Chapter 29
“Bonnie was indirectly working for Horatio.” Pops informed us as he set down a tray of beverages in front of us.
“From what Rachel, Alex, and I were able to extract from her, she is unable to bear children of her own.
Her connection has already fathered two children outside of their connection.
She has been going through fertility treatments and is unable to carry any children to full term.
“Recently, she believed she had. Before we apprehended Bridgette, she had implanted memories in Bonnie of being pregnant with twins. Bonnie woke up in the hospital with memories of carrying and birthing twins. Her connection told her that they had named them Leo and Rose after her grandparents—confirming the lies. Her connection had already been seduced by Horatio long ago and didn’t mind doing his bidding, especially since he never respected his connection, preferring the mothers of his children.
“They convinced she should get her babies back. They urged her to infiltrate the base and feed them information. They promised that they would help her get the babies back when they launched their attack. She was just biding her time until her connection let her know they were coming.”
I adjusted the cover shielding my breast from the people surrounding us.
Addison must have sensed the ordeal we had all just gone through because she seemed to want to comfort feed since we returned to our safe zone.
I had been too distraught to let her go and was thankful another team had been sent to retrieve Noah.
We were now all on standby while Paul, Kurt, and Greg strategized on getting the remaining hostages.
Unfortunately, they had situated themselves in the cafeteria and established a great defense against us.
It was a precarious situation, and we wanted to ensure we could breach the area with no casualties on our side.
Remy, Drake, Lincoln, Noah, Jaxson, Gavin, Sierra, Mercedes, Kade, Victoria, and Ben had all taken up a corner of the rec room in the safe bunker.
We had rearranged the furniture so we could be somewhat separated from the majority of the others waiting to get our next orders.
We chose the corner for a few reasons. The first was we were all a little shaken at what had occurred.
Secondly, some of the other operatives were slightly high-strung with their anticipation and were draining us with their incessant need to talk or pace.
The final reason was in all honestly, we were all suspicious of everyone now, outside of our immediate circle.
There were people that rode with us from the very beginning and were deemed safe, but, unfortunately, over half of the people around us were new recruits that most of us had never worked with.
“Was she sent to the prison?” Ben chewed on his lower lip.
His question seemed to trigger us all in a way.
Remy stiffened slightly before readjusting me and Addison on his lap.
Noah reached over beside us and gripped my hand in his.
Jaxson stood up, grabbing a drink as if he was too wired to sit any longer.
Finally, Drake leaned forward and grabbed a bottle of water to hand to me as if he needed to do something as well.
“It’s kind of sad, if she really believed the lies fed to her.” Victoria hesitantly commented.
Miranda and Megan placed platters full of sandwiches, fruit, and bags of chips on the coffee table in front of us.
They exchanged a look and immediately I was torn between righteous anger and sympathy.
If what Pops said was true how could we sentence a mostly innocent woman to that fate.
On the other hand, who knew what damage Bridgette had done to her long term.
We couldn’t risk her attempting to steal the twins again.
Victoria seemed to regret her words immediately and stated. “I’m sorry. It’s all of your business. I had no right to speak up at all.”
Kade reached over to take her hand at the same time Drake soothingly said. “You’re family now. We don’t want you to ever feel like you can’t speak your mind.”
“Just be ready for any feedback you may receive.” Jaxson teased in an attempt to ease the tension surrounding us.
Miranda cleared her throat. “We’re going to keep her locked up here.
We don’t think we should send her to prison until we all accessed the situation thoroughly.
Judge Myron has already been working tirelessly with the other prisoners.
We already discovered over a quarter of the inmates had their minds altered.
Is it fair to imprison them over crimes they truly hadn’t committed.
“Some of them would need intense therapy, while others will be worked on by some of the gifted, we have discovered that can assist them. We want to give you guys the choice to send her there, but we don’t want to rush it. We need to think justly and fairly and not be ruled by our emotions.”
Noah reached forward and grabbed half of a sandwich for me before standing up with Andy.
He grabbed the diaper bag and slung it over his shoulder.
