Page 18 of Avenging Laura

“What did you find in the tunnels?” General McCoy questioned as he joined the group.

“Just the blood. Whomever it was, Laura got him good. I believe she took Ziegler’s gun and shot at whomever it was. We must have set off a silent alarm somewhere or when she passed out, he took off. One or the other. The tunnel ran for about a mile and a half and came out off base. We found tire tracks, so they must have had a getaway vehicle stashed in case they needed it.” Diesel rubbed her face with her hands.

“Any word on Laura yet?” Raso looked over at Highlander.

“Nurse just came in and said she was still in surgery. It’s going to be a while yet. Said she sustained a lot of injuries.” Highlander sighed deeply as he pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration.

“She’s a fighter, MacLeod. She will get through this. No matter what!” Captain Irby glared at Highlander for thinking the worst.

“Aye. She is. She will. I just hate the not knowing. I can’t help but think I’m still in this nightmare and whoever hurt her will come back to finish the job.”

“Cyrus Placid,” Sheriff Phillips answered as he walked into the room. “I had forensics put a mad rush on anything and everything related to this case. I hate doing it, but all other cases are on pause while forensics puts this case number one priority. The blood found in the tunnel belongs to this Cyrus fucker. Thanks to Dominick’s assistance, we were able to verify that he’s the son of David Pratt. A bolo is now being issued for his arrest, his mother’s arrest, and we are reissuing the one for David and Maria Pratt.”

“Check for property in Deanna’s name, my daughter’s name, or these names that are in this folder.”

Everyone in the room turned around when Jeannette walked into the room, assisted by two bodyguards, one on each side ofher. She walked up to Sheriff Phillips and handed him the folder she had in her hands.

“Ma’am?”

“I had my guy look into a few things. Kathy’s name was found on a few purchases of land over the last fifteen years. Deanna’s name is on several and there are four other names on this list that has an association with that waste of space.”

“Your guy? Grandma why do you sound like…” Dominick started to ask but stopped as he looked at his grandmother in shock.

“Son, the one thing your mother nor your sperm donor never knew was how much your grandfather and I were worth. Your grandfather’s family and mine are what your younger generations like to call old money. Your great grandfather gave your grandfather fifty thousand dollars and told him to figure out how to make it grow into more. My grandfather did the same thing after they arranged our marriage. Today, our income is vastly more than theirs combined. You can say I am the richest, mean old bitch on the planet. I still work at the company, travel the world for the company and still have enough fire in me to piss people off. Any more questions, son?”

“Um no, Grandma. I’m glad you’re on our side.”

“You’re saying your daughter, and her ex-husband never knew the extent of your wealth?” Captain Irby asked, looking at Jeannette strangely.

“None. Captain, I don’t live in a fancy mansion, wear fancy clothes, drive a fancy car. I don’t waste my money that way. Yes, I have these two good looking boys following me everywhere. I own a vast amount of land and a few other things. But I don’t throw my wealth in people’s faces. I know it’s sad to say, but I didn’t trust Kathy. My husband and I sure as hell didn’t trust that asshat she married. It had nothing to do with the fact he was in the Marine Corps. It was his attitude, the way he carriedhimself and how he demanded money from my late husband to marry Kathy. I get what she did was wrong. At the time, I wasn’t aware of what she had done. She let it out after they had already been married, and she’d had Dominick and Laura.” Jeannette sighed as she walked over to a seat in the waiting room and sat down.

“Did he know how rich you were at the time?” General McCoy sat next to Jeannette.

“No. He knew we weren’t poor. He also knew we could give him the five hundred thousand he demanded as a dowery to marry Kathy. He never asked for another penny when he was given it either.”

“Fuck! That five hundred thousand was the seed money he needed to invest in his portion of his father’s business to get their foot into the door of the Armstrong deal!”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Arrow is believed to be worth several hundred million by now,” Wolf read out loud from the notes he’d found.

“His father was worth several million at the time of his death. I admit I dropped the ball on this one, Dominick. I will never forgive myself for that. I have no excuses. I should have fought harder where you and Laura were concerned,” Jeannette admitted, the sadness being heard in her voice.

“You couldn’t have known, Grandma. Dad was good at hiding things and Mom didn’t care as long as he was focused on us and not her. Mom would have lied for him unless she had been paid by you to give us away.” Dominick admitted to his grandmother, sighing as he crouched down in front of her. “Dad would have exploited you after Grandpa died if he thought he could have gotten away with it. Mom never talked about a brother or sister, so Dad would have swooped in and tried to take you out. In a way, Mom protected you from him.”

“Pratt family?”

Everyone turned as a male in scrubs walked into the waiting room. Highlander, General McCoy, Dominick, and Jeannette stood up and walked over to the man standing at the entrance to the waiting room.

“I’m her husband. This is her father, brother, and grandmother,” Highlander answered the man.

“Your wife made it through surgery. Because of the extent of the injuries she’s suffered, we’ve put her in an induced coma for the next several days to give her body time to heal without stress. I’m sorry we couldn’t save the pregnancy, but we were able to save everything else so that if you two choose to, you can try again in the future.”

“S-s-she was pregnant?” Highlander stumbled at the news.

“I take it you didn’t know. To be honest, I don’t think she knew either. She was still in the early stages. With it being flu season, she probably thought she’d caught the bug,” the doctor advised, trying to calm Highlander down.

“Doctor, what were the extent of my granddaughter’s injuries? Will she recover fully?” Jeannette asked as she placed her hand on Highlander’s arm in comfort.

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