“It wasn’t all my story to tell. Max and Teddy are working with Daniels now. If I told them everything, then I would have had to mention your name, the physical altercations, and the fact that Daniels has been taking to stalking both of us. Then, once that got out, there would ten men that would need to be bailed out of a damn jail, not to mention a damn good group of attorneys for all of them.” Desiree reminded her.
“Ten? I know of four. Who are the other six?” Nightshade questioned as she tilted her head at Desiree.
“Besides Max, Tiny, Jose and Teddy? It would the rest of his team and his commanding officer.”
Desiree chuckled at Nightshade’s shocked expression unlike her, Nightshade was an only child, so she wasn’t used to people having her back like that.
When Desiree would see her brothers, Tiny, or Andrea while she was still Uncle Sam’s bitch, Nightshade would tag along. They had become her family.
Nightshade had been disowned by her own parents for joining the military. According to them, she should have been a doctor or a lawyer, not a lowly soldier.
“Do you think this is Daniels escalating since you started seeing Max?”
Desiree had wondered the same thing at one point. But the fact that she and Max weren’t even speaking when shit started, made her question that theory.
“Honestly, I don’t know. When the events started, we weren’t even talking. I hadn’t seen him in years after I had left the Army until he showed up in Charlotte. Even after Charlotte, there had been no communication between the two of us.”
“Well, shit. There goes that theory. Has Iris’s people come up with anything?”
“No. I just sent her the names as requested the other day. Iris thinks it’ll take a few days since Wizard is on an op for the big man. We both know that he comes first no matter what. All we can do at this time is stay on the offensive for now. Once we have a better idea of who we are dealing with, then we can go on the defense.”
Desiree had been wracking her mind on who would hate her enough to come after her in the way that they were. She couldn’t think of anyone off of the top of her head.
Bradley had married the stripper he’d cheated on her with, only to find out that the stripper had played him for a fool. That was on him and that stripper, not her.
He did get angry with her at first for not making Green Berets, but again, that was his own fault since he didn’t work out anymore. He’d started drinking when the stripper had started making his life a living hell.
Again, his fault, not hers. The facts surrounding her team’s capture had been kept quiet, even to Stephens family.
She’d left the military shortly after that. Luckily her option to re-enlist or leave came about two weeks after that mission and she chose to leave.
She lost contact with pretty much everyone on her team or those she considered friends after leaving except for Nightshade.There was no way she was leaving that woman behind no matter what anyone had said.
After that mission, she no longer felt safe in the military or with members of her own team. Especially when her commanding officer told her to suck it up since she chose the life.
She’d never told anyone about things she knew, because it wasn’t like anyone would have really believed her anyway. Her father had warned her that being a woman in the military wouldn’t be easy before he’d died.
She’d wanted to follow in her father and older brother’s footsteps and serve her country. To her, a young girl with big dreams, that overrode her father’s warnings about life in the military.
To her, she was a Lewis and a Lewis didn’t back down from a fight. And fight she did her entire ten-year career.
Maybe one of these days her sacrifices will mean something, if ever. But at least she knew she was strong enough to make it into the Green Berets and survive hell on earth.
That was everything in her book. Or so she thought until the toughest battle faced her again.
That battle was learning to trust someone with her heart again. She thought she’d given it to Bradley when they were together.
Now, she was learning she’d never given it to him. She’d just thought she did.
With Max, she was starting to learn what it truly means to be loved, be cherished, to be wanted. How she could have ever assumed Bradley was the good guy was beyond her.
Maybe fate knew she wasn’t ready for Max yet, back then. Fate knew she needed to be broken, at her lowest, to realize that a real man helped lift their woman, showed them what it meant to truly be a part of a real team.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Max changed his clothes once he’d finished their debriefing. He had a few things to do since Desiree was still at the garage instead of at home.
