Page 58 of Benedict’s Rejuvenation (Dark Patriots #5)

I found it hard to believe at times that two months had passed since we’d found Aimée Ferrante in the secret dungeon in Joshua Wynne’s home.

Our suspicions had been proven right. He was mixed up in trafficking and more.

Due to the strenuous questioning they were put through, we discovered he was also supporting a pipeline into the US that brought in huge amounts of meth.

The cleanup, which was left for the Dark Patriots and their associates, as well as the US government, would take months.

I thought it was crazy that the government didn’t seem to question where or how the Patriots got the information.

As part of the debriefing, I ended up in Washington, DC, with the team.

I got to meet the mysterious Anderson. His aura was that of a very powerful man, you wouldn’t want to piss off.

He was in his mid-fifties, maybe, but he was physically fit and what women called a silver fox.

I had a hard time believing he was single.

Aimée had to come along to be debriefed as well.

She was scared, but I stayed by her side.

The biggest surprise was that Anderson was the one who calmed her the most. He seemed to take to her and was shielding her from too much pressure.

She had to be warned that speaking of what happened to her to anyone, especially the night she was rescued, would endanger her and us.

She swore she wouldn’t repay us by landing our asses in jail.

She had gone to the doctor, and what she told Wynne wasn’t a lie.

She was pregnant. However, she didn’t terminate her pregnancy.

She was having it, and she’d take the intervening months to decide if she’d keep or adopt the baby out.

As hard as it might be to raise your rapist’s child, I believed it would be harder to give away a baby that was half mine.

However, each of us has to do what’s right for ourselves.

The way the Patriots handled the bodies at the Wynne estate was straightforward.

They were found the next day when someone anonymously reported seeing the gate to the estate standing wide open.

It was never left like that, and there were none of the usual guards in sight.

When the police arrived, they found that Wynne, his guards, and several unknown men were dead in a hidden dungeon.

There was no denying what it was for. To keep Aimée out of it, her DNA had been thoroughly wiped away somehow by the cleaners.

The bodies of Wynne and his six guests were shot, except one, whose windpipe was crushed. Their bodies were thoroughly beaten.

As more and more information came to light, Joshua Wynne’s golden reputation turned to shit.

His secret dealings with criminal organizations worldwide were exposed and became the focus of an exposé written by none other than Rich Ambrose, who was revealed to be Ricardo Armando.

He was a freelance reporter. He’d tracked us to Hawaii somehow and wanted to get the real story behind my kidnapping.

He did big reveal pieces. However, as soon as the information about Joshua Wynne began to come to light, Rich forgot all about me.

I was forever grateful. I was impressed that he was presenting the story without bias, which was rare.

The first few weeks after freeing Aimée were spent staying in Virginia at Ben’s place.

It was not only so she could be nearby to answer questions if Anderson or others had them, but also to help her re-acclimate.

She’d been taken in Connecticut. Wynne had been there at his other home when he happened to see her one day.

She didn’t want to return there, and since she had no family, it wasn’t a heartache to move.

However, after those first weeks passed, I asked her to come back to Montana with us.

Ben had decided to stay in Montana, and Beau didn’t want to move back to Virginia either.

It seemed the mountains of our home had made them converts.

I would have gone to Virginia with Ben if he had asked, but it wouldn’t have been the same as being home.

I didn’t mind visiting, and neither did my sister.

My shock came when Aimée thanked us for everything we did and for supporting her, but she wanted to remain in Virginia.

She begged us not to be mad at her. I assured her we weren’t.

When the others wondered why she chose there, I thought I knew why.

I’d caught her sneaking looks at Anderson.

There was a significant age gap between them, approximately twenty years.

I didn’t know if she had a chance, but she could do a whole helluva lot worse than snag that man.

I told Ben, Beau, and my sister my suspicions.

They were waiting impatiently to see if it happened or not.

Another great outcome was that with Wynne’s death, his children were freed.

They were given anything they wanted, but were kept in boarding school most of the time by their dad.

Both children hated it. They begged all the time to stay with their mom, which he would never allow.

When Wynn and his wife divorced, we discovered that he’d paid a substantial amount and likely bribed the judge to grant him sole custody.

Their mom was only allowed to see them when Wynne gave permission and under supervision.

He rarely let her see the kids, and then would lie to the kids and tell them their mom didn’t want to see them.

With his death, their mom got full custody of them.

The parts of his estate that weren’t part of the illegal activities would be inherited by the children and kept in a trust for them until they turned twenty-five.

All accounts said they were thrilled to be living with their mom and stepdad.

With our return to Montana and resuming our work, we were left to see our men off at times when they had to go on assignments.

However, Ben wasn’t doing as many of them as before, though he and Beau insisted on being part of the team anytime the Patriots were dismantling Wynne or Vadzim’s organizations and those associated with them.

But all that was set aside for the night.

I had plans that included friends and family at first, then only my fiancé and me.

