Chapter 16 Revenge

Magnum

Stella said Wren might've been with Fiona, so I headed straight there when I arrived at headquarters. Two days without seeing her were messing with my head. How was she adjusting? Were her wounds healed? Was Celeste being diligent enough?

The hallway felt extremely long as I strode toward Fiona's office. From several feet away, I heard whimpers inside, and all my senses went on alert.

A female voice crying, scratches on the door.

Finding it locked, I banged it with my fist. "Wren?"

"Give her a minute, Mag." Fiona's shrill voice only confirmed my fear something was wrong.

"Open the door!" I gave it another bang.

Ten seconds. I'd give her ten seconds to open the door. "Open it now, or I'm taking it down."

One, two, three...

Fiona opened the door, giving me an annoyed glare. She had one arm wrapped around Wren, who was sobbing and clearly shaken from something. "What happened?" I asked Fiona. In other words, what the fuck did you do to her?

"I don't know exactly yet, and I can't tell you anyway. Leave now and when she's calm, I'll call you."

Fuck that. "I'm not leaving." I stepped into the office and pulled her away from Fiona. I tucked her into my side. "What's going on? "

She wiped at the tears on her face. "I saw things. I need to get away from it."

I didn't hesitate. I scooped her up and carried her out of the office. She pressed her head against my chest as we waited for the elevator. "It's okay now, Wren." Man, it tore me up when she cried. She was going through too much all at once.

The elevator took us up to my floor, and I set her on her feet in the entry.

"Where are we?" she asked as she peered around the mostly empty place.

"This is my apartment." I closed the blinds and secured the alarms. "Listen to me. You are safe here. You got it? There is no weapon that can shoot through that glass. There is not a person who can breach that door. The entire building is secure. No one can hurt you."

She nodded slowly. "Okay."

I walked her over to the black leather couch in front of the window and a coffee table in the sunken living room. "Have a seat. Take a minute. I'll get you some water."

She stared at the closed blinds as I poured a tall glass of water for her. Her hands shook as she tried to sip it.

"What the hell did Fiona do to you?"

"It's not her fault."

"Start from the beginning." I took the glass from her and set it on the coffee table.

"She offered to help me with my nerves. She put me in a trance." She still seemed dazed and unfocused.

"What the fuck?"

"She does hypnotherapy, and it was all going fine." She stopped talking and started pushing her fingernails into her skin. God, I hated this setback for her. I never should've left her. I should've been here. Not that I could do much to help. Last time, massaging her arms calmed her.

"Hold on." In my bathroom, I retrieved a bottle of unscented moisturizing cream similar to the one I'd used last time. I returned to the couch and sat next to her. I squeezed a dab on her wrists and started rubbing it in with my thumbs.

She was quiet for a long time while I massaged the lotion into her arms, and her breathing started to even out.

"So, you were in Fiona's office trying some hypnotherapy crap?"

"It's not crap. It's a real thing. It works for a lot of people," she quipped.

"Sure." I rolled my eyes. Hypnotherapy was definitely not a real thing, but I was already not saying the right words to help her calm down, so I kept that to myself.

"Anyway, she coaxed me into an extremely relaxed state. I imagined I was a dragon, and I burned the magic box. It was working, but then the image shifted, and I lost control. Tommy was there. He was younger, but he had the same tattoo. It was fresher then. More red. My mom and dad were there." She spoke without emotion at first, but when she looked up at me, her face crumbled. "Tommy killed my parents." A tear dropped from her eye, and all I could do was stare at it in frustration. I brushed it from her cheek with my thumb, but I knew more were coming.

What the hell? "You saw this?"

"I think I saw it as a child. When it came back to me, it was crystal clear. It was Tommy. He shot my parents in the bakery. Four shots. Pop-pop-pop-pop . Just like I' d heard during the explosion. My grandfather told me it didn't happen. He said they died of an illness. He told me there were no gunshots, just like you did." She looked at me like I'd betrayed her.

I took her hands in mine and held them tight. "There weren't any real shots, Wren. I did not lie to you. It sounds like some kind of flashback." Now I felt like shit for not asking her more details earlier than this.

