Chapter 29

Jack

Evening has fallen and it's cold as all hell outside.

I've taken my sweet time getting the bear skinned so that it was perfect.

I like to use every part of the animal, never wasting a thing. It's part of my contract with Nature. She provides me with meat and warmth and in turn, I don't degrade the beasts I kill.

I have a certain respect for them and for the process of hunting.

I'm bone tired from the day's events. I try to clean up a little bit on the porch of the cabin but there's nothing to do with the fact that I'm covered with blood.

I kick my boots off and open the door to find Avery crying.

She's not even shocked to see me in such a grisly nature, so consumed is she in her own torment. What could she be crying about?

"What's wrong Avery? Has someone hurt you?" I say with a worried expression.

I hate to see her cry. That's one thing I've learned through this process. Avery's too beautiful to cry. She should have everything she wants. She should have a perfect life.

"I'm...I'm, sorry Jack. I have a confession to make," she says and I wonder what she could be referring to.

I shut the door and start to strip off my clothes that are covered in blood. I might as well not make this worse for her. She already knows I am a barbarous man, I might as well attempt some civility by cleaning myself up, especially since she's been crying.

I dropped my bloody clothes to the floor and wear just jeans and an undershirt.

"What is it, Avery? Tell me now," I say.

I pull her up into my arms and she hugs me tight before looking into my face and making her confession.

“I've been snooping through some of your things. And I know that my family has done you wrong. I’m…I’m a Wilkins. Avery Wilkins. My father signed off on sending shoddy weapons to your unit…and the man who I was supposed to marry is Adam Stanton. He owns Stanton Industries. He's the man whose company provided the weapons that doomed your men.”

I pull away from her to contemplate these words of venom.

What the fuck is she talking about? Is she telling the truth? It can't be.

She was gonna marry the man who was ultimately my ruin? Is this some kind of a setup?

For the first time, I see Avery as not appearing so cute and innocent. For the first time, I'm questioning her motives for being with me.

"You’re going to need to run that by me again, honey," I say sternly.

She backs away from me as if in fear. I must be a sight to see, my muscles covered in blood and my hair so unkempt that I look like the beast I just murdered.

I can tell she's afraid, frightened of my tremendous strength, but I don't care about that now. All I see is red.

She almost married Adam fucking Stanton? There has to be more to the story and I'm going to find out…now.

“It's all true. I hate to be the one to tell you this but I have to be honest with you. Can't you commend me even for that? At least I'm being upfront with you about what I know.”

I reject her plea. I feel like a storm cloud that's about to explode with lightning and thunder.

I'm so fucking angry. Wounds of the past have been reopened and I'm just not sure I'm ready to go there.

What she's explaining is everything I've been running from. She can't expect me to take this news with a docile attitude. It's just not in my nature.

"Honest? You think this is honesty? Your family has done me wrong and your potential fiancé was behind the ruin of so many lives. How can you live with that?"

Tears are streaming down her face. It's a sad sight to see but I don't fucking care.

I have to push my emotions for her down. I have to hear the rest of this story and how it all fits together.

"Jack, I'm sorry. You have to know I'm sorry about everything. You can't hold me responsible for all of this," she says, crying now.

She backs up against the chair and sits on the arm of it. I approach her but try to tame my anger so as not to frighten her even more.

"Tell me how you know all this, Avery. Tell me," I say.

"I discovered conversations proving that Adam was using my father to gain lucrative weapons contracts with the US military. He was also, I think…well, I think he’s playing both sides of the war."

I'm about to go fucking ballistic now. To hear that this lunatic sabotaged us is incomprehensible to me. The thought of all the people I lost in my unit, men and women alike, fills me with rage and remorse under normal circumstances.

But now Avery’s telling me that this one guy is responsible for it? No. It can't be fucking possible.

The days I've spent in torment and regret and misery flash before my eyes. All these days out in the wilderness have been because of this, because of some shady bastard playing underhanded politics. And to think, Avery was about to marry him.

I slam my fist into the wall and blood trickles down, comingling with the blood of the bear. I am a fucking savage and I feel as if this rage is going to consume me whole.

The thought of that man marrying her makes me burn with fury and jealousy all at the same time. My past is colliding with my future, and it all fucking makes sense now—how there was no explanation for what went wrong when my team was demolished.

We were fucking played.

Before I can become even more enraged, she makes another confession.

"Jack, that's not all," she says softly, her voice cracking. "When Adam caught me snooping…he tried to—” She swallows hard. “He was so furious he tried to rape me."

I stop in my tracks.

What the fuck? Did she just fucking say that?

I better not have just heard what I think I did. That better not be the fucking truth.

"Excuse me?" I say through gritted teeth. "Did you say that Adam fucking Stanton tried to fucking rape you?"

She nods her head solemnly, and that's the last push I need to totally explode. I knock over chairs and slam my fists into the walls and cabinets trying to vent my anger.

The thought of his hands on her is too much. Too fucking much. But now my anger swells and flares up at a worthier target: Adam himself.

My mission is clear, this guy must go down.

Any animosity I might've felt toward Avery for even being a part of this completely fades. I know it wasn't her fault. She's been a pawn in their game. Unbeknownst to her, she fell into the trap of a traitor, and apparently, so did I.

I calm myself enough to wrap her up in my arms, and she doesn't even mind holding my bloodstained body.

Nothing exists right now except for me and her. She comes first before everything.

"Are you okay, Avery? Did he hurt you?" I think about it for a second, then swear. “Shit. Did I hurt you?”

She sobs into my chest and says, "I'm okay. I'm just glad that you're here."

A million thoughts are going through my mind at once, all involving how to make this guy pay. To think that Avery almost was almost raped by that bastard has my blood boiling. The fury I feel towards Adam is immense and multifaceted.

He played both sides of the war and then he tried to play Avery on top of it.

Eruptions of anger convulse in my chest, but I try to hide that from Avery. I don't want her to know how totally raving fucking mad I feel.

Time ceases to exist, and all I know is that I have to protect her.

She’s all that matters now.