Giggling, Sienna kissed the end of his nose and said, “I love you, Mikhail Dalhousie.”
* * * *
An hour later, they arrived at the Kinsey courthouse. Waiting outside, they could see when Jack and Eric entered the building, both men smirking at them as if they already knew the outcome of the hearing.
Sienna gasped when she saw Ryder get out of the Hummer that just pulled up because it wasn’t Ryder. It was someone who looked identical to him, but it wasn’t him. Then she noticed a third man who also looked like Ryder. Triplets…holy crap, she thought, trying very hard not to drool on the pavement.
“That’s another punishment you just earned, baby!” This time it was Sasha to issue the warning.
“Triplets…? You didn’t tell me the three of them were triplets. That’s so not fair.” She giggled. “A girl can look, you know. And I might have been a bit more prepared if you’d given me a little warning that Ryder was a triplet. Holy cow!”
Shaking hands with Mikhail and Sasha, the one called Sam looked over at her and smiled. He was stunning, and he knew it. Daniel was as good-looking as well, but he had more of a swagger to him than his brothers.
“Well, this must be our Sienna.” Sam took her hand and, like his brother had done at the house, brought it to his lips. Daniel took the other one, kissing it as well, but his kiss also came with a little tongue.
“Enough,” Mikhail snarled and pulled her into his arms. “Do you two really want me to beat the crap out of you like I did when we were kids?”
Both very-large men burst out laughing. “Oh you have got it bad, cuz,” Sam said, trying to stifle his laughter without much success. “We thought Ryder was just kidding around with us when he said that you’d found her, but I guess he wasn’t. Maybe there is hope for us all as well.”
Turning to Sasha, Dan shook his hand and patted his shoulder. “We’re happy for you guys, really. We were just teasing. She is a beauty though, and she’s got to have the patience of a saint to put up with the two of you.”
“And she’s standing right here, so you don’t need to talk about her as if she’s invisible.” Sienna laughed and snuggled closer into Mikhail’s arms.
“You’ll have to excuse these two knuckleheads, Sienna. They sometimes forget their manners.” Ryder stepped forward and kissed her cheek.
Watching, Sam whined, “Hey, how come he doesn’t get threatened with bodily harm for kissing her?”
“Because he has already been warned.” Ryder smiled down at her as he cuffed the back of both of his brothers’ heads.
“C’mon, y’all, I’ve arranged for a conference room on the first floor. That way everyone can meet before the hearing.”
Everyone turned and followed Ryder to the room he had spoken about. Some of the others were already waiting inside.
“Ryder, my man,” came a call from one of the men as he grabbed him in a big hug. The man stood just a little shorter than him.
Damn, were all the men around here huge?
“Gage, it’s good you could make it. I hope I didn’t have to pull you or Sean off of anyone important.” He laughed.
“Always there for you, you know that, Ryder. And nope, the one we want seems to be avoiding us as much as possible lately.” Smiling, he turned to look at a tall, beautiful blonde that was standing talking to another woman. “She thinks she’s not good enough for us. But we’ll soon fix that idea.”
A tiny voice broke through all the noise. “Ah, Ryder, the hearing starts in a half hour, so we should get everyone up to speed.”
Sienna could see that this tiny little woman was really nervous around Ryder. He swallowed sharply. “Thanks, Amy, we’ll start right now.”
Blushing, she moved to the front of the hall and tried to get everyone’s attention, but her shy voice just wasn’t making a dent over all the noise.
Sienna watched as Sam, Daniel, and Ryder walked to the front, all their eyes focused on the woman. She smiled sweetly as Sam leaned down and kissed her cheek and whispered something in her ear. Daniel was right behind him, only he seemed to be a little more aggressive and kissed her on the mouth. Ryder walked up, and he lifted his hand to her cheek and stroked his thumb over her lip. Daniel was the only one that kissed her. The other two acted more like protective brothers than potential lovers. Maybe someday the three wonderful brothers would find the woman of their dreams.
“Everyone, we need to go over a few things before the hearing,” Ryder called out loudly.
There was a crash as the door was pushed open. Roderick Felton stood at the door, along with Jack Peters. Striding to the front, both men looked over the crowd of people.
“What the hell is going on here, Kinsey?” Felton snarled. “I hope you’re not going to interfere with this case.”
Sienna could see by the look on Ryder’s that he was about to snarl right back at him, so she walked forward, holding her hand up, silently asking him not to.
“They are here, Counselor Felton,” Sienna said, her voice dripping with contempt, “to make sure that Eric Peters goes to prison for what he did to me. They are here, sir, to make sure that this time you do your job properly. They are here, as the constituents of this community, to watch and make sure the Crown Counsel is making it safer for the woman in Kinsey. Your position is not an elected one here in Canada, but it is by appointment, and looking at your record, sir”—she grabbed the file from Ryder—“I’d say once I show this”—she lifted the folder—“your appointment will be rescinded.”
“Who do you think you are, Sienna?” Jack pushed his way forward. “How dare you speak that way to such an honorable man?”
