The Other Sister (Sister Series, #1) (29 page)

Gretchen was shocked to find Lindsey and Jessie on her doorstep. Jessie knew however, as Gretchen’s face fell, she had to realize it meant something bad.

“He’s missing
, Gretchen.”

She nearly buckled, grabbing t
he table next to her. “Oh, dear God, no. Do you know anything?”

“Not much. Other than the general is after us for the tapes. The stuff Will left
with you. We need them. We need to fight the general. We need to make sure he lets Will get found.”

“You don’t think he’d actually harm Will.”

“I think the general only looks out for himself, and knows how to maximize any situation. Including if he needs something that will only come to light if Will isn’t around.”

“How did you know I had them?”

“Because he’d never release anything about me. And he couldn’t leave them with an impartial third party. It had to be someone he trusts. Someone who already knows about me. Someone who wouldn’t betray him. And that’s you.”

Gretchen paused. “You know that about yourself finally? God, Jessie, look
at you. You’re a different woman. I can’t believe it’s you. I’m so proud of you and for you. Why aren’t you and Will together? My God, he was so in love with you before you needed help, why then after—”

“He was afraid. I was afraid. I think we thought something would make me fall down again. But now I don’t think so. He was reported missing and the general threatened me and all I could think of was the general is lying, and Lindsey will help me. I know I’ll be okay.”

“And no cutting?”

“No cutting.”

“Okay. I have your tapes. He made me promise if I ever gave them to you, it was only because I knew you could handle them. I’m pretty sure he assumed the circumstances would mean he was dead. And I would have sought you out. But I think you can handle it.”

“I can. Thanks to all of you.”

“And Will most of all.”

“Yes. Will most of all. Did he really love me before I got better? He told you that?”

Gretchen started to go down the hallway, and turned back slowly. “He never told you that?”

“No.”

“He did. He loved you most of the time he was with you. He loved you better than he ever loved me. He was never there for me like he was for you.”

“He was gone a lot.”

“But not gone from you. Not after he loved you. He used to leave me physically and emotionally, and he never really came back. That’s why I left him. Not just because of our physical separations.”

Jessie digested that in her head. It was so far from what she pictured Gretchen saying to her. She didn’t know he loved her, even when she was unlovable. Why then, when she became lovable, did he run and leave her?

That was the first thing she wanted Will Hendricks to explain to her when she found him. And Lindsey was right. Finally, something good was coming her way. Will was going to come home to her. Even if she had to die finding him.

Gretchen came back with a plastic tote. “I had these locked in my safe. Will bought it. It’s fire proof and theft proof. It’s about the best he could buy to guarantee all this stuff would be there for you in case you needed it.”

“What’s in it?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”

“You never looked?”

“I didn’t. But I wanted to.”

“Thank you. Why don’t we listen to it here?”

“Here?”

“Yeah, here.”

Gretchen smiled and took out the small phone that Will left with her. There were flash drives of backups on the small phone. He ensured there were several copies.

The phone was shaking, held below the level of the desk. A couple of times, the picture glimpsed General Bains at his desk, his flags proudly behind him, but no mistaking his image on the phone’s small screen. Nor Will’s voice. The sound of it made Jessie’s stomach flinch in pain. God
, he had to be alive. How could she live the rest of her life without him?

The confrontation was short and to the point. It was also shocking, and Will was right. Her father, who turned out not to be her father arranged for her kidnapping. The pain it rehashed in her was deep, but now manageable. That was the difference from three years ago to now. She saw the looks Gretchen and Lindsey gave her and smiled back. “I’m okay.”

“He got him to admit it!” Lindsey said excitedly. “I can’t believe he got him to admit it. We own him. Do you realize, we will finally beat the general?”

“Are you sure, Lindsey? That’s what you want?”

“I am. Do you want that too?”

Her stomach knotted. To relive what happened to her was unquestionably the thing she did not want to do. But then again, no one had ever been punished for what was done to her. Not for what happened to her as a teenager, and certainly not for what happened to her in Mexico. Suddenly, the thought of justice for herself sounded good. Really good. Better than anymore therapy she could think of for herself.

