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Jennie flinched at my words and I regretted them instantly. Not the words themselves but the way I said them. I saw the stress fill her body, how she cowered away from me.
Fuck!
"I'm sorry," I whispered. I wanted to reach out and touch her, to pull her to me and tell her whatever had been happening to her would never happen again, that whoever was hurting her would be buried in a shallow grave by dawn.
"It's okay," she breathed. Nervously, she looked around, over her shoulder. People were still staring, less, but I could tell she didn't like the attention. "Can we not do this here?"
"Yeah, come on." I went to grab her arm, wrap an arm around her, pull her close. Thankfully, I was smart enough to stop myself in time. I didn't have permission to touch her anymore. I didn't know if I ever would again.
"My kids." Her words stopped me dead in my tracks. I knew she had them, and I should have been smart enough to put two and two together and know she wouldn't have shown up here without them. "They're in the car."
"Let's go."
I followed her outside, watching her body move. She looked like every step she took hurt her. If I got her out of those clothes, how many more bruises would I find on her body?
She pulled the backdoor to an SUV open. "Whose ride?"
"The club's."
"Fuck. Does it have GPS tracking?" Her eyes widened in realization.
"Shit, probably."
I nodded as I dropped to the ground, rolling under, looking for the GPS. Finding it easily, I pulled it off. Jack would need to hack it and make it look like it'd never been here.
"Can you grab him?" she asked when I stood, pointing with her head to the door. She had a little girl in her arms, the girl's head resting on her shoulder.
"Yeah." I swallowed thickly, my throat suddenly dry. How many times in my life had I pictured this exact moment? Her. Me. Our fucking kids.
Her son looked smaller than her daughter as I scooped him into my arms. He sighed against me.
Only one thought went through my head. Mine. My fucking woman. My fucking kids. Even if it wasn't Taehyung who was putting his hands on her, it was him who fucking let someone do it, and me she ran to at the first opportunity.
"Follow me," I whispered when I had control of my emotions. Because the clinic was downstairs, my bedroom was attached to the back of it. Which turned out to be real fucking convenient right now, because that meant I could get some shit out of the nursery for the kids to sleep in and let them sleep in the clinic, locking it up tight so they could sleep, and maybe let them feel safe, let Jennie feel safe.
Jennie followed behind me, but she knew where we were going. She spent so much time here before I enlisted.
Head snapped in our direction again as we walked through the bar. Jack was nowhere to be seen, which meant he was upstairs getting his dick sucked. He was gonna have to fucking pause that shit because I had a job for him.
Jennie and I set her kids on my bed, and then I nodded at her. "Come on, let's go raid the nursery."
"Nursery?" she asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.
"You been gone a long time, babe. Lots changed."
I saw her swallow. "Your kids?" she whispered, looking down.
"No. I don't have kids. Or a woman."
Her eyes flashed up to mine, and I could read the relief in them. Looking at her, it felt like no time had passed, like I could still read every thought in her pretty head without even having to try.
"Jaehyun, Seokmin, Ten. They've all got old ladies now. Shit, even Nickhun and Lucas." She let out a low whistle, shock evident on her face now. "There's like a dozen kids between them, so we've got nannies and a nursery."
"Regular family company these days," she muttered.
"Something like that." She gave her kids one last glance, letting it sink in that they were safe and then followed me. I opened the door to the nursery. "Take what you need. I'm gonna go get this taken care of," I told her, holding up the GPS. "Take whatever you need. We can set them up in the clinic when I get back."
"Thank you."
"No need to thank me, babe."
I'd called her babe twice now, and I didn't want to stop. Now that she was back, she was going to have to get used to it. Fucking mine, Jennie. You've always been mine.
"I'll be right back."
Walking away from her felt like the hardest fucking thing. I didn't walk away the first time, and I wasn't forced to watch her walk away from me because she bolted while I was still overseas. Yeah, we were gonna fucking talk about that.
Grabbing my phone, I texted Seokmin to update him. His reply was instantaneous, telling me to lock it down for the night, just in case. Not a bad idea. He'd have to call church tomorrow so we could figure out what the fuck we were doing. War had been brewing for a while with the Taehyung's club, and this would blow it up, especially when he found out Jennie was here. Not his fucking woman though, never really was, not since I had her first.
"Toast!" I shout. I watch the prospect pull his face out of some soul sucker's tits. "Lock it down. No one in or out the rest of the night."
"Got it!" I made sure he actually completely separated from whoever's tits he'd been buried in until he was rushing out the door. I raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time until I was at Jack's door. The sounds of moaning were audible as I pounded on the door.
