Fractured Hearts (Shattered Lives, Book Three) (58 page)

“This is the first time I have felt safe in a while,” she murmured.

“I’m so fucking glad you feel that way.” I kissed her forehead and turned to my mum. “Well, Mum, this is home.” It felt so weird to have those words run through my head, let alone out of my mouth. “Sorry it’s not a big, beautiful palace. Hopefully, someday we’ll have proper housing.”

She patted me on the back. “It’s perfect,” she murmured with a smile. “Anywhere with my son is perfect.”

“Let’s head in. We’ll have a meeting, then I need some sleep. It’s been a while since I slept more than an hour or two here or there. After tomorrow’s services, I’ll gather a few from the community and we will go back and raid that ship. There’s food, linens, clothing, and medical supplies, yeah?” I asked, hoping she had knowledge of what was on board.

“Yes. There’s plenty of that.” By the looks of my mum’s frail body, I suspect she wasn’t fed very often. That made me angry all over again.

After I dropped the crew off in the cafeteria, I left and came back with the rest of our family, ushering them inside. They all kept looking at my mum, trying to figure her out. She rubbed her arms, obviously feeling uncomfortable from all the unwanted attention. Then they were all staring at us because most of us were covered in blood. And, of course, they were all excited to see Elaina.

“Have a seat everyone. All right. Settle down, please,” I commanded. I took a deep breath and waited for everyone to calm themselves. “If you don’t already know, we lost Thomas last night.” The sorrow I felt was pure and evident, so I paced in front of the group, trying to control my emotions. “He was a
brilliant
lad. I cannot say that enough. And earlier today…” I was still pacing back and forth, running my hands through my hair. “Fuck,” I said to myself. “We lost Josiah.” People broke out crying. Elaina grabbed Josie as her body sagged. “Both were brave young men and I was honored to know them. To be a part of their family.” I held my fist to my heart. James held Savannah as she sobbed. “We will bury them tomorrow. Chris, Jake, or anyone who wants to help… Can you dig the graves after this meeting?”

“Yeah, of course,” Chris murmured.

“Thank you. Also, I want to thank everyone who assisted in the rescue of my beautiful wife.” I smiled at her. I walked up to my mum and took her hand. “Come on,” I whispered as I brought her to the front. “It’s okay.” She nervously looked around. “And this… This is my mother, Anne Richards.” Low whispers circulated around. “Only a few of you know the tainted story of my life. Someday, I will share the entire tale with all of you, but I just wanted to introduce her to you.”

She smiled and wrapped her frail arm around my waist, beaming with pride while looking over the small community I led. That felt so good. I walked her around and personally introduced her to every person.

The last was Gunther. She stepped away from him and hid behind me.

“Mum, it’s okay. He’s not going to hurt us. I promise you.”

“I watched him hurt you for years. He would beat you. He almost killed you! How can you stand here with this
monster
?!” she raged. He looked away from her anger, the emotional pain blazing in his eye.

“Mum, listen to me.” I turned around and took her by her arms. “He has changed. Trust me. The only reason I came to this place was to kill him, but we realized that we are cut from the same cloth and we needed to stand united in order to defeat Roger.”

“Ms. Richards…” Gunther took one step forward, bouncing a fussy Grey on his shoulder. “I
beg
for your forgiveness. I apologize for everything I have done. Henry has accepted me and forgave me. I found my true self thanks to Quinn, who has now passed because of those bastards. Look at this little joy right here. I could never hurt anyone again.” Tears formed in his eye. “I beg you to forgive me. It would mean the world to me. I will show you that I’m a changed man. I want to prove that to you.”

Examining Gunther—severe facial injuries, obvious upper body injury—trying to bounce a rather large baby, she asked, “May I hold him?”

Gunther smiled. “Of course.”

Reaching up, she took Grey from Gunther’s shoulder, rocking back and forth, singing to him. In a blink, he calmed down. I watched, knowing she must have cared for me in the same manner.

“He’s beautiful,” she murmured, lips to Grey’s ear.

“Thanks. He’s my saving grace.” Gunther smiled, looking away once again. “I’m a very lucky man to have received such a gift.”

I scratched at my hair, feeling nervous about what I was about to tell Gunther. I felt he needed to know. “Uhh… Listen, mate. There was a recruit on the ship. Late teens, maybe even as old as twenty…”

“Yeah?” Gunther asked expectantly.

