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Laney looks at the wall.Now we’re getting somewhere. If she really believes these men assaulting her was her fault, then I’m glad I brought Dr. K in because that thought process needs to go.
“Did you ever ask them to chain you up? Were you ever provided a safe word when participating in a scene?”
Laney shakes her head.
“Then it sounds to me like you didn’tchooseto be assaulted.”
Tears fall from my girl’s eyes. I want to wipe them away, but Arrow beats me to it.
“But I kept putting myself in those situations, over and over again, in order to get information.”
Dr. K leans back and crosses her legs, appearing as composed as ever while I plot the deaths of a thousand men in my head. Not one man that touched her will be allowed to live to see the next year.
“Listen, Laney. This world has a very twisted view on how we talk about assault. However, I can assure you, the very definition of assault is a verbal or physical attack on someone. If you never said yes, if you never agreed to let these men have sex with you, then their actions are not on you.”
“But I was sterilized because of them. That’s on me.” She gestures to herself as if that choice somehow changes our outlook on her. “I let those men take away something that Arrow or Havoc might have wanted.”
“Not me,” I say. “You know why I’m not having any more children. The only thing your ability to get pregnant would have changed would have been wasting a lot of fucking money on condoms. And I prefer to fuck you bare.”
“Havoc!” Arrow scolds.
“What? I’m just telling the truth,” I say with a shrug.
Laney lets out a breath that sounds all too close to a laugh.That’s right, let me bring that happiness back, baby girl.
Arrow turns Laney to face him. “I told you once before that I want whatever you want. I never imagined my life with kids, so it’s no loss to me to not be able to have them.”
He pauses, before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, and what Havoc said. Condoms are a real pain in the ass.”
Laney lets out a snort and shakes her head. “You guys really don’t care that I can’t have kids?”
“Baby girl, look at me.” Her eyes meet mine. “I am thirty-four years old and I already have gray hair. Kids would likely kill me at this point.”
She rolls her lips to hide a smile, but I see it.
“I don’t want to waste more time holding back with you guys.” Her voice is soft, but I can tell in the way she nearly folds in half just how much weight saying that took off her shoulders.
I tilt my head back, so relieved I could scream.
“Fucking finally,” I say as I stand and move to her side on the bed.
“Don’t let yourself fall victim to those thoughts of you deserving what happened to you, Laney,” Dr. K says.
“I just feel like they left so many scars behind. Sometimes that’s all I can see. Scars hidden away deep inside.”
I pull her from Arrow’s lap to mine. She wraps her arms around me as I kiss her forehead.
“Survivors have scars, baby girl. Victims have graves. Trust me, I’m the one that will dig each one for every predator that ever threatened to lay a finger on you.”
“And I’ll help.”
We both embrace her, and she falls into us, finally accepting what we have. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a huge ass surprise planned for her when this is all finished, but that can wait. All that matters right now is that she’s safe, and she’s never leaving our side again.
Chapter 15
I watch from the drone as Evie finally takes down the man who has been tormenting her for most of her life. Laney is wrapped around Havoc, Boris has an arm around Nessa. Alexi and Lev stand at Evie’s back, Damien twirling his sword in the air as if he were about to take on a thousand Spartans. With all of them at her back, Evie really is every bit the warrior we have all known she is.
After turning the drone around, I land it back on the roof of the suite Alexi had built for all of us. Lev plans to use them as security for their house and I plan on eventually ordering a few to do the same.
