Chapter Sixteen #3
“It looks like he shoved her or she fell backward and hit the back of her head on something. That would be what I believe took her life. Again, without an autopsy, I can’t know for sure, but I’ve seen enough bodies, Caspian, to know what that skull fracture feels like.”
Raphael was going to kiss the man. Oh, what Chris had managed to do was not only save Caspian’s heart, but to take the rage down quite a bit.
Rayna would have wanted to go out fighting, and Chris gave her that instead of her going out begging for mercy like she had.
He flipped the script and just saved Caspian’s soul.
Chris handed him his tea again, and the man sipped it, as he considered what else he wanted to know before he saw his girlfriend on video.
“So, he didn’t hurt her?” he asked. “You know. Assault her?”
Chris shook his head.
“No, he didn’t sexually assault her, Cas. Rayna was found on the floor, fully dressed, and just like when she fell and hit her head off the corner of the fireplace. Elizabeth must have gotten there right as it happened, because the back door was open, and he was gone.”
He closed his eyes.
Thank freaking God.
While Caspian still hurt that she’d died, at least he’d not gotten time with her. There was mercy there, and that healed the rage that was filling him before.
His woman would have overtaken him—without a doubt. Her death was from a fall, not from being tortured.
“Can I see her?” he asked, touching the tablet.
He nodded.
“MATE, pull up intake video RunningWolf, Rayna, on this tablet,” he said, giving the passcode that gave only him access.
Already, he’d made sure to inform MATE that she was to NEVER speak of Rayna near Caspian again.
The actual information was deleted from her memory, and as far as they were all concerned, what he was saying was the truth.
The system chimed.
Then, the video began. In it, there was Chris’ voice, as the camera stared down at the woman on the table. Her eyes were closed, and she looked…peaceful.
There were no marks on her face, and she wasn’t mutilated like he’d feared.
Chris was speaking and making notes, and being incredibly gentle with her body.
Chris shared.
“Again, without autopsy, I can’t give any official COD, but by feeling the back of her head, I am one hundred percent positive she fell, hit her head, and was gone in that instant,” he said, as they were watching him moving her skull gently in the video.
Caspian wiped the tears in his eyes, and there was such relief that she just looked like she was sleeping.
He’d never forget how she looked, and how peaceful she was. As someone who was a pacifist, and Buddhist, he knew Rayna was in a better place and would come back again.
In the video, Caspian watched Chris lower the cloth to show her uniform. It was ripped at the one pocket, like someone had grabbed it and pulled, but she was unmarked otherwise.
Her arms were pristine, minus a few scratches likely from Devon Slater trying to grab her.
Gently, Caspian ran his fingers over the screen.
“She looks like she’s asleep,” he said.
Chris could see Raphael staring at the tablet over Caspian’s shoulder, and he had tears in his eyes.
Thank you, he mouthed.
Chris just nodded.
“She is, Cas. I’m sorry she died, but she’s not suffering.
You can see that he didn’t hurt her. He didn’t violate her.
What he did was probably get his ass kicked by her.
She had DNA under her nails that we swabbed.
He failed, and she beat him at his game.
She beat him, and likely saved you, and Elizabeth.
Like I said, she’s a hero. Elizabeth would have turned herself over to him to save her for you. ”
Caspian sobbed.
Not only because he’d lost Rayna, but because he likely lost Elizabeth too. She absolutely would have done that. There was no doubt in his mind that she would have sacrificed herself for his heart.
Chris kept wiping the tears.
“I’m sorry she died fighting, but please know that Rayna was a warrior to the end.”
Already, his heart hurt less. Losing her would change him forever, but how she died also changed him. He no longer felt like burning the world to the ground.
His girl died a hero.
As a soldier, that was the most honorable thing in the world.
“Thank you,” he said softly. “Thank you for letting me see her one last time.”
Chris was honest.
“I wish I could give you more,” he said, meaning that. Mostly, wishing he could have saved Rayna from the fate she’d suffered.
She’d been tortured for hours, and had suffered in ways that should never have happened. Devon Slater was a sick animal, and deserved to be put down.
The sexual assault alone had to be the most painful thing for her to live through. Chris knew from looking at her that she’d had her eyes removed while alive, and he’d taken her tongue out so she’d drown from her own blood.
That had been COD.
Caspian found the words, and in them, there was peace.