Even though it’d been close to three months since Ben asked me to marry him, it still didn’t seem possible that he’d asked, and I was planning my wedding to marry him.

After a long talk with my sister and our guys, we decided to have a double wedding.

Why waste money was our thought, and we had a great idea for our theme.

The men hadn’t cared, just as long as we married them and soon.

The only thing they insisted on, besides soon, was that we’d go back to Hawaii for our honeymoons.

Would it be Maui? I wasn’t sure. The guys were handling that part and keeping the details a surprise. I looked forward to finding out.

That was still close to two months away.

We were happily gearing up for Christmas.

We were in Virginia for the annual Dark Patriot Holiday party.

They went all out and held it in a high-end hotel’s fancy ballroom.

There was dinner, dancing, gifts, and more.

They liked to have their employees bring their families, which meant kids.

Ahead of time, they’d get ages and such from the parents, so the children received a gift at the party.

I’d been left speechless, along with Keeley, when we’d entered the ballroom earlier and seen how utterly gorgeous it looked. It was a winter wonderland in there—fake snow, lights galore, decorated trees, and so much more.

I was talking to Sloan, Gemma, Cassidy, Hadley, and my sister. They’d just confessed they’d been the ones to come up with the holiday theme and made it happen with lots of help from their staff and the hotels.

“My God, it’s incredible. Maybe you should quit your day jobs and become party planners,” I teased, but only partially. They had the talent, but I knew they wouldn’t leave their jobs.

Hadley giggled. “Could you see the Gerard’s board’s faces if I said I was turning the company over to be run by someone else so I could become a party planner? We should do it as a joke to see their reactions.” The rest of us laughed.

It was hard to believe that Hadley was shockingly wealthy, on the level of billionaire status.

Her father, Travis Gerard, had started his company from nothing.

A lot of hard work and some luck went into creating Gerard’s.

Sadly, they lost him not long after she got together with Griffin.

It was her money that helped the Dark Patriots afford things like the private planes.

She had them and thought it was stupid to allow them to sit around all the time.

And if you expected her to be a snob because of her wealth, you’d be disappointed.

Hadley was sweet, giving, and very down-to-earth.

Her biggest joy was helping people. We’d been getting to know each other since returning to Montana, doing so over phone calls and video chats. Keeley and I adored them.

“Are you two ready for your special night?” Sloan asked.

“Are you ready for the present reveal?” Gemma asked.

“We’re so ready that we can barely stand it. Keeley almost blew it in the car on the ride here. I had to pinch her,” I told them.

“I did not! But this ho pinched me so hard, I think she left a bruise. Beau doesn’t like my skin to be marked up.” Keeley gave me a mean look, though I knew it wasn’t real. I stared at her without muttering a word until she burst out laughing, then I did.

As we hugged each other, Cassidy whispered, “Watch out, hunky men alert. They’re coming. If you plan to do it tonight, now is the time. We’ll distract them. Go.”

Pretending we didn’t see Ben and Beau or hear them calling our names, we hurried to the stage where the DJ was playing incredible music.

Gemma and Sloan had spoken to him earlier, so he knew what to do.

When he saw us, he grinned. When we reached him, he cut the music off.

Eyes from all over the room turned to rest on him in confusion, then, seeing us, they changed to curiosity.

“Sorry for the pause, but these two lovely ladies asked if they could do a song tonight. I didn’t think anyone would mind.

Everyone, please give them your attention.

For those who don’t know these ladies, they’re Kensy and Keeley.

They’re Ben Madris and Beau Powers’ fiancées.

It’s all yours, ladies,” he announced, then pressed a button.

The silence began to fill with music. It was an old song, one that many might not have heard, but our dad had listened to the singer, so we knew the lyrics. As the intro ended, Keeley and I began to sing.

We were watching our men, and we got a few lines out before comprehension replaced their puzzled expressions with shocked ones.

They came charging toward the stage. We kept singing to cheers, whistles, and clapping until they grabbed us, lifted us off our feet, and twirled us around before sealing their mouths to ours.

Ben’s kiss sent me into a blissful haze. My body grew heavy with desire.

When Ben pulled away to gaze deeply into my eyes, I saw the joy there. He was extremely happy. “It’s real? Please tell me it is,” he whispered.

“As real as can be, Lover Man.”

“Goddamn, you’ve made me even happier, and I didn’t think that could happen, Hummingbird.

Let’s get out of here and go home, where we can have a private celebration.

We don’t need witnesses for this next part.

We can congratulate your sister and my friend on their news tomorrow. You did mean both of you?”

“It means both, and I think you have the best idea. Let’s go.”

As we stepped off the stage, I saw Keeley and Beau doing the same. She flashed me a smile, then blew a kiss. I blew her one. As Ben led me through the cheering crowd, I had one more thought. It looked like Paul Anka’s “You’re Having My Baby ” had been the best song for the announcement.

The End Until Dark Patriots Book 6: TBD