Page 19 of Avenging Laura

“Her left arm was broken in two places. Her right arm and shoulder were shattered. Her right leg was broken in three places. She had a broken pelvic bone. Her right cheekbone was shattered as well as the eye socket. She had brain bleeding and internal bleeding as well from whatever torture they inflicted on her. She was torn vaginally which tells me she was raped brutally. All in all, this woman is lucky as hell to even be alive. She’d lost a vast amount of blood due to the injuries she received. How the hell she managed to take out a man and shoot another is a miracle in itself.”

Dominick had to reach for Highlander when he started to buckle at the extensiveness of her injuries. He never heard the rest of what was being said. They had tortured and violated his wife.

“Mr. MacLeod. Mr. MacLeod?”

“A-aye,” Highlander stammered looking up at the doctor.

“I will take you to your wife. You can stay for a few minutes, but she is heavily sedated. I’m sorry but it’s immediate family only. Her husband, father, brother, and grandmother will be the only ones able to go in. If she has any other immediate family, that will be it. Tonight though, only her husband. I’m sorry.”

“Go. She needs you. I can see her another time. She doesn’t know me. At least not yet,” General McCoy advised Highlander who was looking at him as if he wasn’t sure what to do.

When Highlander nodded at Laura’s biological father after looking around the room for a few seconds, he turned to follow the doctor out of the room toward his wife. He was already plotting on how to kill every motherfucker involved in trying to destroy his wife. He didn’t believe in putting hands on a woman, but Maria was the only one he would ignore that rule for. He would personally end that bitch’s life if it was the last fucking thing he did.

Walking into the room they had assigned to Laura, it took everything for him to stay standing on his own two feet. He’d seen her when she was found in that hellhole of a bunker. But now that she was cleaned up, all the blood, dirt, and grime removed from her skin, he could see the extensiveness of the damage. He will burn this planet down to get to Cyrus and every other person who was involved in their quest to destroy the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

He will live up to the nickname “Beast” that she gave him. He will become a villainous beast to avenge his wife.

“We’ll find them, son. You have my word that I will stop at nothing to find the men who tried to take your wife, my d-d-daughter from you and from this world. I have yet to know her, other than the stories I’ve heard my men in the waiting room have shared about her and her team. I pray that when she’s ready, she’ll give me a chance to know her,” General McCoy choked up as he spoke of what he planned.

“She’s going to need all of us, sir. Ye included. I know my wife, once she finds out that David is not her biological father, that ye are, she will be relieved. When she finds out that ye were never told about her, that will be the final nail in Kathy’s coffin. That woman has treated my lass horribly,” Highlander said as he walked into Laura’s room completely.

“My grandmother will never forgive herself over that either,” Dominick quietly said as he walked into the room.

“She had to have known!” General McCoy replied with anger in his voice.

“She didn’t, sir. I know my mother better than anyone in this room. If Mom thought Laura was going to be better treated than she was, she would have lied for Dad. I don’t know why Mom hated Laura so much. She has never explained that to me. I believe my grandmother didn’t know. She has been beating herself up. Clifford, one of the bodyguards, has even let it slip that she’s been crying herself to sleep, talking to my grandfather’s ashes that are in her room, telling him she’s failed him and us because she didn’t know how badly Kathy had allowed us to be treated.”

“Kathy is on the run.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Highlander, Dominick, and General McCoy turned around at the statement that Jeannette made from the doorway. She stood in the doorway, pale, withdrawn, and frail looking with her two bodyguards standing close, the worry clearly etched on their faces.

“What makes you say that, Grandma?” Dominick stepped closer to the elderly woman.

“Cliff’s brother is another one of my cabana boys. They are twins. Still can’t get them to wear skimpy underwear. Spoil sports,” Jeannette said before she started to sway.

Highlander jumped into action. He could see what Dominick was saying now. This woman was beating herself up for what happened to his lass. It wasn’t her fault.

“Ms. Jeannette, ye are not responsible for what happened to my lass. Ye daughter is. Ye daughter is not ye responsibility once she is out of the home. I know ye and ye late husband would have done everything ye could have had ye known what was happening in the home. Like Dom stated in the waiting room, in a way, Kathy protected ye from David’s wrath had ye stepped in. Did she go about it in a selfish way, yes. But it kept ye alive andsafe so that ye are here now to help us take him down while we make sure ye are protected in every way possible.”

The look of hope and despair that warred in the older woman’s eyes nearly did Highlander in. When she patted his cheeks and thanked him for his words, Highlander wanted to let the tears he was fighting fall. This was his lass’s grandmother. Behind him stood her father. His lass had a fighting chance no matter what the hell had happened to her at the hands of Cyrus.

“You said that Kathy had a watcher?” General McCoy said, getting the conversation back on track.

“Oh, yes. Clifford’s brother was keeping an eye on her. He used to be under you, apparently, General. Clifford said he and his brother served Delta when he saw you. Anyhoo, Kathy went into the house, and never came out. When we set up a delivery to the house, the twat she has in the home said she wasn’t there. I had them search the house and found a tunnel in the home.” Jeannette shifted toward the general.

“Why would she need one of those in the home? Did Kathy ever participate in any spy games or anything like that?” General McCoy looked at the small group in confusion.

“No.” Dominick shook his head. “Mom always had an escape route. It’s something to do with Dad. When she didn’t want to be bothered by him, she would send one of us in to catch his ire so she could escape him. Honestly, I’m surprised Laura was the only one she wound up pregnant with considering how many times she stepped out on Dad. Any time she found out about one of his mistresses, she cheated on him.”

“How did your father treat you?” General McCoy questioned as he looked over at Dominick.

“At first, he was great. When Laura came along, he got distant with me because I was happy that she was here. He didn’t approve that I spent my time with her or wanted to play with her growing up. Eventually he stopped coming around orhaving anything to do with me. He tried a few times as I got older to bring me into the fold, but I wanted nothing to do with him. When I joined the Army, that really pissed him off. I was disowned. Our family only joined the Marines.”

“What happened once you left for the Army?” General McCoy sat down in one of the guest chairs, deflating.

“They took it as free reign to mess with Laura, apparently,” Dominick huffed out, pulling one of the other chairs closer to him to sit across from the general.

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