Chapter 7

Charlotte sat in the darkened cellar where Jaxson had put her. "For your own safety." he had said. He had left with her a lantern, a flashlight, a jug of water, several tins of food. But the one thing that frightened her, was the automatic pistol and shotgun, both loaded, that he had left with her. But, only after he assured himself she knew how to use them.

Jaxson had kissed Charlotte on the forehead, and told her that he would return when everything settled down. She didn't know how long it would take to "be over," but she knew that it was the men who had hurt her. She would never forget Rio leaning in and telling her that he was doing this to keep the other two off her. He had looked so ashamed when he had shot her. The only time she was hurt by one of the other men was when Tony had thrown her to the ground and she had hit her head. She had barely been conscious when she had been thrown out of the vehicle by Tony. She had been in so much pain that hitting her head had only blended in with the rest of her agony.

Upstairs Bill and Jaxson waited in the darkened house. They didn't wait for long before a late-model truck pulled up. Three men got out. All tall and muscular. The one standing in the center was easily the tallest of the three by at least three inches. All were walking silently towards the house, reaching under their jackets to grab their guns. However, the man in the center used both arms and pulled out a gun in each hand. What he did next shocked both men waiting in the house. The big man pointed both guns at the two men with him and fired.

Rio watched with a certain amount of grim satisfaction as Tony and Marco dropped to the ground dead, the bullets going through their hearts.

Raising his head, he took a deep sniff and said, "You and the Sheriff can come out now."

Jaxson opened the door and pointed his weapon at his brother and growled at him. "Tell me why I shouldn't drop you just like you dropped those two?"

Rio dropped the clip out of his gun and ejected the round loaded, then bent over and laid his gun at his feet and kicked it over to his brother. Raising his hands in a sign of surrender.

"Please tell me you found Charley, and that she is safe and recovering." When his brother and Bill both growled. "Whoa! I'm a deep-cover federal agent, Bro. Promise. Sheriff, you can call my boss in the capital. Speak to no one but him. His name is Powers, Nathan Powers. I'll wait while you call him."

Bill pulled out his phone and called the Nashville U.S. Marshall's office and asked the operator to put him through to Nathan Powers, it was an emergency, then identified himself as law enforcement and a badge number. When the phone connected, Bill put it on speaker.

"This is Nathan Powers." The man had a commanding voice.

"Sir, my name is Bill Winters, and I'm a sheriff around the Gatlinburg area, and I have a man who says he is one of yours. Name's Rio, and he stands about 6'6 and is one big bastard. Says he's deep cover. He just dropped his two co-workers, pretty as you please to keep some folks safe."

"Rio?"

"Yes sir?"

"Does this mean you're done, son?"

"Yes sir, Charley has the SD card and she's with my brother. Once I get it to you, we can take down the entire network, sir. Twenty years' worth of work, Nathan. I'm tired. My mom cries about me and my family is ashamed of me."

"Sheriff Winters, he's my guy. I'll send a clean-up crew to your location. They'll be en route in minutes and this will be kept hush-hush and once our agency gets the SD Card, the organized crime network that Rio has been singularly working to bring down, for the last twenty years, will be no more. I expect arrests all the way up to the Senate." Then he said the words that blew Bill and Jaxson away. "Nationally."

Bill waved the big bear shifter in while Jaxson went to retrieve Charlotte. She was awake and aware of everything. The two gunshots had frightened her and she was sitting stiffly, waiting on Jaxson. When he opened the cellar door, she had stifled a cry. But the tears were streaming down her face in silence. She had known that silence would be the only way she would survive.

Jaxson ran down the steps and reached down and picked up his mate. Her tears called out to him and his bear was trying to come forward to comfort his mate. He wanted nothing more than to tell her who and what he was. But, he also knew that there was only so much she could take today. She had already been through so much, he was sure that she was close to her breaking point. Seeing his brother was really going to set her off, and he needed to prepare her.

"Charlotte, I need to tell you something. Something that will upset you. A lot." She looked at him and her eyes got large and she nodded her head and whispered, "Okay."

"My brother is here. He has been in deep cover for a government agency. His job was to get enough information to take down the entire network of organized crime, and it appears that he did. However, you have the information. The SD Card under your skin on your ribs contains all of the information his boss needs to arrest everyone involved." Jaxson paused and then said the words that he really didn't want to say. "It's Rio. He's my brother."

Charlotte's eyes got way too big for her face and she went a frightening shade of white as the blood drained from her face. "I know, honey. I know he did all of this to you, and as bad as it sounds, if he hadn't done it, then the other two would have been a lot worse."

Charlotte frowned, "How much worse?"

"Rape is a specialty for Tony and Marco. Plus they like to cut off fingers and toes."

Charlotte turned her head to see the man that she once would have trusted with almost anything. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you, Charley. If it's any consolation, I will see your face in my nightmares for years to come. But, I had to. I couldn't let those two goons hurt you like that. It was bad enough what I did, but I tried to stay away from vital areas. Those two would not have given a thought to cutting an eye out or slicing a finger off." Rio let that sink in. "I protected you the only way I knew how."

Charlotte didn't answer him and Jaxson looked down to see that she had fainted. Her mind simply couldn't deal with any more right now. He switched directions and went to his bedroom and laid her gently on their bed and pulled the covers over her. Leaving the room after one last look at her, Jaxson stalked to the living room where the other two men were talking quietly and with all of his pent-up rage, drew back and punched his brother in the jaw, knocking him down.

Rio looked up at his little brother, at the fire blazing in his eyes and it clicked. "She's your mate. Your bear has claimed her."

"Yes! You can stay here for next month while all of this goes down, you call Mom and Dad to let them know and go visit them, so that Charlotte has time to come to terms with everything and maybe get some therapy and heal. If she decides that she needs it.

At the reminder of what he had done to his brother's mate, Rio felt so much pain and remorse. For the first time since they were boys, Rio felt tears well up in his eyes and spill over.

"I'm sorry, Jaxson. As crazy as it sounds, I really did to protect her. I even dumped her here in the hopes that you would find her."

Jaxson could feel the emotion coming through the family bond and knew that Rio was genuinely remorseful. But, right now, he couldn't look at him, let alone be in the same room with him.