“Yes. Yes, I want to beat him. I want him to know what it feels like to have your life smashed to pieces right before your eyes. I want him to know what it’s like to be betrayed, belittled, and hurt. Will was right to hide these from me. I would have gone over the edge three years ago. But now? Now I’m not Jessie Bains anymore. And I’d like to prove that. To myself. To the general. To Will. Let’s do it, Lindsey. Let’s take all the power from the general. Bring it back to ourselves. Let’s release these tapes and see where the explosion takes us.”

Lindsey sat there for a moment before a slow grin started to spread on her face. Gretchen’s too. They suddenly started hugging each other in joy, in completion, but mostly, in celebration of Will, and Jessie regaining her health. The truth finally belonged to them.

Gretchen wiped tears from her eyes. “It’s not my battle. I’m a third party, I know. But I can’t tell you how happy I am. Finally, the bastard will get what’s coming to him.”

Lindsey nodded and sobered. “Imagine how Will must have felt. He had the smoking gun, yet he didn’t use it. All for Jessie’s sake. God, Jessie, if that doesn’t tell you how the man feels about you, nothing will. He’s a big, macho soldier and he backed away from the fight of his life, for you. And you never even knew it.”

Jessie nodded. “He did. But this time, I’m fighting my own battle.”

General Travis Bains was taken into custody in his office by the military police in front of his entire staff. The whole building was nearly silent as he was walked past them in handcuffs. The shame, his shame, was so deep, it seemed to singe the air. No one could believe what the general did to his own daughter. He was incarcerated and awaited military justice. General Bains’s career was over, as well as his freedom and his life.

He hung himself three days after his arrest.

Jessie
and Lindsey were told together by the general’s former right hand man, after he asked them to meet him in the general’s former office, which had not yet been reassigned. He quickly, without ado or sympathy told them what their father had done to himself. Then he exited the office leaving them staring after him open mouthed in shock. Then they stared at each other.

“He deserved it. He deserved to die. We don’t need to grieve over him. We won’t grieve for him. We were right to do it. Not the general
, he was never right.”

Jessie shook her head. “He always had the last move, didn’t he? Always. He took the power even at the end.”

“He can’t hurt us. He hurt himself this time. Not us. And we did the right thing.”

Jessie waited a heartbeat. Then slowly, she stood up, and hugged her sister, agreeing, “We did the right thing.”

Lindsey took Jessie’s hands and looked into her eyes. “No cutting. Not over this. And not over him. Never again over him. It was his perversion, and his sickness. Not yours. You were the victim, and this time, you took the power and he became his own victim.”

Jessie nodded, holding back tears. Her tears sprang from the gratitude for her sister, rather than from grief over the man who raised, tortured, and nearly killed her.

“She’s right. General Bains finally got what he deserved and now everyone knows it. Not just me.”

Jessie spun around from her sister’s embrace. Her mouth dropped open and her legs almost gave out. There stood Will. Standing right in the doorway
of the office. She was called in to hear the news about the general, and now Will stood there in the flesh. Alive. Totally alive. He had bruises on his face, and one arm was wrapped in bandages and secured to his chest. He wore fatigues and looked tired, and much thinner. But alive.

Lindsey slowly let Jessie go, and smiled at Will.

“I knew you weren’t dead.”

“No. Not dead.”

Lindsey nodded and smiled, warmth in her eyes
as she stepped past him. Will was waiting for Jessie to react. To move. To do something. But she couldn’t do anything except stare at him with her mouth wide open. Her senses were overloaded. First, the foray over her father, then the media scandal, and the latest news that the general was dead. Gone. And now? Will was here, standing before her,
alive
.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

It seemed trite. Small. Stupid. But why didn’t he call her whenever he got out of wherever he was? How could he wait until he was back, stateside, to let her know he wasn’t dead?

“Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through?”

“It wasn’t intentional. I was a little ill for awhile. And there were debriefings. Confidential stuff. You know, the usual protocol.”