“Honorable man,” she cried. “You wouldn’t know the first thing about being honorable, Jack. This man’s record is abysmal when it comes to prosecuting cases of domestic abuse. You should know that, Jack. He helped Eric get off the first time he beat the crap out of me!”
“Now see here, you little bitch,” Jack shouted at her.
Mikhail and Sasha were up and standing beside her immediately. Just knowing they were there for her gave her the courage to continue and she smiled.
“Watch your tone with me, Jack,” she shouted right back at him. “Your son is a piece of shit, and I’m going to see to it that he goes to prison. I’m not the scared, beaten little girl that was married to your jackass of a son. So if you want to take me on, you better look around you first. These are just a few of the people in this town that are sick and tired of the bullshit. It ends here today.”
Roderick Felton stepped forward, trying to calm things down a little. “Mrs. Peters.” Sienna stopped him with a wave of her hand.
“My name is Ms. Watson, not Peters. I got rid of that name the day I left him.”
Mikhail stepped closer to her and announced, “Soon to be Mrs. Dalhousie.” Sasha stepped up and quickly kissed her cheek, whispering in her ear, “You are making us so fucking horny, baby,” before he, too, stepped back. Sienna smiled at them. “Is that a marriage proposal, Mikhail? Sasha?”
“It most certainly is, and the sooner the better,” Sasha said.
“Oh, now I see how it is.” Jack smiled, but it was not a friendly one. “You’ve hooked yourself not one but two men. If Eric had known that, he could have taken you to the club to beat some sense into you. Why didn’t you just say so, and none of this would have been necessary.”
Sienna closed her eyes, knowing that Jack had just made a huge mistake. Before she could stop him, Mikhail went for him, landing a punch to his jaw and knocking him on his ass. Sasha moved to pull him up, and he, too, landed a good solid one to the other side of Jack’s jaw.
Ryder, Sam, and Daniel looked at her as if asking permission to step in.
Rolling her eyes was the only answer they needed.
The triplets grabbed Sasha and Mikhail and pulled them back.
Jack looked like his nose was broken and maybe even his jaw.
“I want those two arrested, Felton!” he screeched. Well, his jaw was
n’t broken, that’s for sure. She laughed to herself.
“I want them in jail for assault.”
“What assault, Jack? All I saw was two idiots.” Both men gaped at her. “Well-meaning and loving idiots, but idiots none the less, protecting the woman they love from a known abuser.”
“I have never abused anyone in my life,” Jack said haughtily, “and there is no proof that I have.”
“Of course you haven’t, Jack.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Your wife, Carmen, was just the clumsiest person on the planet. If I remember correctly, in the twelve years that Eric and I were married, Carmen had two broken arms. She’d bruised, cracked, or broken her ribs dozens of times. Oh, and let’s not forget the numerous times, when her face was swollen and covered in bruises, you told us she fell down the stairs. And then the last time I saw her”—she could feel the tears on her face now—“the last time I saw her before her suicide was when she showed up at my door with your boot prints on her back and legs.”
Mikhail and Sasha came to her then, wrapping her in their arms.
Roderick Felton cleared his throat. “Ms. Watson, in order for the Crown to prosecute Eric, we will need the original pictures taken at the hospital, and I’m afraid there was a clerical error and they were erased. I also understand that the physician that treated you that night has refused to testify.”
Ryder stepped forward then. “Felton, the originals still exist and are in a secure lockup with the police. And as for the doc’s testimony, he’s here, don’t worry about it, and so will the nurse on duty that night, too. You may think that threatening them not to say anything was the way to go, but you really miscalculated this time. You see, Dr. Jackson had just come back to work after taking a month off to bury his sister when Sienna was brought in. It seems her husband beat her to death.”
All around the room there were audible gasps.
Felton mumbled and straightened his tie, obviously uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going. “Well, all right, then we can press forward with the case.”
“You can’t be serious, Rod?” Jack yelled.
“It would seem, Jack, that it is time you shut your mouth and stop trying to cover up for your son. He’s going to prison this time, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.”
With that Felton turned and walked to the door. Pausing, he turned back and looked straight at Jack, saying, “Even if there was something I could do, I wouldn’t lift a finger to help this time. We’ve hurt a lot of people in this town, Jack. Good people, and I won’t be a part of your sickness anymore.”
And he walked out.
Jack stared at the door, his mouth agape, his face a mask of anger. “You won’t send my son to prison, girlie,” he snarled, staring back at Sienna.
Turning in Mikhail’s arms, she smiled and said, “Watch me.”
After the hearing, everyone gathered back in the conference room to start the celebrations. Eric’s bail was revoked and Crown Counsel Felton had asked that he be remanded in custody until his trial. He didn’t want to give Eric the chance to make any more trouble for Sienna.
Two hours later they were all back at the house.
Sienna sat looking around at all the wonderful people that had come to lend their support and to protect her and her men.
Ryder came over and sat down beside her. “What’s up, buttercup?” He smiled.
“I was just thinking how incredibly lucky I am to have found Mikhail and Sasha, and in turn I guess you could say I found you, Sam, and Daniel, and the rest of the family.”