"Go away!" he shouted.
"Fucking now, Jack!"
I heard him cursing, and more than one–maybe more than two women–giggling. He was stark fucking naked, unashamed as he opened his door, condom still on his dick.
"Fucking seriously?"
"You interrupted me. The fuck you want?"
"This needs to be turned off, and I need you to hack it and make it look like it was never here."
"Now?"
"Right fucking now," I growled.
"Yeah, yeah, I fucking hear you."
He slammed the door in my face, and I waited to make sure he didn't hop back into bed. When the women inside started to whine and protest, I knew he was following orders, and I went back downstairs.
"GPS is being taken care of," I told Jennie. She was standing in the middle of the clinic, one of the small beds dragged into the middle of it, pillows and blankets on top of it. "Did you need another bed?"
"No, they can share for one night."
"Everything dangerous is locked up, and I'm gonna lock the clinic door." I turned the lock and when I looked back up at her, she was pale, teetering on her feet. "Jennie?" I took a step towards her, but she put her arm up, holding me off, and another step back. "Babe. It's me. I'm not going to hurt you. What's wrong?" I tried to keep my tone soothing, but it was a losing battle because the trauma was written all fucking over her.
"I don't like being locked in," she whispered, tears staining her cheeks.
Fuck.
"Look at me," I demanded softly. "This door is locked to protect you and your kids. It's locked to keep other people from getting in, not to keep you inside. You hear me?"
"Yes," she mumbled.
"Can I touch you?" I hated that I had to ask, that I didn't know I could just touch her whenever I wanted like I did for years, but I refused to fucking hurt her, and she was barely holding it together.
"Yes." The barely audible whisper felt like a win, as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled our bodies together. She collapsed into me, a sob escaping her while she clung to my cut.
"Shh, shh," I soothed her. "I got you, babe. I'm right here. You're safe now. No one will ever hurt you again," I vowed. Her knees gave out, so I swept her into my arms, letting her sob into me while I carried her to my bedroom. I laid her down on the free side of my bed, opposite where her babies snuggled. I went to pull away, but she clung tighter. "I'm gonna put the kids in the other bed. I'll be right back, okay?" She nodded against me, but didn't release me. "Jennie, you gotta let me go. I promise I'm not going anywhere, I promise you're safe."
It was like she released me in slow motion, pulling her hand away from me. When her eyes blinked open, the red staining them had my throat thickening with emotion. The red contrasting with the white made the brown look even more striking.
Fuck, she's so pretty when she cries.
Suddenly, it wasn't her crying from sadness I remembered. It was how she cried so beautifully when I fucked her, how she cried when she bled for me, the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. My cock inflated rapidly as I pulled away, praying she didn't fucking notice it.
"I'll be right back."
I scooped her son up first, gently moving him out of the bedroom and into the other bed. He stayed asleep the entire time. Next, I moved her daughter. Her eyes flutterred, but nothing more than that as I place her in the different bed.
"They're still asleep," I told her. With my back turned, I didn't see if she acknowledged my words, but I dug out a club t-shirt and a pair of boxers. "Babe," I called again. She turned to me, eyes heavy with tears and exhaustion. "Go change. You can shower if you want."
Fear filled her eyes again. Fuck, I was trying, but I had no idea what I was doing, and no one would ever say I was patient, but I needed to be for her. I needed to be the strength she needed, let her lean on me, not expect too much from her when she'd already been through so much.
"I'm not going to hurt you." She nodded, completely sure of the fact. "I'll wait here for you."
"Okay," she finally whispered. I watched as she moved from my bed–the only fucking place she belonged–and took my offered clothes with her into the bathroom. She didn't shut the door, and I wasn't sure if that was a good sign, showing she trusted me, or if it was a bad sign, like she didn't want to be on the other side of a closed door while her kids were out here.
Did he fucking hurt the kids to? I'm going to fucking kill him.
The shower turned on as I took my cut off, placing it over the chair. I stripped myself to just my boxers before pulling on a pair of joggers and a t-shirt. Usually I slept in just my boxers, and when Jennie was mine, it was always naked.
I didn't know how I was going to survive having her in my bed without being able to touch her.
I climbed onto my bed, resting my back against the headboard, waiting. It felt like hours had gone by when she finally emerged from the bathroom. Her blonde hair was freshly brushed out of her face still wet enough to be making the white t-shirt with the club logo see through.
Fuck me.
She had my boxers rolled up, thighs on display. She was so much thicker than when she was mine. I could see new stretch marks on her thighs, and I wanted to lick each one before cutting each of them open.
"Where can I sleep?" she asked, avoiding my eyes.