“How ill were you?”

“I’m getting much better. I’ll be okay.”

Her mouth shut with a snap. “The usual? Confidential? You can’t tell me? You left me hanging because you couldn’t tell me you were alive?”

She suddenly spun around and stomped her foot. Then she started pacing. “No. No more, Will Hendricks! I’ve had enough of your stupid crap. You most certainly
will
tell me where you were and what happened to you. You will tell me everything from now on, or find yourself a new job. Because that’s the thing, Will,
it’s a job
. It might be an important job, and good job, but a job all the same. It’s not who you are. And you can always do other things.”

He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, but hesitated before approaching her. She had her arms crossed over her chest. In anger? Yes it looked like outright anger at him. She was furious, despite how glad she was to see him. Alive. Whole. But she was furious he put her through more than he had to.

When she exposed her father, she changed the course of destiny. And now Will was alive and she could breathe again. But that didn’t mean she would let him control her life anymore. Or allow him ever again to leave her.

Will stared at Jessie with no idea what to do. He expected her to run to his arms, so grateful he was alive. Happy to see him. Instead, she seemed... so angry. Mad. Pissed as hell at him. He expected a pitiful, weepy, sad Jessie Bains. Maybe even catch her cutting herself over the pain of exposing her past, the media attention, the general’s take-down, and
ensuing suicide.

Instead, she was okay. She was managing to cope and she was mad at him. Of all things, he never dreamed he’d find her mad at him.

“I hate your job
, Will Hendricks. But I can live with it.”

He stared at her. Who was this? She was never like this as his wife. Or as Jessie. She was pretty, strong, secure, and confident.

“Live with it?”

“Yeah, live with it. But when you’re done, I want a normal life. I want a house in the suburbs with a bunch of dogs, and I want to have babies. Babies I can keep, because we made them together. I want to raise the kids, and I want you to find something to do that brings you home every night for dinner.”

“Every night for dinner?” he said stupidly. His voice was completely in shock. He’d never been so surprised by anything or anyone. Not even getting caught by the enemy could take him so unexpectedly. She wasn’t begging for him to stay with her. She wasn’t even happy to see him. She was telling him what she wanted, and what she expected. She was dictating how to have a normal life with her.

“Yeah, every night. Don’t I deserve that? You had your time. You had your adventures. I deserve the rest of you. You almost died
, Will. You almost didn’t come back to me. You chose that. You chose to leave. You chose to not even let me wait for you. Well, you know what I say to that? Fuck you. I will be waiting for you. And you will come back. Two years. I’ll give you two more years. And then? Then it’s a new life. A new job. A family. Everything. Then I get everything that was always denied me.
We
finally get everything.”

His mouth dropped open and he waited a heartbeat, but she stared him down. He finally nodded. His heart felt like it actually shifted in his chest. He never thought he’d see Jessie as not only normal, healthy, and confident, but also annoying, bossy, and
naggy.

Finally, a smile crossed his face. “Two years, huh?”

“Two years.”

“Okay
, Jessie Hendricks. Two more years, and then we’ll buy you a farm so you can tend a whole herd of horses.”

She smiled back at him
slowly. Her eye brows raised in surprise. “You on a farm? What will you do?”

“
Anything. I can do anything, as long as I’m with you.”

She visibly swallowed.
“You can?”

“I can
.”

Her eyes focused on his injuries, and she stepped closer, touching his face gently. “What happened to you, soldier?”

“I got lost for a little while. But it seems I had so much to live for, that I found my way back,” he pulled her against him. “I was coming back for you, Jessie. I never should have left. Not the way I did.”

“Quit underestimating me. And start telling me everything.”

He looked into her clear, sparkling, brown eyes. “Okay, let’s go home and I’ll tell you where I’ve been, what happened, and how I got back to you. It’s a pretty good story.”

She threw her arms around him and he leaned into her. They fell into each other
in a desperate, wild, loving embrace. She pulled back just enough to smile. “I have a pretty good story myself, Will Hendricks. And it starts the day my husband came back to me for good...”