Healing Hearts 10: The Scars That Bind Us

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “She isn’t involved with them or even considering it. Jo doesn’t date. She won’t after everything that happened to her when she was held prisoner,” Trek said.

  “She’s twenty-five and resilient. She got through all the bad shit and put a good life together for herself. It’s only natural that she would be attracted to some man, well men in this case, and want what her friends have,” Miller said to them.

  “There’s no one out there that would be perfect enough, would understand what she needs, what she deserves. There isn’t,” Blade said.

  “I say we get info on these men. We can do it right now,” Vetter said, and walked out of the room. Miller exhaled and then tapped his fingers against the counter he leaned against.

  “She’s a gorgeous woman. We’ve had guys talk to us and ask permission to ask her out and she has always declined,” Trek said as Vetter returned with the business laptop. As he typed away the others continued.

  “Exactly, which makes me wonder what’s so special about these men,” Blade added.

  Vetter whistled, grabbing their attention and turning the laptop toward them.

  “Special Forces, classified files. Shit,” Blade said, and rubbed his jaw and started to pace.

  “What’s accessible is impressive, I’ll say that. The classified on every click, not so excited about,” Vetter said to them.

  “I’m sure if anyone looks us up they’d see the same shit. We need personal information on them. Cavanaugh told Danny that Afina’s boyfriends are friends with these men. I know Phantom Stelling well enough. I can get some info on them.”

  “And when he asks why?” Trek asked.

  “I’ll think of something. Maybe say their names popped up for some private job, and take it from there. I don’t think Phantom will push.”

  “Unless he knows that these men like Jo,” Blade said.

  “We don’t know that. It sounds more like things are just getting started. We can stop it. We can make sure that she doesn’t get hurt, or pulled into something she can’t handle, especially right now,” Morris said, and then they heard the jeep pulling into the driveway.

  “Close that up,” Vetter said.

  As Jo entered the house wearing her workout attire, Morris felt his gut clench. His sister was a knockout and if these guys, any of them, got to her, or made her feel interested, how could he or his brothers stand in the way? Maybe they could make her smile, bring her happiness, something. He felt sick and confused, but the best thing to do was to talk to her about it.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “You tell us,” Blade asked. Miller was surprised. This wasn’t going to be an easy flowing conversation. His brothers were already concerned.

  “What does that mean?” she asked.

  “Who are these Fordom brothers coming around you, wanting to…be friends?” he added.

  Her eyes widened and her entire face blushed. “Well there ya go. It’s true,” Trek said.

  “What does that mean?” she asked.

  “You like them? All four?” Blade asked.

  “Slow down, I don’t even know them well. Wait, why don’t you tell me how you know I even know them?” she said, and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  Miller explained.

  “What do you mean the Fordom men are involved with the investigation? Like they know what happened to me? Like Leif was talking to me because he was trying to learn more?”

  “No, wait…do you think so?” Vetter looked at Morris as he asked.

  “I don’t think so. They’re working with the CIA and Danny found out about that and so did Cavanaugh, and they’re working different angles under the radar,” Morris said.

  “They only started showing their faces a few months ago. I met Flynn and Knight because of Avery and his brothers. Why did they pick then to start showing up? Could they have found out about me? About what Ortley did?” she asked, and Morris could see the tears in her eyes. She was starting to shake.

  “Calm down, it has to be coincidence,” Vetter said.

  “Nothing is coincidence.” She raised her voice and started to walk away.

  “Where are you going? We’re talking this through,” Trek said to her.

  “Nothing to talk about. No need to worry. I won’t be seeing them or speaking to them ever again.” She headed out of the room.

  “Fuck, she likes them. What if they do know, and that Leif guy was befriending her to get more information for the fucking CIA? I’ll fucking kick his ass,” Vetter said.

  “Calm down. No one is going to kick their asses unless that’s true. I’ll see what I can find out and I’ll take care of it. They won’t bother her after I handle it,” Morris said, and his heart felt heavy for his sister. She didn’t deserve this. As it was, she trusted no one. Whatever that guy Leif said to her to make her feel like she could meet him again Tuesday, now annoyed Morris. Did the guy want to use her for information she wouldn’t have? Or to bring up her abduction, or her father and what he did? What the fuck? He was pissed, and as the oldest it was his job to handle this.

  * * * *

  Jo was depressed, completely hurt, believing that Leif, and even Flynn and Knight, were befriending her to get information. Worse was thinking they knew about her abduction. Especially Leif. He seemed so sincere when she was caught up in that painting. How he got her keys, and talking to him came natural. With Flynn and Knight, the attraction was instant and she knew enough, had trained herself enough, to put distance between her and them in order to ignore the temptation. However, with Leif it was so very different. Almost like there was a connection on a different level. So she spent the weekend feeling moody and irritable, went out for a run with Blade and Vetter, worked out sparring in the home dojo with Morris and Trek. Now it was Tuesday, and she could use her gallery and art fix but she couldn’t go. Leif was going to show up there looking for her.

