by S. Van Horne
“Just promise me that you’ll wait until I tell everything before you freak the fuck out.” At his nod, I continue and explain about me following Ms. Cindy.
“So, OPG was with someone in the other cabin? Who the fuck was she with?” he asks me. Ever since OPG got sick, we all have become really protective of her.
“When I saw who it was I ran up to the cabin and ended up staying there all night until this morning,” I whisper out because my emotions are getting the best of me that I found my woman and child.
“Would you just fucking tell me already,” he growls out getting impatient with me.
“Len and my son,” I choke out, and a tear falls from my eye.
I watch him as he takes in what I just said. I see the emotions go through him at knowing his sister and nephew are, not only safe, but so very close. Once it fully sinks in, he turns to go towards the cabin. I jump up and grab him to stop him.
“Stop. We have to talk about this and work out a plan. You need to know she’s scared. She knows he’s still out there, and she’s scared he’s going to come for her. Right now, Marcus is with OPG and Ms. Cindy. Len knows I’m bringing you back, so you need to work through your emotions before we face her.”
“She knows I’d fucking protect her! Her not coming to me pisses me the fuck off. What in the hell was she thinking?” He starts to pace in front of me, and I watch as something I said sinks in. His face changes from anger to disbelief.
“Wait… Marcus? My nephew’s name is Marcus?” he whispers out my son’s name.
“Marcus Anthony De Luca. She explained she wanted to keep the tradition that your family has with the Chief players. Marcus Allen for the first name and Anthony after both dads. Lucky, he looks just like me, but with Len’s eyes. He’s perfect.”
The pain of missing his birth and the first six weeks of his life hits me hard and makes me drop to my knees. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve broken down like this, and the last time it happened was the day she was taken.
I should be angry that Len kept him from me all this time, but I can’t bring myself to direct that at her. I agree she should’ve known we’d do anything to protect her, however, that asshole did get her on our watch.
I feel Lucky drop down beside me, and I wonder what he’s thinking seeing his friend like this. I feel his arms wrap around my shoulders, and he hugs me while I try to pull myself together.
He drops down beside me and grabs me in a hug.
“Okay, brother, let’s get our shit together. I need to see my sister and nephew,” he demands, but looking at him, I see he has tears running down his face too.
After a few moments, we pull ourselves together and start towards the other cabin. We approach the backyard, and I see she’s sitting there, looking off towards the water. The way the light is shining on her makes her look like an angel. I smile so big, because I’m so happy that I have found my family.
I step on a twig which breaks and alerts her that we’re here. She snaps her head toward us, and I see her stiffen. She puts down her mug and slowly starts to walk towards us. Once she gets down the few steps, she begins running towards us. Lucky rushes towards her and opens his arms just in time to catch her when she jumps at him. He holds her tightly to him as he whispers to her and rubs her back.
Seeing this just makes me want to kill the fucker that took her. I shouldn’t have to witness a brother and sister seeing each other for the first time after a kidnapping. I shouldn’t have to witness the emotion that’s pouring from them from the knowledge that she’s alive. It pisses me off so bad and makes me want to find him to take out the rage that’s coursing through me.
Off to the side, I quietly deal with the anger. I don’t want to break their reunion up, but I know we need to get inside before someone sees us. I also know that we need to get the story from her. I don’t want to hear what happened, but we need to know as much as we can to protect Len and Marcus. There is no way in hell I’ll let that fucker near them again. Even if it means I take his life with my bare hands.
LEN
Ten minutes earlier…
I’m watching the waves come up on the shore, and I think about what’s about to happen. I’m not looking forward to telling them about my months in captivity. I know my brother and know he will want to go and kill the bastard. Even though he didn’t rape me, nor did he physically hurt me, he still did a lot of mental abuse. I know I’m going to have to go through some sort of counseling when I get home.
I’m brought back to the present at the sound of a twig breaking, which makes my head snap towards the sound. My breath catches in my throat at the sight of Dante and Neil. I slowly stand, set my mug down, and start heading towards them. The moment my feet hit the grass, I take off at a sprint towards Neil and see him rushing towards me.
The emotions etched on his face are pure joy, mixed with disbelief. Right before I get to him, he opens his arms, and I jump into them. The moment his arms come around me and hold me tight, I start sobbing into his neck. I can’t believe my brother is here and holding me. I often dreamt of this moment, but was too scared to really hope, just in case I didn’t get to see him.
“Squirt.” Hearing my nickname from my brother makes me cry even harder.
“I was so worried and scared. I didn’t think I would ever hold you like this again. I never thought I would get another day to tell you how much I love you. I missed you so much!” Neil chokes out while holding me. I feel his tears soaking my shoulder as he continues to tell me how much I mean to him.
I can’t talk. My emotions are crazy. It also doesn’t help that my hormone levels are still unbalanced after my pregnancy. At that thought, it reminds me that he knows he’s an uncle.
“You’re an uncle.”
“I know,” he sobs out in my neck, squeezing me even tighter.
“Hey, you two, let’s get inside. We don’t want to chance everyone seeing us just yet.” Dante steps up and starts to reach for me like he’s going to take me from Neil.
