Chapter Twenty-Two
Tanner wanted to grab Bree and pull her into his arms. To comfort both her and the child inside her who had suffered so much.
But the way she said it all with almost no emotion—how they tortured her and her mother—told him she wouldn’t respond to comfort right now.
“My mom gave me eight hours and forty-five minutes’ warning that she’d found a way to get out,” Bree continued, her voice getting more and more distant.
“I used that time to do as much damage to the Organization as I could. I made sure to set them back for years, while also erasing every image that had ever been taken of me or my mom. I didn’t want them to be able to find us. ”
“That was smart of you.”
“The damage I did to them in eight hours set them back years. I know for a fact Michael Jeter hated me after that. I wish I could’ve seen his face when he’d found out what I’d done.”
But her own face got sadder, not happier. Tanner couldn’t stay away anymore. He sat down and pulled her up against his chest. “You got out. You survived. You bested them. That’s what matters.”
“If I had worked that hard when they wanted me to, they wouldn’t have hurt my mom.
She never recovered, Tanner.” She shook her head against his chest. “She never stopped looking over her shoulder, convinced the Organization was there. Never stopped being terrified. Even at the end, she was convinced she was being betrayed and the Organization was coming to get her.”
Bree rubbed her shoulder in the peculiar way he’d seen her do multiple times in the last few weeks.
“She never got over it?”
“No. We moved around all the time. Sometimes we even lived apart if she thought they might be gaining on us. Split up a lot.”
Which explained why she’d wanted to do that when they were in trouble.
“Toward the end...” She trailed off, rubbing the front of her shoulder again so hard he was afraid she was going to leave a mark on her skin.
He pressed his hand over hers so it lay flat against her shirt rather than moving. “Toward the end...she hurt you?”
Bree’s eyes flew to his. “She didn’t mean to. She was confused. Sick. The last few weeks, she was convinced I was working for the Organization. That I was helping them take us back into captivity.”
That didn’t make any sense, of course, but he didn’t need to point that out. Bree was well aware her mother’s fears had been irrational.
“She stabbed me in the shoulder because she thought I had poisoned her. Then she ran outside and right in front of a car. Killed her instantly.”
He gripped her hand in his and brought it down from a wound that was years old but obviously had never healed. Might never heal.
He brought her fingers to his lips. “She needed more help than you could give her. She had a breakdown.”
“She needed a daughter who hadn’t let her mother be tortured until she was never right in the mind again!”
It was the most emotion he’d ever heard out of Bree.
He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “No. She sacrificed to get you out of there. She wouldn’t have wanted you to give the Organization what they were demanding. But her head muddied it up.”
She held herself stiff for a moment before relaxing against him with a sigh. “I know. I know she wanted us out of there. I just wish we could’ve gotten out earlier. That I had been smart enough to figure out how to do that rather than just useless computer stuff.”
“Useless? You formulated technology that was years before your time. And you were a child when you did it.”
“And then I destroyed most of it before I left.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Tanner wasn’t sure if that had been the right call or not. But it had definitely been the only choice a teenager who’d been tortured physically, mentally and emotionally had.
“Where does Melissa fit into this?”
“Melissa didn’t know what the Organization really was until recently. She lost everything.” Tanner listened as Bree told him about how Melissa’s fiancé had been killed and how she hid the babies so she could try to make her move against Communication for All.
“But she can’t do it,” Bree said. “She’s not good enough. I’ve known that the whole time but ignored it because I’ve been afraid. They have to be stopped right now, and I’m the only one who can do it.”
“That means coming out of hiding. I can put you in protective custody.”
“No. I’ve been thinking about this all day. In order for this to work, I’ll have to be at the symposium myself. I’ll use their own system against them.”
“I’ll make sure you’re safe.” And he damn well meant it.
A soft sound came from the monitor. Beth was awake. She generally woke up from sleep first and played contentedly for a few minutes until Christian woke and made the entire world aware of his unhappiness.
Bree stood and pointed at the baby monitor. “Those kids need to grow up with their mom. Not with their emotionally stunted second cousin,” she said.
Tanner stood also. “Technically, it’s first cousin once removed.”
Bree laughed, a beautiful sound he wanted to hear more of. “I notice you don’t try to argue the emotionally stunted part.”
He stepped closer. “You’re emotionally guarded, not stunted. And that’s completely understandable.” He slid a hand under the thick brown hair at her nape. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking it slow. Believe me, slow can be very, very good.”
He kissed her. Tenderly, aware that this woman—brilliant, brave and about to bring down a major group of criminals—had never known tender kisses. Outside of him, had probably never known any kisses at all.
He would be more than glad to show her any type of kiss she wanted to learn.
She sighed, leaning into him, her trim body brushing against his. He had to struggle to remember to remain tender and gentle.
When Bree’s little tongue brushed against his lips, all thoughts of tender fled. His hands came up to cup her face, tilting her head so he had better access to those sweet lips.
He nibbled at them until they opened then deepened the kiss until it was a melding of their mouths, no space left between them. He knew he should slow things down, but Bree’s arms wrapped snugly around the back of his neck weren’t going to allow it anyway.
Not that he wanted to.
But still he was impossibly cognizant of the need to take this at a speed she could handle and process. No matter how much her lips were driving him crazy.
In the end it wasn’t either of them who broke the kiss, it was Christian letting the world know he was awake.
Bree let out a sigh as they broke away from each other, but at least her eyes still met his. “That kid sure can scream,” she whispered.
“If it wasn’t for him crying, I never would’ve walked down that aisle at the drugstore. But I’m glad both of them aren’t like that.”
She let out a sigh and tilted her head against his chest. He would’ve gladly stood there forever and let her lean against him. “I don’t have much time to stop the Organization. I have to start right away.”
“What do you need?” he said against her hair.
“A safe place to work, preferably on a government computer so I can more easily cover my tracks.” She pulled back and looked up at him.
“And someone to watch the twins. It’s going to take every spare minute before the symposium for me to get inside the Organization’s system.
I won’t be able to care for the babies the way they need.
It nearly killed me when I was trying to do that before using the library’s internet. ”
“That’s why you were there in the middle of the night when you were supposed to be resting?” That made so much sense now.
Those green eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“I saw you there that night. I had no idea what you were doing.”
She nodded. “I was trying to help Melissa. But she told me to stop and focus on the kids and let her worry about the Organization. I don’t even know if she’s still alive, Tanner. She might have risked it all calling me and telling me to get out of the apartment.”
“I know people in federal law enforcement. Omega Sector can have someone knocking on Communication for All’s door today. If she’s still alive, we can get her out.”
Bree thought about that for a moment. “No. If they didn’t catch her, going in there will tip them off and we’ll never be able to stop them. Mellie wants to be free. Wants the twins to be free. The only way that will happen is for me to stop them from the inside.”
“Then we’ll make it happen. Whatever you need. I’ll make sure you have it. You’re not alone in this anymore, Bree.”
Her big green eyes blinked up at him. “I...I...” She faded off with a shrug.
He put a finger over her lips. “You don’t have to know what to say. You don’t even need to know what to feel right now. Let’s go get those babies fed and then let you go to work so you can save the world.”