“He looked just like you. Face, coloring, body structure… It was eerie.”

He blew out a breath. “Is he…?”

“True dead. Did you know of any kids?”

“No. I want to go see him,” he said in a whisper.

“We threw them all overboard. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay. Thank you for telling me.” His hand quickly wiped a tear from his face.

Redirecting the conversation in a flash, my mum turned toward me. “Do you have babies?” I shook my head. “Well, I hope my son will give me a grandchild someday.” She turned and smiled at Elaina.

I wrapped my arm around my wife’s shoulders. I hoped so, as well.

Opening the door to our room, I murmured, “Love, I’m beyond exhausted. I don’t even know if there is a word that describes it.”

“You’ve barely slept in ages.” She looked at the bandage that was peeking out under my sleeve and touched it with shaking fingers.

“It’s okay, love. Knife wound. Cora stitched it the best she could. I haven’t looked at it yet. All I know is it hurt like hell. Still does. I passed out from the pain. I will look at it later when I change the bandage.”

“That’s why you screamed. I thought they killed you.”

“I fought to stay alive for you.”

“I’m so glad you found your mom and now you know the truth.”

“Me, too. I don’t know about Sophie’s kids, though. I want to ask her about that later.”

“I need to tell you something…” I hoped with every fiber of my being that Roger didn’t hurt her. With fear, I nodded, awaiting her news, my hands covering my face to brace for the worst. “I know how they found us. They have been watching you and Gunther the entire time.”

I lowered my hands. “How? We cut out our tracking devices.”

“Not all of them.”

I looked at her. “What do you mean?” Elaina tapped me on my head. I ran my fingers over where they repaired my fractured skull. “You can’t be serious.”

“Henry, your mom told me. When they operated on you, they put one in there.”

“So Gunther has one, too?”

“Yeah.” I shook my head and scrubbed my face.
What’s one more thing? Fuck me.
“No matter what’s in here, he doesn’t own you anymore.”

I’ll let the demons be the judge of that, but there was ample hope the voices would be gone now that I put a bullet in Roger’s head. “I don’t want to think about anything right now.”

I leaned in and kissed her undamaged cheek. Pulling away, I examined the cut on her face and the split in her lip. Thankfully, it wasn’t that bad. It was more like a scratch, but the split was a bit garish. It made me so fucking angry to see what Roger did to her beautiful face. “Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you?” My hands trembled as I touched her face, tracing the line of her cut, then touching the split in her lip. “Please tell me he didn’t harm you in anyway besides this? I don’t think I could handle knowing…”

“I’m fine,” she said with confidence.

“He never…”

“No. You blew through the door just in time. My hero.”

“Oh god, Elaina. I thought I lost you forever. I don’t…” Tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks. “I was so fucking scared,” I croaked.

“It’s okay, Henry. You didn’t and will never lose me. I’m right here, lover.”

“I need to rest,” I whispered.

“Come on. Let’s get you into bed.”

I stripped out of my dirty clothes. Before I crawled into bed, I said, “I’m sick about Thomas.”

“Me, too,” she murmured.

“I just…” I covered my face.

She pulled my hands away, holding them in a firm, reassuring grip. “Henry, don’t do this to yourself. You did everything you could for him.”

“He was such a good lad, Elaina.”

“I know. I loved him like a brother, but he knew what he was getting into standing guard with you. You did well by him. He would have never survived as long as he did if you didn’t take him under your wing. Tomorrow, we will have a nice service for him and Josiah.”

Once we snuggled up, Elaina played with my hair and smiled at me. Regardless of our losses, it was the most content I had been in my life.

It had been about a month since we rescued my mum and Elaina from Roger’s filthy grip. Things had finally calmed, and the community had settled into a routine.

Everyone’s injuries were healing nicely. Gunther and I both still had some ill-effects from ours, but the important thing was Elaina’s and my mum’s facial injuries had healed.

Elaina was trying to wake me, but I wasn’t ready yet. Between cleaning up the grounds and the killer workouts I had been doing, I was exhausted. Not to mention the mind-bending orgasm from an epic blow job before we went to sleep… My wife was amazing.

“Henry?” She ran her fingers over my lips. “Wake up.” I groaned. “Please. I have to show you something.” I jacked one eye open. “You awake?”