“I’ve seen the damage that Horatio, Bridgette, and minions have done to some of those people.
I can’t in good conscience make a decision, but I’ll support whatever Blake and my brothers decide. ”
I tried to separate my emotions from logic. “I want to lock her away and throw away the key, but I realize Bridgette used her insecurities against her. My babies weren’t planned but now that they’re here I can’t imagine not ever being able to conceive.”
I realized what I said moments before it truly sank in.
It was highly insensitive remark to make in front of Megan.
I knew she had desperately wanted children but was unable to conceive due to Jace and Jaxson being born from her sister.
I shot a guilty look at Megan, but she wasn’t even looking at me.
Instead, her cheeks were slightly pink as she looked at Pops.
A small secretive smile was curving around Pops’ lips.
I wasn’t the only one to have caught their exchanged look because Jaxson paused from pulling out a bottle of my breast milk from the cooler bag. “What was that look?”
Out of my peripheral I saw someone joining the outside of our circle.
I tensed for a second until I realized it was Jemmy.
I knew I needed to relax and stop catastrophizing, but I was realistic to recognize it would probably be some time before I could.
I shuddered to think what would have happened had Bonnie faded out.
Would we have ever been able to find my baby girl?
I was thankful I had other things to focus on, so I didn’t fall down that rabbit hole.
I needed to push away all those dark thoughts and set my mind to rescuing my men.
Unfortunately, I would have to leave my babies behind, but I knew they would be in good hands with Megan, Grandma Hazel, and Rachel.
“What look!” Megan asked in a high-pitched tone.
My thoughts were brough back to the situation at hand by the guilt that seemed to lace Megan’s voice. She was normally so level-headed and cool, yet at that moment she was far from it. It was evident that she was hiding something, but what?
“There definitely was a look.” Mercedes smirked.
Pops seemed to find a sudden fascination with Noah doing the simple task of changing Andy’s bottom. He was handing Noah wipes as if he hadn’t changed a thousand diapers with our babies and all the babies that visited the med bay. Noah was giving him an indulgent grin that Pops seemed oblivious to.
I pulled Addison’s slack jaw mouth from me before readjusting my nursing bra.
She was deep in slumber, but I still needed to burp her.
Before I could even place her on my chest, Drake was taking her from me.
He gave me a warm smile and a wink and I couldn’t begrudge him with the need to cuddle her.
Afterall, I wasn’t the only one to experience the trauma of the near kidnapping of her.
“Hey, Ma and Pops, do you have something to tell us? Am I going to be a big sister? Is Addison and Andy going to be older than their aunt or uncle!” Jemmy gushed with a teasing smile.
Pops and Megan exchanged wide eye looks while Alex chirped from my elbow. “If Andy and Addison are my nephew and niece what will Pops and Aunt Megan baby be to me? Will he or she be my nephew or niece too?”
Alex sudden appearance was less startling then the news that Pops and Megan could be expecting.
My first initial reaction was to laugh at Alex’s imagination.
He was so tickled on being an uncle at his age that he was already asking for another niece or nephew.
The laugh quickly died on my lips when I saw the looks on Pops and Megan’s faces.
It was as if they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
“Alex Ray—” Pops began to weakly reprimand him before Alex cut him off.
“I know. I know! No looking at other people’s thoughts. I’m sorry. I forgot to turn it off after I talked to Jace.”
It was like a record scratch and all the music stopped.
I didn’t know what blew my mind more. The fact that they shouldn’t have been able to have another baby or that they were having one at their ages—granted Megan was as old as Pops.
There was also the information that Alex had talked to Jace when I hadn’t even “heard” from him.
Pops slipped behind Megan and they both placed a hand on her still flat stomach.
Megan hesitantly said. “We only just took the test this morning. I knew I hadn’t been regular lately, but I figured it was the stress.
By our assumptions I believe a little over ten weeks.
We wanted to wait until after we were out of the ‘danger’ zone before sharing the news. ”
Jaxson had an almost bemused and shocked look on his face before a large smile spread across his face. “Wow. I’m going to be a big brother!”