She pulled her hands away and stood up. "But he's gone now, and they're gone. Everyone is gone, and Tommy killed them." She paced away from me with her hands on her hips. "I'm sure it's a memory, not a nightmare. It feels too real. Do you believe me?" She spun and we locked gazes.

"I do." Her tears were too genuine, her terror too palpable to be a lie.

"What hurts the most is knowing my grandfather deceived me. I must've blocked it out because I didn't want to believe he would lie to me." She covered her face. "This is so screwed up."

"It is." I walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug. I didn't know what else to do anymore. "We can look into it. Try to prove it and get him for double homicide."

She shook her head. "It was so long ago. I doubt there's any evidence left. All we have is my repressed childhood memory. That's it."

"We can make sure he goes down with Kenny."

She pushed me away and pulled her shoulders back. "I want to kill him."

"Wren... "

She'd stopped crying, and her chin was set with determination. "I want to kill Tommy." Oh yeah, she was serious. That look in her eye was deadly. Sexy as hell, but full of fire.

"You can't, baby."

"I want to."

"How you planning to do that?"

"I don't know."

Exactly. "I'm not one hundred percent sure you're serious, but killing someone in cold blood could get you locked up for life if you follow through with that shit. It won't change the past. He may or may not end up in prison at the end of this, but you can't plan to kill him."

"You said you'd killed people. You said even the day I met you, you'd shot someone."

She had me there. I killed several men that day. "I did, but that was different. We were on a mission in Guatemala to rescue a kidnap victim. It's different. Combat rules apply. The enemy will try to kill you first, so it's life or death. Tommy isn't directly threatening you right now."

"Except for the bomb and the gun he pulled on me."

"You can't claim self-defense with that if you hunt him down and kill him. You don't want to go through a trial for murder. Trust me. You even know how to shoot a weapon?"

"No."

"Then leave that to me. If I get a chance to put a bullet in him, I'll take it, but I know the rules, and I know how to stay out of the slammer. Alright?"

She nodded. "Have you ever had someone you wanted to kill really bad but couldn't because it was illegal? "

Man, that little therapy session with Fiona was sending my girl down a dark path. "Yes."

"Who?"

I looked into her eyes, and she was pleading with me to share. I didn't tell this story to anyone, but something about Wren had me spilling my guts lately. "Let's sit down."

I walked her back to the couch. She took another sip of water, less shaky this time, and settled next to me. I pulled her close, and she fell against my chest with a heavy sigh.

"There was a woman. My foster mother. Katrina blew through and destroyed New Orleans. My bio mom was an addict. Child services placed us with this woman who told me and the judge she'd provide a safe home for me and my siblings. That we'd be better off away from my mom. The bitch lied. She lied like your grandfather lied, and I ain't got no patience for that." My arm tightened around her shoulder, and she placed a palm flat on my chest.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry." She peered up at me with her innocent eyes. I hated telling her this ugly truth about me.

"We were not safe from her oldest son. He was twenty and still living at home."

"Did he hurt you?"

"Many times." I trailed my finger over her cheek.

"Oh no, Mag."

"She was wrong. She took advantage of us when we were on the outs. I wanted to kill her for lying and allowing us to get hurt. I wanted to kill her fucked up son for making me feel so powerless."

"Did you do it? "

"When I got my hands on my first weapon, it was my primary thought, but I didn't want to spend my life in prison. I was already in the Navy, and I knew I could make more of myself. Saved my life enlisting early."

"Do you know what happened to them?"

"They're both in prison now."

She smiled and it was nice to see it on her face again.

"I'm not telling you any more tonight because it's a sad story, and you've had enough."

She climbed up on her knees and threw her arms around me. "Thank you for telling me that, and thanks for helping me with this." She kissed my cheek, and that magic warmth started oozing in my chest again.

"I'm glad I was there." I gazed into her eyes and fought the strong pull to kiss her. She was so open and honest with me, it was hard to turn her away.

"So," I cleared my throat and took my hands off her, "you wanna watch a movie or something? Get your mind off things?"

"Don't you have to get back to work?"

I did have to go out looking for Gavin again, but this seemed more important. "Helix is following some leads. I can take a break with you."

"I'd like that."

"What do you want to watch?"

"Let's watch an action movie with lots of guns and revenge shooting."

I pulled her up from the couch and smiled. "How about a Marvel flick?"

"Close enough."