Sleepy grit took hold of my throat. “Yeah.” I sat up on my elbows and rubbed my eyes. According to the dim moonlight coming through the one window, it wasn’t even dawn yet. “Why are you so bloody perky this early? Go back to sleep, woman.” As I nestled back down in the blankets, Elaina held up a white stick. I squinted my eyes at it. “What’s that?”

“A test.”

“A test for… Wait.” Then my eyes opened wide. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? For real?”

“Yes. We’re going to have a baby!”

I grabbed her and held so tight. “I can’t believe this,” I murmured in her ear. “I love you so much.” She pulled out of my arms and I had the biggest smile on my face while touching her abdomen. “There’s a baby in here?” I was in shock.

Teary-eyed, she smiled at me. “Yup. You’re going to be a daddy.”

“Can we tell my mum?”

“Of course, but she’s probably still sleeping.”

“I don’t care. She’d want to know right away.” I jumped out of bed and dressed, grabbed her hand, and dragged Elaina out of our room and down to my mum’s.

She was staying in Nick’s old room. Elaina had finally allowed us to move his stuff out and someone else to use it. I felt honored that it was my mum.

“Henry, are you sure you want to wake her?”

“Yes. She’d be bent if I didn’t.”

I pounded on her door and Elaina waited next to me, the stick in her hand.

She cracked it open and looked confused. “It’s quite early, son. Is something wrong?”

“No. Can we come in?” I bounced on the balls of my feet. “We have news.” She opened the door and waved us in. I was so excited, my mum looked at me like I was a nutter. “Go on… Show her.” I pushed Elaina forward and she laughed because I was being so overzealous.

Without a second to spare, I grabbed Elaina’s arm, holding it up to show my mum the test stick.

She gasped. “Congratulations!” She embraced both of us. “I am so happy for you!”

“Me, too. We’ve talked about this and how it hadn’t happened yet. It must have been bad timing, but now… I don’t know. I’m just so happy and scared,” Elaina rambled.

And that’s when it hit her, and she started bawling.

“Oh, honey. It’s going to be okay.” My mum pulled her into her thin body.

I was confused as to why Elaina was crying. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she cried. “I’m just so…”

“Never mind her tears, Henry. Get used to them. Hormones.”

“Ohhhh, I got you. I suppose I will need some words of wisdom from Gunther on how to deal with this. Well, we’ll leave you be so you can go back to sleep.”

“Do you honestly think I can go back to sleep after you told me I’m going to be a grandmother?”

“No, probably not.” Shoving my hand through my hair, I laughed. “I should get someone back to bed, though.” I raised a brow at my pregnant wife.

“Don’t you
dare
treat me like I’m porcelain, Henry!” Elaina vehemently yelled at me.

My eyes grew big, then I looked at my mum. “Hormones, son. Hormones,” she chuckled, patting me on the back as we left the room.

I met with my mum later in the day. Elaina wasn’t feeling all that hot and decided to spend the majority of the day in bed with a book and, just in case, a bucket.

After lunch, we were chatting about the baby. “I’m so excited for you. I can’t even begin to tell you.” I nodded, but then my thoughts grew distant. “What’s on your mind, son?”

I was curious about Sophie’s kids. I had tried to put it out of my mind because I felt I was failing at something else, but it was a good time to ask. It took me a few moments to gather the words I wanted to say.

Nothing sounded right, so I just blurted it out. “Sophie… She had two children.” Her face dropped, which caused me to furrow my brows. “Before she passed, I promised her I would find them and care for them. And with Elaina being pregnant, I feel guilty that I haven’t put forth any effort with hers yet.” Any and all happiness drained from her eyes. Then she put her face in her skeletal hands. “Mum? Kellan said they were with you back in a safe house.”

“I’m sorry.” She got up and left the cafeteria in haste.

“Mum? Mum, wait.” I called after her and caught her in the hallway.

“Son, I can’t do this right now.” She tried to pull away from my grip. “This is not something we need to discuss in your time of happiness. Besides, it’s not like you can just hop on a plane and go over there.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders. She was so much smaller than me that I towered over her. “I owe it to Sophie. I promised her. I can’t break my promise. I’m a man of my word.” I searched her face.

She sighed. “I know. I know.” We noticed several others watching the interaction as they were filing into the cafeteria. “Let’s go talk in private.” I had a sick feeling this conversation wasn’t going to be good. Letting go of her arm, I followed her down to her room. “Have a seat.”