“No, you got all night with her. Fuck off, Ghost, I just got my sister. I’m not ready to let her go just yet,” he growls out and walks off with me still in his arms.
“Fuck me. You’re not going to leave our house anytime soon when we get back, are you,” he states rather than questions.
“Nope.”
I giggle at my brother’s response. It’s a good thing we have a big house, because I have a feeling a lot of people aren’t going to want to leave.
I’m placed on the couch and Dante plops next to me. Faster than I can realize, I’m picked up and in his lap very quickly, which makes my brother crack up with laughter as he takes a step back. I just shake my head and lay it on his shoulder.
“Now, let’s get to the bottom of something Len. Why in the fuck did you not contact us when you got out? Do you know how much worry you not only put on our parents, but the rest of us? What part of security and Seals do you not understand?” Neil screams out the last question at me.
I knew this was coming. I’m not proud of myself for staying away for so long. I know I worried everyone, but they need to understand that I thought I was doing them a favor by hiding so Steven wouldn’t hurt them.
“Neil, at first I needed time to process everything. I was only going to stay away a week, but I saw he was still alive. I kept flashing back to what I saw in the picture, the one he sent to my house. I thought if I stayed away he wouldn’t harm you guys…” is all I was able to get out before Neil started yelling again.
“You were worried about us being harmed? Do you not remember what our jobs were in the Navy? Len, that’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard you say!”
Dante holds me tighter to his chest, and I worry for a brief moment he’s going to start yelling at me too. I squirm and finally get loose of his hold. Jumping up quickly, I rush over to Neil and get right into his space.
“Look, I know it was stupid, okay! But I didn’t know
what else to do, Neil! I couldn’t let him harm my family. If it meant staying away until he was caught, then I would have done that. You don’t have to yell at me, I already feel bad enough, and I will have to deal with keeping, not only my family from my son for six weeks, but his father from him as well! So, please j…just stop.” I can’t hold back the sob that comes through at the end of my rant.
Neil’s arms come around me, and he holds me to him.
“Don’t do that shit again, Squirt. You’re everything to me and the family. We were without you for over nine months. The thoughts…” he takes a deep breath and continues. “Protection and security is our job. Let us do our job now to make sure Adams is caught.”
I nod and finally let him go. I go back to Dante and crawl into his lap.
“Why didn’t you yell at me?” I ask him.
“Oh, trust me, it was coming. Right now, I’m just glad your safe. Since Neil just took care of it. I don’t think I need to say anything more.” He turns his head towards Neil. “Don’t yell at her like that again. I understand your emotions were running high, but I don’t appreciate the way you were talking to her. Brother or not, I will knock you on your ass if you do it again.”
Neil rolls his eyes and goes to the fridge in the kitchen.
“Ok, Squirt, let’s have it. We need to know everything you can tell us. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but we need to know it all. This will help us in finding him so we can keep Marcus and you safe,” Neil states as he walks in with three bottles of water, a notepad, and a pen. He hands Dante and me a bottle of water, then sits on the chair across from us.
Taking a deep breath, I tell them everything. I start with the night of the party and then describe the house. When I tell them about how he drugged me, I feel Dante tense under me. I knew this was going to be hard, on them and on me.
“Tell us about the wedding,” Neil murmurs, which makes Dante growl.
“The reason I agreed to marry him was because I knew I was pregnant. He wanted to give me an abortion, but I made a deal with him that I would marry him if he let me keep the baby. He agreed, only if after the baby was born, I’d allow him to take Marcus to the hospital with him. He was supposed to tell them that he found the baby somewhere and brought him in to be checked out.” I take a deep breath and close my eyes at the emotions on Dante’s face.
“The next day, there was a man I’d never seen before with papers that had my fake name on them. He didn’t perform anything really, just said you both ready and waited for our answers. He then had us sign the papers and gave them to Steven, which he was supposed to file with the city. I don’t remember much about the guy, but if I see his picture, I can identify him,” I explain in a whisper.
“He did file, but never told anyone that he was married until the day, I’m assuming, you went into labor. He called the hospital that day and said that his wife was very sick so he couldn’t come into work,” Dante tells me.
Silence descends over us as I take in his words. I honestly thought he would mention getting married to someone before then, but I guess it would have brought up too many questions.
“You know; the marriage isn’t legal. You’re not his wife, Len. Since it wasn’t in your real name, it isn’t legal,” Dante whispers into my ear.
I nod at him, but it still felt real.
“Did you notice any habits that he had?” Neil murmurs as he writes things down on the pad.
“Honestly, when we were in the room together, we were eating or watching T.V. There was really not a lot of talking that happened. I did notice the more I rubbed my belly as I got bigger, the madder he would get. Oh, I did find a bag with money and two passports.” I get up, grab the bag, and hand it to Neil.
“This might help. Was there anything else in the bag?” he asks as he opens it.
“I don’t know because I didn’t look through it really. Oh, and his car is in the shed in the back.” I grab the keys out of the drawer in the kitchen and hand them over, too.
“Okay, we’ll check it out in a bit. Tell us everything else,” Dante gently says as he grabs my wrist and pulls me into his lap. Taking a deep breath, I start from the wedding and go from there.