"We've shared a bed before," I told her. "I'm not going to do anything, but I want to be here."
"Okay," she conceded. Another fucking win. She was trusting me.
I couldn't take my eyes off her as she walked towards me. As she got closer, my eyes ran up and down her body, and I clocked each and every fucking bruise. Some of them looked about a week old, some a few days, and some only hours.
A barely restrained snarl flew out of my mouth.
"Has Taehyung been doing this to you?" I asked.
"Yes," she whispered, voice filled with shame. It wasn't her shame, it was fucking his.
"How long?"
"Six years."
"Fucking, fuck, Jennie. Are you serious?"
"I've been waiting for you to rescue me since they took me."
"Took?" I shouted at her, and she flinched again. "Fuck, I'm sorry." She relaxed, but I still didn't feel good about how I was acting. I wasn't yelling at her, but just in the general direction, and that was enough to set off her trauma response.
"It's okay," she breathed.
"No, it's not." Her eyes watered again and she nodded, unsure of her own feelings. "I need to know what's going on, babe."
I watched, my thoughts taking a different direction, as she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. "I never wanted to leave you."
Fuck.
"My dad used me to pay off his debt. I've been waiting for you to rescue me for years."
"Son of a bitch!" I manage to keep the shout to a low hiss, but I'm seeing fucking red. Not only am I going to kill Taehyung, but her dad's days are numbered too.
"I ran," she continued. "I tried so hard to get away. I almost made it to the clubhouse before the wedding. I knew Seokmin and Jaehyun would help me. But his VP and Sergeant caught me, dragged me back."
I knew each detail she told me would only upset me more, but I needed to know whatever she wanted to tell me. "He's beaten me almost every day for the last six years." She sobbed through the words. This time, I didn't ask, just acted on instinct and pulled her to me. She collapsed into my arms and I shifted us, moving so she was laying against me, both of us on top of the covers.
"He never hit the kids until today. I thought he was going to kill Holden. I hit him in the head and he passed out. I just left, grabbed a car and ran to the only place I've always felt safe."
"You're safe," I swore. "I'll never let him hurt you again."
She'd been living in literal hell for years.
"I love my kids," she whispered. "They're the reason I didn't try to escape. He let me be alone, but never with them, knowing I wouldn't leave them. I'd suffer the physical and emotional abuse, the repeated rapes to protect them from him."
Rape.
My blood boiled at that single word.
"Fuck."
She didn't say anything else, and I didn't ask. I just held her, letting her know how much I still loved her, that I never stopped loving her, that I never would. She didn't know it yet, but as soon as this shit was over, I was going to fucking claim her. I didn't care if she took years to heal from the trauma, if she never fully healed, I was never going to give her up again.
"That wasn't the worst thing he did to me, though," she whispered brokenly.
"What was?" I asked, although I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer. I watched as she pulled away from me slowly, brown eyes locked on mine. Her hands went to the leg of my boxers, tugging it up. My breath caught. She pulled the fabric higher and higher, until all of the inside of her thigh was visible, one of her pussy lips too. A place I'd been a thousand fucking time, a place I'd marked.
The mark was gone now though.
There was a chunk of skin missing. It was healed, nastily by the looks of it. The scar was angry and still red, years later when it should be faded.
"He took you away," she whispered. "He cut your initials off of my body."
"Fuck," I cursed. My hand reacted on its own, moving to her, thumb caressing the spot where my initials used to mark her skin.
"He did it on our wedding night," she cried.
With my other hand, I grabbed her chin forcing her to look at me. "He might have taken my initials off your body, but nothing will ever take me out of your heart, your fucking soul, Jennie. I'm there, imprinted into your body and I'll never fucking leave."
She swallowed, head bobbing up and down in agreement.
"Touch me, Lisa" she begged.
"Babe, no." Those were the hardest words I'd ever had to speak.
"I thought about you," she whispered. "When I couldn't disassociate, when I couldn't pretend it wasn't happening. I thought about you to get me through it."
"Fuck."
"Please. I need you to take it away."
I'd seen enough rape victims in the service to know there wasn't a standard way for them to react. Some became repulsed by the idea of sex, some became hypersexual, some shut down, and some went right home to their husbands and begged for them to make it go away. There was no right reaction, but fuck me I didn't want her to regret this.
"It's you. It's always been you. I never stopped loving you. Please," she begged.
"Look at me," I demanded. I waited until I had her eyes before speaking. "If you say stop, it stops. Who am I?
"Lisa. My Lisa."
"Good girl."
With that, like she couldn't wait anymore, she crashed her lips to mine.