  So instead, she taught an extra class preparing for Saturday’s competition, and tried not to think about how badly she wanted to leave and meet up with Leif and confront him. It was better to not show up and to tell herself the move would hurt him and make him realize that she wasn’t gullible or stupid. She had her brothers, and they were the only men she trusted and would ever trust, and this was exactly why.

  * * * *

  Leif was actually a bit nervous. He didn’t know what to expect from Joanna, or what she would think when he told her he knew her cousins and that they were working a case together. When he pulled into the parking lot and got out of the truck, he hadn’t expected to see the two men standing there. He recognized them immediately from seeing their pictures the other day. Morris and Blade Flemming, Joanna’s brothers. He knew immediately that this was a shakedown, a confrontation of leave our sister alone, and it only pissed him off more. He missed her and looked forward to seeing her, spending time with her, and he wondered why these men were so defiant of that.

  They looked him over. He stood a few inches taller than them. They were capable men from what he gathered investigating their military backgrounds. Their eyes went to his scars and he wondered if they knew how he sustained them. His files were all classified for good reason, just like theirs were.

  “You know who we are?” Blade asked.

  “Yes, and I gather you know who I am, so why are you here? Where’s Joanna?”

  “She isn’t coming,” Blade snapped at him.

  “Why not?” he asked calmly.

  “She isn’t interested in you, or being used by you for this fucking case. Stick to forensic accounting and computer shit, and stop bothering Jo,” Blade added.

  “First of all, I’m not bothering her. We met here and we hit it off, and we’re going to meet again, as friends. What would she have to do with this case?”

  “You’re friends with Corona, you fucking know. Don’t tell me you don’t fucking know,” Blade said, and stepped forward aggressively, but his brother pulled him back.

  “It’s best, considering the aspects
of this case and those involved, that you and your brothers stay clear of Jo. She’s been through enough in her life and the last thing she needs is your games to get information or simply her into bed. So stay the fuck clear of her or you’ll deal with all of us,” Morris warned him, and then they walked back to their truck and drove away.

  He stared at them as they left, not backing down, but now even more concerned about Jo, and what the hell was going on. He and his brothers had known Corona for years. They also knew they took some time off for personal reasons, and when they came back they were miserable. Something wasn’t right. He pulled out his cell phone and called Cavanaugh. He explained what happened and now his brothers were pissed off as he explained to Flynn and Knight.

  “I’m calling Corona. This is fucking bullshit.”

  * * * *

  “You know all this information and you fail to inform us, yet ask for our help in the investigation? I don’t understand how you can’t see how wrong this is, Cavanaugh. Your brothers are working for yourselves, not any government agency, because this is fucking personal.” Corona raised his voice at them.

  Cavanaugh, Flynn, Knight, and Leif stood in the home office of Corona, Briar, Cliff, and Ace, discussing their family’s involvement.

  “We couldn’t disclose that information to you, Cavanaugh. No one even knows what took place, what was done to our family, to Jo and her brothers,” Corona replied.

  “Well, you’re going to give us all the details. Everything you know and have held back from everyone else, because at this point Joanna thinks we befriended her to use her, her brothers think that, too, and you four knew this would happen because you kept their part out of this. Now straight up, did Joanna, her brothers, you guys, your father, do anything illegal to be involved with a man like Fredrico Porcini?” Leif asked.

  Cavanaugh watched them look at one another.

  “We have to trust them. We know what they are capable of and too many people’s lives are at stake here,” Briar, Corona’s brother said.

  “Cliff, Ace?” Corona asked his other brothers.

  “Joanna could do worse than them,” Ace said, and Briar snorted.

  “How serious are you about Jo?” Cliff asked them.

  “I’m fucking here when I could have said fuck this and just blocked all of you out,” Leif said.

  “That doesn’t answer his question,” Briar said.

  “There’s something there, but it was just getting started. I told her friends first, and that was what she wanted. Knight and Flynn met her so they know how they feel, and Cavanaugh hasn’t yet,” Leif said.

  “It wouldn’t be fair to share everything with them. Jo has a right to her privacy, to sharing her experience, Corona. We can’t do that to her. She doesn’t trust us as is,” Ace said to his brothers.

  “I agree, but all the other stuff, the money laundering the connections to military personnel, could help them figure shit out faster. Plus, the things on Porcini and of course Topaz,” Corona added.

  Cavanaugh looked at Leif at the mention of Topaz.

  “What does Topaz have to do with Joanna?” Leif asked rather calmly, but Cavanaugh was concerned.

  “We can’t disclose that information,” Corona said.

  “Why the fuck not?” Leif asked, raising his voice.

  “It isn’t our story to tell. Let’s just say he knows who Joanna is, and they aren’t friends,” Cliff stated.

  * * * *

  “I don’t like this at all. Their family turns out not to be blood related, and the kids all keep looking at one another as cousins. The mother turns up dead. Jo’s father is a bad guy, smuggling money in and using Corona’s dad, Tanner’s company, to hide the money. The shit hits the fan, Joanna, her brothers, Corona, their father and the brothers all disappear for months, and then those two businessmen who were recently killed, which brought this case full circle again, are the ones who ratted Porcini and Topaz out and had the feds investigating them. Several agents wind up dead, the feds can’t find them and Porcini and Topaz, wait four years to start uncovering their money, working with terrorists, possibly planning attacks, and they know Joanna. Do they want her? Did her brothers take her away into hiding for those months? What the fuck? They gave some information and it helps with the investigation I’m sure, but where do things stand with them? With Joanna and her brothers?” Flynn said to them as they all headed home in the SUV.

