Page 21 of Avenging Laura

Fuck that shit hurt. Looking around the room now that she was awake, she saw Highlander had been camped in the chair beside her bed on the left side of her bed. Her right arm and shoulder were in a special cast while her left arm and hand were in a normal cast. She could tell her right leg was in a cast, too.

“How’s the pain level, lass? Need me to ring the nurse?”

“How bad was it when you found me?” Laura hesitantly looked over at Highlander.

“Bad. Ye actually tried to take out Ghost when he found ye. Ye thought he was going to harm the little girl ye saved.” Highlander chuckled as he took her good hand in his.

“The little girl?” Laura asked, remembering the young girl whose screams she had heard.

“She’s ok. She had minor bruises and cuts. She was released into protective custody yesterday. The team is having her under protection since Cyrus managed to escape through a tunnel.”

“Serenity and Jade?” Laura remembered the words Cyrus whispered to her when he was sexually assaulting her.

“They were put under protection, too. Joker is with them. Commander Hurt has that under control, lass.”

“Our kids?”

“Safe. Like I told ye yesterday, lass, Ash is here along with my parents and siblings. They are protected to the nines. No one is going to get to the wee ones.”

Laura leaned her head back against the bed and closed her eyes. He never did answer her question. She now knew how bad it was.

“Tell me, Joe. I remember bits and pieces. How bad was I when you found me?”

“Ye right shoulder and arm are shattered. They had to piece the bones back together. Ye have rods and screws holding them together currently. Ye left arm is broken in two places. Ye right leg is broken in a couple of places. Ye pelvic bone is broken, several broken ribs. Shattered cheekbone.”

“H-how bad was I raped?” Laura stammered as she asked the question.

She couldn’t look at him to see his disappointment in her. They tried to break her every which way they could. Maria knew her one fear once she had committed herself to Joe. She used it.

“Ye had some vaginal tears. They fixed them.”

“I-I tried to fight them off. Th-they tortured me for several days. When I didn’t break, especially when my father and Maria demanded answers from me, Maria ordered Cyrus to break me the one way she knew I would crumble since I was married to you. They all laughed about how y-you wouldn’t want a ruined woman and that was their present t-t-to you,” Laura sobbed, refusing to look at Highlander as she spoke.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Highlander saw red. That bitch! He was going to enjoy watching the life drain from her fucking eyes.

While he knew violence wasn’t the answer, these last two weeks had shown him sometimes it was. They dared to touch his wife and harmed her not only physically but mentally and emotionally.

“Lass, look at me.”

When she didn’t look at him, he counted to three and repeated his request. When she failed to look at him again, he reached out with a finger and turned her face toward him.

“Laura, I love ye. I don’t care what they said or did. One, they will pay for laying a finger on ye and hurting ye. I promise ye that. Two, there is nothing in this world that will make me consider ye ruined or tainted. Ye did not ask them to rape ye, beat ye, or anything else that they have done to ye. Ye are my wife. My heart and soul, lass.”

“I’m damaged goods!” Laura cried loudly, staring him in the eyes.

“Did ye willingly have sex? Did ye tell him to stick his cock in ye?” Highlander yelled, meeting her voice level.

“No!” Laura yelled at him.

“Then ye are not damaged goods, Laura. Ye had your choices taken from ye. He raped ye because he was ordered to by a woman who is jealous of ye. Ye will always be more of a woman that that bitch ever will be. Ye have family, friends,peoplewho will fight the world to find ye, protect ye, and defend ye. She has no one. She will be cast out to the enemy the minute her usefulness runs out. She is expendable. Ye are priceless.”

Highlander knew it would take time for her to accept his words. She would fight him every step of the way because they hurt her deeply. He knew he would have to be patient and take his time with his wife.

He would do what needed to be done to make her see that he wasn’t going anywhere. He was in it for the long haul. He loved his wife.

“M-my dad said something that didn’t make sense.” Laura sniffled as she looked up at him.

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