Page 7 of Gypsy Angel

“No ma’am. I’m not ok. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ok after the call I received this morning. But I am going to do my damnedest to explain everything to you guys. I just need you all to be patient with me. Once I’m done. I just hope that you guys will forgive me and not hate me.” Diesel said quietly, looking at her teammates, one at a time.

“Diesel, we could never hate you. You are family to us. We will always have your back!” Pratt told Diesel, enforcing her words with each step as she walked up to Diesel and hugged her tightly.

“I just hope you guys feel that way after what I have to say.”

“Does this have to do with Colorado?” Sgt. Brocard asked, staring Diesel down hard.

“No and yes.” Diesel answered hesitantly, moving further into the living room.

“Okay, that doesn’t explain anything. Care to elaborate?” Captain Irby asked, crossing her arms across her chest as she sat down on the couch by Sgt. Brocard.

Diesel sighed heavily, pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace as she contemplated her next words. The team kept exchanging looks trying to figure out what had Diesel so out of sorts. She may be the whacky member who spouted shit out of nowhere, the ones the kids loved because she was kooky in her own way and the eccentric aunt since she rode a motorcycle. But Diesel was the one who would give the shirt off of her back and was the first one to be there if anyone needed anything. To say they were worried was an understatement.

“When I was fifteen, my parents arranged a marriage with Frank Kreiger’s parents back in my hometown of Forrest City, Arkansas. When I refused to marry him, three of my brother’s held me down as Kreiger raped and beat me before leaving me for dead in an alleyway.”

SIX

The room went utterly quiet at Diesel’s blurted statement. Diesel held her breath, even when Highlander handed her a glass half full of whiskey. She downed half the glass before she allowed herself to even look at any of her teammates.

Her teammates. Her true family in the sense of the word. Her sisters. She never talked about her family or her past. When asked, she would change the subject.

Suddenly the room exploded with curse words. She could only stand there as they vented their anger at what she’d just revealed. It was several minutes before Captain Irby’s husband, Larry, let out a piercing whistle to get everyone’s attention. Once everyone had settled down, all eyes turned to her.

“My family is Ukrainian Gypsy’s. My great-grandparents were born in Russia but migrated to the Ukraine. It was where my parents were born until they moved to the US after my second oldest brother was born. My grandfather had gotten a job in Arkansas where his brother lived. The area where I grew up is mostly Ukrainian Gypsy.”

“That’s why you knew who Krieger was. Krieger is a German name though…” Pratt said, leaning forward, her elbow on her knees.

“Yes. While most of the town is Gypsy, there are some German Gypsy’s there that have mixed in the bloodline. Krieger’s father owns two of the plants in town where the men work as well as a few other businesses. Krieger’s family is considered Gypsy royalty, or what we would consider mafia tied. While neither the Italians or Irish mafia’s would have shit to do with them, they aren’t one to play with. Hell, even the Russian Bratva refuses to recognize them, but they are wealthy and are well known. They pretty much run the town. What they say goes.” Diesel informed the team.

She nodded thanks when Highlander brought her another glass of whiskey once she had drained that glass, before sitting down next to Pratt, rubbing her back. “Ok. Ye have told us that secret. What does this meeting have to do with that. Ye know we all have ye back, lass.”

Diesel stared at Highlander for several seconds before she could answer. “Because I’m nowhere near finished. I needed you and Marcus here because I need to know that once I’m finished, you two are prepared to keep this team safe. I will do what I have to do to keep them safe on my end. But they will need you both, your brothers and your teams to keep them safe. Krieger is going to unleash hell on them once Lester calls him and tells him that I am alive or who I’m associated with.”

“Diesel, what the hell are you talking about?” Captain Irby asked, she leaned forward, staring at Diesel hard.

“Let me explain a little more. My father became the right-hand man to Krieger’s father. My parents had ten children all together. Boys were the desired commodity since they were the ones who worked. The girls were not desired since they cost money and then the father’s had to find someone to marry them off to. Women didn’t get a high school degree. Once we hit fifteen, they were groomed to please their spouses. We are forced to learn how to cook, clean, keep a good home, take care of the bills, please their husbands, in and out of the bedroom, we weren’t allowed to ask questions and it was yes sir, no sir.”

“Damn, no wonder you’re hell on wheels and don’t want to get married!” Rameriez commented, causing a few of the teammates to chuckle.

“Aye, it does explain a lot, but I feel like we are still missing something.” Marcus agreed with Rameriez.

“Well maybe if you all shut up and let the woman finish…” Pratt growled out, nodding at Diesel to continue.

Diesel took a drink of her whiskey as she started to pace some more. “When I was fifteen, it was agreed upon that I would marry Krieger. He is an asshole of massive proportion. His view of marriage was typical. I wouldn’t be able to say a word if he wanted to fuck a woman in front of me, I would have to sit there and watch, if it pleased him. I would have had to do whatever he told me and not say a word. It didn’t matter to my parents I was a straight A student or that I was on the fast track to scholarships to whatever university I wanted. I was an abomination to my parents, and they wanted me married off so that I could get those crazy dreams out of my head.”

“Uh, fuck that noise. I know I can speak for Red on this one, either one of these MacLeod fuckers ever told us that, not only would their dicks be hacked off with a rusty fucking butter knife. Their own momma would also come help bury their asses in the backyard and never file a missing person’s report.” Raso said, glaring at her husband as if he had done something wrong in Diesel’s statement.

“Thank the heavens that would never happen lass. Because if my brother ever told ye or my lass that, I would be burying his arse right alongside ye.” Highlander said, pulling Pratt into his lap when she glared at him during Raso’s statement.

“Wait, you have a high school degree. You have it listed on your application.” Captain Irby stated, interrupting the marriage squabble.

Diesel nodded at her captain’s statement. “When the marriage arrangement was announced, it was announced in front of the whole town with me and Krieger standing there. He knew about it, but I was blindsided by the news. I refused the marriage in front of everyone. I had embarrassed not only my family but his as well. In Gypsy culture you did what your father said, or you were disowned.”

“You said Krieger raped you. When did that happen?” Captain Irby asked Diesel as she shifted in her seat.

“My brother Dymtrius came up to me outside the library where I was. I always snuck into the town away from ours to go to their library to read and study. When I came out, I was cornered by four of my brothers and Krieger. I was dragged into an alleyway, beaten by them for shaming them and then repeatedly raped and assaulted by Krieger. I was left beaten and bloodied in the alley way.

“The librarians had been coming out to dump the trash when she found me. She called the cops, and I was taken to the hospital. Luckily the officer who responded to the call knew about Ukrainian Gypsy’s their lifestyle. When I told her what had happened, instead of calling my parents, she called a friend who helped young girls like me escape. A few days later, I was taken out of the hospital in the middle of the night and sent to a home to help me heal and deal with the trauma I had gone through. A few months later, I found out I was pregnant from the rape…”

---