  “I dug and dug and came up with nothing. Yet I feel like they think this isn’t over. That Morris’s father might come back to hurt them, maybe Jo, or her brothers, or to just wreak havoc on them,” Cavanaugh said.

  “Where does Joanna fit into all of this? They were so protective of her. Still warned us to stay away, which pisses me off and makes me want to get to know her more,” Knight said, and Flynn snickered.

  “Figures, the one woman to come along and snag all our attention comes with a lot of family problems and a connection to a terrorist, his organization, and his friends. Yeah, this won’t turn into a fucking disaster,” Flynn said to them. He then glanced at Leif.

  “You’ve been quiet since they mentioned Topaz and Jo in the same sentence. What’s your perspective on all of this?” Flynn asked him.

  “I’m sick and tired of hearsay. Never trusted the grapevine information, so I think I’m going to go to the source.”

  “You mean to Joanna? Her brothers warned you,” Flynn replied.

  “I don’t give a fuck,” Leif said.

  “And if she comes with a shit load of trouble or they jump you and beat the piss out of you,” Cavanaugh said, and Leif just glanced at him sideways like his brother was nuts to think that.

  “Okay, why Leif? Why?” Cavanaugh asked throwing his hands up in the air and then holding his gaze.

  “You would know if you saw her eyes, her face that day in the gallery. She knows what it’s like, Cavanaugh. She understands. I need to make her see I wasn’t using her and that I didn’t know a thing.”

  * * * *

  “The Fordom men are the ones working with CIA intelligence to track down Porcini and Topaz,” Morris told Jo.

  She swallowed hard, the information didn’t hit her as hard as she thought it would. Maybe because she already processed how she would feel either way. She just wanted to know if he sought her out? If Leif was following her and went to that gallery and put on an act. If he did, then it would hurt, but she would be smart enough to ignore what she felt at the time and never speak to him again.

  “How long have they been involved in the investigation and have known about me?” she replied very calmly.

  Blade had his arms crossed in front of his chest, Morris leaned against the kitchen counter gripping the edges, and Vetter and Trek sat at the kitchen island by her.

  “They don’t know about your abduction,” Morris said and looked away.

  It was always hard for all of her brothers to talk about that. To remember what they saw, what they had gone through trying to find her and to save her in time. She processed her thoughts, her emotions throughout the years, and realized quickly by their hard tones, their uneasiness when she would mention something, or break down and cry or scream with nightmares, that they too were affected by her abduction, and the results of her abuse. They felt responsible, and they sought out revenge.

  “How can that be? If they are thorough in their investigation, wouldn’t it come up in the files?” she asked.

  “Commander Brennan was able to make those files, that particular information confidential. Clearance has to go through him and him only. It’s something he did for us, for you, and for our cousins,” Trek told her.

  She nodded her head. “I see. So if that was confidential, then what makes you think that Leif knew about me and followed me, and engaged in conversation with me at the gallery that day?” She felt emotional and hopeful that he had been sincere, and she didn’t know why. She wasn’t ready to get close to any man, or at least she thought she wasn’t when she was alone and thought about it
. When she was with Leif things felt different. The world felt different, it was hard to explain, but she felt it in her heart, her soul.

  “It doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that you are not to see him or his brothers, engage in any conversations or anything. You’re better off. They are extreme men. Men who have gone through things themselves making them unstable, and definitely not commitment material. It’s better this way, Jo,” Blade said to her.

  “Unstable how? What do you mean by extreme?”

  “Don’t bother with them. Just do as we say and stay clear of them,” Vetter added, but she could see Morris and Trek turn away, like maybe they didn’t agree, or maybe she just thought or hoped she saw that. Some kind of validation, and alliance to her thoughts, her need for Leif to be real, to have been honest that day.

  She didn’t trust anyone, but she trusted her brothers, yet here she was in her heart questioning their orders, their advice with this.

  “What are you thinking? I can see that defiant look in your eyes, Jo, what aren’t you understanding?” Blade asked. Vetter caressed her back as he sat next to her.

  “Talk to us. You’ve always been honest with us about everything. We’re here for you to talk things through like always,” he said to her.

  She looked at Blade. “Are you being honest? Are you saying that Leif can’t be trusted because you have evidence of that, or some gut instinct to it, or are you trying to protect me because you think I can’t handle an attraction to a man? That my PTSD could interfere and embarrass me? That he could get annoyed, or disgusted and not understand? Are you being overprotective?”

  “All of the above and then some, Jo. You are fragile inside. You have never dated a man, been involved with any man. You get asked out all the time and you decline,” he replied.

  “It felt different with him.” Blade rolled his eyes and exhaled. She swallowed hard, saw Morris squint at her but hold her gaze.