“I’m fine.” I crossed my arms, glaring at her.

“Henry, don’t you dare shift into program mode on me,” she scolded. “I can’t handle you like that.”

Angry that she spoke to me in that tone, I yelled, “I’m not a fucking child!”

“
I am your mother
. Do not be disrespectful and yell at me. I don’t care how old you are!” she snapped back. “I put up with enough abuse through my life, and you yelling at me will not get you the answers you desire.”

“I’m sorry. Just tell me,” I growled.

My patience had left as I watched my mum lean against the desk with no urgency to her motions or thoughts. She rubbed her hands together in front of her mouth a few times. I paced while I waited for her to tell me whatever it was that she was going to tell me.

“Sophie didn’t have any children,” she murmured into her hands. Then she crossed her arms in front of her chest, ready to deflect the anger she knew was going to come at her like a tornado.

Indignantly, I shouted, “What?! Yes, she did! She showed me a picture of a little lad and lass. Anna and Samuel were their names.”

Taking one frightened step toward me, she shook her head. “Son, listen to me… That was part of her speech to try and get you back into the program.”

It took a moment before I could respond. “No…” My fists clenched at my sides, not wanting to believe Sophie would betray me in that way. “She said Roger and Kellan raped her repeatedly. They were the fathers. Kellan confirmed it himself before I let him turn.”

“Yes, they did abuse her in that way, but she never became pregnant. That picture was swiped from one of the lab tech’s offices… Erik’s kids.”

I growled, “How do you even know?”

“I overheard many conversations. Roger would lock me in a closet in his office if someone besides Drew or Kellan showed. One of the conversations I overheard was him instructing Sophie of the different methods she could use to get you back. Everything from seduction, to making you feel she was in danger, to having children. He knew how protective you were of her.”

“This doesn’t make sense. Why would she continue with the story if she had no intention of going back? Her original orders were to drag me back, but she realized I wasn’t leaving Elaina no matter what.” I paced and pulled at my hair.

“I don’t know, son. Maybe it was something she needed in her life. Something she wanted to believe in.”

So fucking hurt, I yelled, “It doesn’t make sense! Why would she lie to me?!”

“I don’t know. I wish I had all the answers for you.”

“A piece of me died when she died.” My voice shook, feeling tears on the horizon. “For most of my youth, I thought I was in love with her. I was beaten several times for protecting her. She was the first girl I ever had sex with. We were as together as we could be in that environment. She was forced to watch me being forced to do awful things when we had been caught.” I shuddered and wanted to vomit, reliving some of my past. “Then I was assigned to the States. She would call me all upset, saying she wished she could have come with me or wished that I would come back. After being out of touch with her for a while, I fell madly for Elaina. Then I was horrible to Sophie, calling her for advice when I fucked things up with Elaina.” I shook my head in anger, realizing what I did to Sophie. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“I know and I’m sorry you were misled. Maybe she still had hopes of getting you back. Getting you to go back to the program and to have your protection again. They were terrible to her without you there.”

“I don’t know what to believe, Mum.”

She stepped toward me and took my hands. “Listen, she was just as abused as you were. Maybe it was just something she wanted so badly, she would’ve done anything to get you back. Maybe she thought if she could convince you she had kids and they needed protection, you would run back to the program, back to her. To protect her from the vile creatures that violated her over and over again.” I nodded. “Don’t feel like she betrayed you. She was fed lies just like you were. Fragmented, just like you. Broken, just like you. Forgive her. She loved you.” I didn’t know what to think, but I wrapped my arms around her.

After a long embrace, she stepped back and took my hands. “You’re graying. You need a fix?”

“Yeah, actually, I do,” I muttered.

“Well, all you have to do is ask.”

“No, absolutely not. I’m not taking from you. I’ll find someone else.”

“I’m more than willing to help you. You’re my son. I couldn’t help you as a lad, but I can now.”

“No. You’ve been through enough. I will be fine.” I was adamant.

“All right. If you get desperate, I will be here for you. But don’t let yourself go too long. I can’t lose you again.”

I kissed her cheek and left her room. I needed to get out of there, grab a quick fix from someone, and burn off some steam. I wasn’t exactly sure how, though.

Minutes later, I ran into Chris and Jake. Jake gave me a few vials, then the two of them spotted me while I lifted. Afterwards, I spent some time teaching both of them a few kickboxing moves.