Chapter 145 Don't Lose Focus

Chapter 145 Don't Lose Focus
Tiny

I squatted down next to Alex, alarmed at the look on her face and the tears tracking down her cheeks. When I had asked her what was wrong and wiped away her tears, I’d also seen surprise and shock on her face. She couldn’t seem to articulate exactly what was going on but I just waited. Then she’d turned the screen of her computer to face me. It had still taken me a few moments to understand what I was looking at.

There in black and what was information regarding Richard and Celeste Knight, and their involvement with the operations we have been wading through. In particular, they were participating in the live stream we interrupted when we raided this last compound. Well, fuck, I didn’t expect that. 

We had never met her parents, and she’d never really wanted us to. She’d explained the dynamic between them while she was growing up, and what type of shallow and snobbish people they were. I had just been surprised that parents such as that had managed to raise such an incredible daughter.

The one time I mentioned that to Alex she’d laughed, “Well, I wasn’t really raised by them. I had nannies, then the staff, and after that Dean’s family was amazing to both Rachelle and me, so we spent as much time over there as we possibly could. So, I attribute anything positive in me to all of that and their distinct lack of involvement.” 

Well, that was one thing, this was another. To see right in front of your face the fact that your parents, that you grew up in a house with, are sick mother fuckers. I am now just wondering what her dad might have been thinking as far as a dollar amount attached to his daughter. She’d told us she’d been afraid he was going to sell her, and had figured out an exit plan even before the Vandicoffs. 

So, I’d simply asked her, “What do you want to do?”

She’d blinked at me several times, “What do you mean what do I want to do? They are fucking messed up in this shit, just because they’re my DNA donors doesn’t give them any kind of pass for this bullshit. They get treated the same as the rest of them, we take them down. I am just trying to get my brain around the fact that I lived in a house with these sick fuckers, and who the hell knows what the absolute fuck they were doing right under my god damn nose.” 

“Alex, you are not responsible for policing your own parents, fuck that. You were a kid, then you were a young woman, just trying to survive, and you already knew you needed to get the fuck out. So, you just had to improvise when other sick mother fuckers showed up. Nowhere in any of that would you have possibly thought of them doing bullshit like this. Normal people wouldn’t be able to wrap their heads around bullshit like this. So, stop berating yourself for any of it.”

She blew out a huge breath, “I know Tiny, but I just wasn’t expecting that one. So, now, with my whole focus for so long back then being about security and all of that, I find out that behind my back, right under my nose, this whole entire bullshit network was full of these sick mother fuckers engaging in all of this. I know I am not responsible, it’s just, wow, mind blown kind of shit.” 

I stood up, bent over, and kissed her temple, then reached down and took her hand. I pulled her to her feet, then wrapped my arms around her and just hugged her for a couple of minutes. I felt her relax more the longer I held her, and as far as I was concerned I could stand here and hold her for a very long time. 

She snuggled more into my chest, and then I heard her mumble, “We’ll have to let the others know. I don’t want anyone hesitating to take them down because they’re worried about upsetting me.” 

“We will, baby. So, just breathe and try to remember we love you. That’s the most important thing, we love you, you love us, we all love our kids, and that’s what we focus on. Yes, we want to help with all of this bullshit as well, but the main thing is to never lose focus on those basic facts.” She nodded, then I lifted her chin and kissed her, she was grinning just a bit when I pulled away.

“Okay, well I have some more work to do, thank you for retrieving my ass from the looptie loop of my brain just now. I love you.” I smiled and kissed her nose, then turned and left her to finish up what she was doing.

I walked into the main control room and spotted Cody and Saint at the main table working on maps. They looked up as I approached and Saint raised his eyebrow, “Everything okay?”

I rubbed my hands up and down my face for a second, then let out a big breath, “Alex just found out that some of the people who were on the live stream that day were her parents. So, she was a bit thrown off kilter for a few minutes. She’s okay, but it just took her by surprise.”

They both just looked at me open-mouthed, displaying the same feelings that I had felt in the office a few moments ago. Then Saint, eloquent as ever, “Holy Fucking Shit!”

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she kinda huffed at me. She doesn’t want them to be treated or handled any differently than anyone else who is associated with all of this bullshit.”

Cody snorted, “Did you expect anything different?” 

I shook my head, “No, but I at least wanted to ask her. Then I needed to remind her that what was important was our family, and that we love each other, and that’s what she has to hang onto while she wades through this cesspool.”

Saint nodded his head, “Yeah, we just have to take it all in bite-sized pieces and try to focus on what’s in front of us right this moment, that way we don’t get lost in all of this dark shit.”

I nodded, “So, now, she’s working up a few other things before she brings us some information.” They both nodded in understanding.