting photos of everyone sent to you. Photos of me and my team on a mission. Photos of ye team. Photos of my parents. Ye brother. My brothers. Our fucking children!” Highlander shouted at Laura, getting up from the bed to glare at her.

“I know!” Laura shouted back, tears streaming down her face.

“Why have ye not said anything then? Do ye not realize how much danger ye have put our children in by not saying anything? I get why ye didn’t with the others. I understand that. But our children? That is the part that I just can’t understand why ye have not said anything about. Explain that to me, Laura. Help me understand why ye have chosen not to warn me, or any one where the children were concerned,” Highlander screamed, throwing his hands in the air.

Laura couldn’t. That was just it. She couldn’t give a good reason why she didn’t say anything where the kids were concerned. The adults, yeah, she could. Just not the kids.

“I can’t.” Laura sighed as she slid down the bedroom wall with tears in her eyes. “I kept telling myself it was their way of scaring me. That if I reacted then that would be their cue to make their moves. That as long as I did nothing, said nothing, everyone was safe.”

“The ones of the kids, when did that come in?” Highlander seethed through barely clenched teeth.

“Cody was two weeks ago. The other three were last week,” Laura admitted, refusing to look at him.

“And ye just told no one?” Highlander asked, his voice rising in anger.

“A-Ash found out last week. He made sure your brothers knew and to keep an eye on your parents and themselves. He also made sure the details on the kids were aware and to monitor anyone getting close to them,” Laura admitted, looking down at her hands.