“Seeing this is enough. She’s not in there. One day, I’ll see her again,” he said. “I have faith.”
Chris hugged him when he reached for him.
“I have you, my boy. We have you.”
That’s when he began sobbing.
“I loved her so much,” he said. “With each day, I only would have loved her more. I wanted a life with her, desperately.”
Chris knew what that was like.
The love of a woman was something that changed you. At some point, the pain would dull. Memories would fade. Time would pass.
Unfortunately.
“I know, Son. I know that she felt the same for you.”
Chris sat there and let him mourn, and he did the job of ME and Dad. When Caspian was out of tears, he held his hand.
“She’ll get Rayna justice. Elizabeth is tenacious, and while he didn’t hurt her, she’ll make him pay for what he did to your heart. Moms are the wickedest avengers of her children’s hearts. Trust in that.”
He closed his eyes.
“I know,” he said. “I need to find her and tell her I’m sorry,” he stated. “I shouldn’t have shoved her. I was lost in grief. I thought he did horrible things to Rayna.”
Oh, he absolutely did.
Only, Chris wasn’t going to kick a man while he was down, or be angry.
“She knows. Give her some time to handle this, and when it’s over, she’ll have time to hear you out. Knowing Elizabeth for as long as I have, I know for certain, she’ll never be angry over this.”
Caspian kissed Chris on the cheek.
“Thank you for this. Thank you for taking care of her until she could be given back to her people. That would matter to her. She once told me she wanted to be placed by her mother. I hope Lance does that.”
He did too.
Only, they had a million other problems now. Lance still didn’t know his daughter was dead.
When he found out…
Holy fuck.
Hell was opening up all around them. They might have to send Caspian back to DC to isolate him from this.
Time would tell.
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m sorry that you lost someone you love. If you need to see the video again, or you need to just talk, Caspian, I am here for you. You can come here and find me.”
He knew he would likely need to talk to someone, and he appreciated that Chris would listen. His own father would have laughed at his weakness and tears.
Chris was a good man.
“I think I’m going to go back to the lounge and close my eyes for a while,” he said. “I need to dream about her. I need to just remember our last moments, and work through the rest of this pain.”
Honestly, that would be for the best. Deep down, he was contemplating how to cover up what had happened to Rayna. At that point, getting her cremated and then having it be an ‘accident’ due to paperwork, was looking better and better.
Oh, he absolutely owed Doctor Legend an apology for busting his balls over speculating when Chris was burning the rule book, and dancing around it like a lunatic.
Because he was stronger now, Chris set him free.
“That sounds like a good way to remember her,” he admitted. “When this is over, we can have a memorial and plant a tree for her. I know Elizabeth would love to have the grounds by the mansion filled with gorgeous trees in honor of a gorgeous soul.”
Caspian nodded.
“I’d love that. Thank you.”
They all needed to heal from this, especially everyone who saw the body after the fact. Chris had never seen anything so foul in his life, and that was saying a lot.
When Caspian reached the door, he glanced back.
“I love you,” he said.
Chris was well aware that each one of their Marines loved them like they were parents. They’d made a family out of a bunch of strangers.
And it was worth the lies and his career.
“And we love you.”
When Caspian walked out, Raphael hugged the man. In that moment, he admired Chris more than he’d ever understand. What rules he broke just saved a life.
“You did something good just now. He’ll hurt because he lost her, but he won’t hurt as much as if he found out the truth. He was going to kill Devon and likely end his life because Caspian isn’t cruel. He’d never be able to live with that or himself.”
Oh, they were aware.
That was why lying had been the best option. Normally, it wasn’t, but to save a life…
Yeah, he’d fall on that sword over and over again.
Only now, Chris was to the point.
“My suggestion is forget what you saw, and tell the others who were there to do the same. You heard what I told him, so spread that around. Elizabeth did NOT want him to know, and we are not letting him know. I covered our end with MATE and the paperwork. Loose lips sink ships, Winn.”
Oh, he didn’t have to tell him twice. That was for damn sure.
Only, now, he was curious.
“You had a plan? Because I heard crazy movement outside the door when I closed it.”
Oh, it was a fast one, but it seemed to have worked. Chris shared what they’d done.
“We hid her in the body elevator in case Caspian started tearing open morgue cooler doors. She’ll go back in when he’s gone until we can get her back to her father. We’re going to have to send him back to DC, because Lance is going to come for him, and us.”
Raphael understood.