“I have to say, sweet girl, how very proud all of us are of you. You’re strength in all this has been amazing.” He turned his head away because his eyes were watering.
Amy had been sitting next to Sienna, and she said, in a voice so much stronger than usual, “You have given me the strength to go back to Felton and see if I can still prosecute my ex boyfriend. Even if I can’t, I’ll know that I tried.”
Ryder stood and lifted Amy up in a hug so tight Sienna thought he would break her.
“Ryder…don’t forget to let the girl breathe.” She giggled.
* * * *
On the advice of his attorney, Eric pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to fifteen to twenty years. Normally for a first felony offense, the sentence wouldn’t have been as harsh, but for some strange reason the judge that had originally been scheduled to preside was unavailable, so Justice Maggie Torrent sat on the bench.
Maggie Torrent was a well-known and outspoken advocate for stronger laws and punishments for domestic violence. What also helped was that Crown Counsel Roderick Felton’s staff had miraculously found some of the lost photos from Sienna’s previous complaint. Even though the he couldn’t be prosecuted for the original case, the photos were introduced to show a pattern of abuse.
Sienna was also given the opportunity to speak.
Stepping toward the bench, she turned and looked at Mikhail and Sasha, and then she looked at Eric.
“Almost right from the very beginning you started hitting me. You didn’t start out with verbal abuse. You went straight for my face with your fists, and for twelve years, I took it because I was so afraid. Not just of you but of everything. But the last beating before I left, you said something to me that told me if I didn’t leave you’d kill me. You said that when you got home if I didn’t have dinner on the table and wasn’t ready to spread my legs that you would make sure I’d never see another day. I believed you, so I left.
“And I want to thank you for that threat, Eric, because I never would have found the courage to leave and start a new life. I never would have found the wonderful, loving men that I have today, and I never would have found… me.”
And she walked straight into Mikhail and Sasha’s arms.
“Take me home, please, Masters.” She winked, and they groaned.
* * * *
Jack and Sharon watched as Eric was led away in handcuffs. Everyone could see the rage on Jack’s face, but Sharon’s showed one of relief.
I knew she was strong enough to make sure he paid. I just wish that I would have been as strong. Maybe I can get her to help me with my dad. Now that Eric’s in prison, there’s only his fists to worry about. If I’m careful and don’t give him cause to hit me, I might just be able to get to Sienna before he kills one of us.
Jack glared at the woman who had just destroyed his son. He knew that someday he would make her pay. He would make Eric’s beatings feel like love taps compared to what he’d have done to her. First he’d have to find a way to get Eric out and someplace safe where no law could touch him. Then he would exact his payment on Sienna. He would also make sure that those damned Dalhousie brothers paid for their interference.
All the family he had left now was his stupid daughter, Susan. She might balk at first, but with the right incentive he could make her help him get Eric out. She may not be the smartest bulb in the box, but with her looks he was sure that he’d be able to bribe a guard or two. As long as she still worked for at Dalhousie Electronics he would have an in, and she would never suspect a thing. When Eric put that keystroke program on her computer he couldn’t believe how easy it had been to find out the information they needed. The longer she worked there, the more information he could gather to use to destroy those two bastards.
* * * *
Mikhail noticed the relieved look that had crossed Sharon’s face. He knew that someone had told Eric about the auction but he didn’t think, from the look on her face, that it was her. They had had Sam check in to all the calls to and from her office phone as well as her company cell phone. Nothing showed up. The only place that she would have been able to notify Eric was at home, and according to Sam, Sharon spent as little time as possible at her father’s estate. It seemed that almost every night after work she would go to the Healing House, one of the charities from the auction. It just didn’t make sense that a woman who spent so much time helping battered women would then tell a known abuser how
to find his victim, even if the abuser was her brother.
Any time spent with Jack and Eric could not be good for her. From what they’d discovered, both men used her as a punching bag on occasion, and he was sure that somehow they were using her to get information about the company. He just didn’t know how yet. Damn, how could none of them not see it?
There was a leak somewhere in his office, and he’d have Ryder, Dan, and Sam check it out over the next few weeks.
But for now he just wanted to take their woman home and love her from head to toe.
* * * *
Ryder watched Amy flit around the room, speaking to everyone but him and his brothers. He knew she had a crush on them, but she would never be able to accept the kind of relationship they wanted. Dan had fallen for her at first, but he was realizing more and more that she would never be able to handle all three of them.
Maybe if we talk to our sister she would be able to help them find Amy a good man, or men, whichever she could handle. Amy was such a sweet person, and after all that she’d been through she needed someone who was patient and gentle. Two qualities that neither he nor his brothers had a lot of experience with. Maybe with the right woman they would be, but Amy was not the right one for them.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debbie Bailey loves living in small town Ontario, Canada. When she’s not writing, she’s reading or just hanging out having a good time with the kids. Originally from beautiful Vancouver Island, British Columbia, she’s lived both in Calgary, Alberta, and Ontario. She’s been writing for most of her life, but it wasn’t until the last few years that she found her love for reading and writing erotic novels.
Bailey, Debbie - Sienna's Submission [Men of Kinsey] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 11