After telling them everything, I’m exhausted and emotionally drained. I had to stop several times to gather my thoughts and explain the situation.
I glance up and see it has been about three hours since we started. My breasts are heavy with milk so I know Marcus should be returning soon. I turn towards Dante and Neil who are sitting at the table and looking over the notes they’d taken.
Just as I’m getting ready to let them know I’m going to Ms. Cindy’s, there’s a knock on the door. I peek out the window and see OPG there holding Marcus. I wave them in.
“He’s fussy. I’m assuming it’s feeding time.”
“My breasts hurt so I know it’s time,” I tell her as I reach my arms out for Marcus.
I sit on the bed, scooting up to the headboard so I can lean back. After getting Marcus settled into position, I start to raise my shirt, and I’m startled at the sound of a grunt and footsteps. I turn towards the sound and see Neil heading to the back porch.
“I can’t sit here and watch you pull your breast out, Squirt,” he grumbles out. “No man should see his sister’s breast. Feeding a child or not.”
“Sorry. I’m just used to it being me. I’ll cover myself. You don’t have to leave.” I giggle and grab a blanket to cover up.
He turns around, sees I’m covered, and ends up going back over to Dante who is laughing hard at the situation. OPG’s trying hard to hold in her chuckles but she’s failing.
“Be happy it’s me and not our friends, fucker!” he grumbles again, but at Dante.
This stops Dante in his tracks. He turns and gives me a glare. I start snickering because I know what he’s going to say before he even opens his mouth.
“I know, I know. These are your breasts, and if I’m going to feed Marcus I need to make sure I’m covered. Got the glare loud and clear, caveman.” I roll my eyes at him.
“Damn fucking right! You won’t be sharing that view with fucking nobody. I don’t care how natural it’s supposed to be. I won’t have those perverted asses seeing my woman’s tits,” he growls out.
“Shut the fuck up, Ghost! Or I’m going to fuck your shit up!” Neil yells out which causes OPG and me to laugh even harder.
Dante and Neil turn back to what they were doing, and I gaze down at Marcus. I say a quick little prayer that Dante and Neil can find Steven so we can be safe again.
I finish up Marcus’s feeding, cover up, and burp him. It’s then that I notice it’s quiet. I turn towards the boys, and I see Neil in tears staring at me. I get choked up at seeing tears in my brother’s eyes.
“I didn’t think I’d ever get to see this, Squirt. You’re going to be an amazing mother,” he whispers. “Can Uncle Neil meet his little man?”
I walk over and hand Marcus to him.
“Marcus, this is your uncle,” I choke out.
I stand there and watch my brother bond with his nephew. I feel Dante behind me, and he wraps his arms around me from behind, placing his chin on top of my head. We stand there and watch my brother as he stars at Marcus. His face shows the excitement of finally being an uncle, and the love that he feels for him, shines from his smile. Before the guilt of not going to them right after I escaped can consume me again, I hear my brother speak at Marcus.
“Your grandparents are going to flip when they meet you. Speaking of which, I think we need to let everyone know you’re here. We’re staying for another week at least. Letting everyone know you’re here will be good so they can help keep an eye out. We don’t know if Adams knows your both here,” Neil states, not taking his eyes off our son.
“I agree. Did you ever tell him about the lake, Len?” OPG pipes up from behind us.
“No, I never spoke about you guys when I was there. I kept that part just in my head.
I use to have dreams of us here to help keep me going during the day. I’m sure I didn’t… Fuck!” I scream out and spin around to look up at Dante.
“What?”
“I might’ve mentioned it in school. Actually, I know for a fact I did because I was telling everyone about the family trip we were planning the year before I started my residency. If he remembers that… God Dante what if he remembers where I talked about?”
Dread courses through my body at the thought that he might be able to find us after all.
“Listen to me, Len, nobody will take Marcus or you from me again. Do you understand? I’ll fucking kill anyone who tries. You’re not going anywhere, so get that fucking thought out of your head. You’re not to be left alone until he’s found. Let’s get a bag together and head to the other cabin,” Dante says, holding me close.
I nod against his chest and try to relax. Just when I’m almost calm, it dawns on me that I’m about to see the rest of my family again. I hope they give me time before they’ll want to know what happened to me, because I don’t know if I can retell that story again.
Twenty-Three
DANTE
I suggested OPG and Neil head over to Ms. Cindy’s until we get everything together. We’re just about finished packing when Len states she’s going to get a shower in now because it isn’t often that she can take a shower without having to hurry because of Marcus.
I hear the water turn on, and I immediately go hard at the thought of her in the shower. I can’t stop myself from thinking of all the things I want to do to her. The image of her washing her body has me snapping and making the choice to go and join her in.
I stalk towards the bathroom door, pulling off my clothes as I go. I open the door and see her silhouette through the curtain. I notice it isn’t a big shower, but it’ll do. I can’t wait to get her back home and in our shower.
I make noise so she isn’t startled, I push back the curtain, and she jerks around to face me. I give her a cocky smirk and let my eyes trail down her body as I grab my cock.
