Storm Front by Monette Michaels Read Free Book Online

exhausted. Since I’m darn sure it isn’t a book deadline keeping her awake, Tweeter and I are going to see how bad the cyberstalking is and do something about it. You got a problem with that?”
    Earl turned and glared at the couple, daring them to challenge him. He was surprised to see twin smiles of delight and what he read as relief on their handsome faces. He grunted with satisfaction and added the oats to the boiling water.
    “Thank the Lord!” Evan looked to the ceiling. “Finally, a man who cares enough to take care of Tessa and not use her as arm candy or for sex or for her money and fame.”
    “Amen,” Chad chimed in.
    Tweeter said nothing. In fact the atmosphere in the large kitchen had gotten, for lack of a better word, ominous as the computer expert’s face grew darker and darker. Keely’s normally good-natured brother looked furious enough to kill.
    “Tweeter? Talk to me, man.” Earl divided his attention between cooking oats and the men at the breakfast nook. After several seconds without a response, he snarled, “Tweeter, what the fuck is wrong?”
    Evan had scooted closer to the laptop to look at the screen. His face turned white and then flamed red. “Goddammit to hell and back! I thought this part of her life was over.” The man responsible for Tessa being who and what she was today turned to Chad. “Look, love. Look at what they did to our baby girl.”
    Chad leaned across and instantly went ashen. He looked at Evan and Tweeter and then looked toward Earl. “God, we knew it had been bad. We went to the counseling sessions with her. Tessa had nightmares for years. But this? Hell, she kept this inside? I’ll kill the bastard.” He struck the table with his fist.
    What the fuck?
    Earl turned off the oatmeal and made it to the table in less than a second. “Show me.”
    Tweeter looked up and shook his head. “It’s bad. God, it’s bad.” He turned to Evan, “Why didn’t Callie tell us? We’ve known Tessa for years.”
    Evan shook his head. “Tessa didn’t tell Callie or the twins. Didn’t want them to know what had happened to her, where she’d come from. So we made up the story about abusive parents and running away from home. God, it was so much worse.” He waved a hand at the laptop. “It’s obvious she didn’t share it all with us or the therapist, either.”
    As Tweeter scrolled through the images and played portions of the videos, Earl’s breath stilled and his heart pounded as adrenaline flooded his system.
    The pictures and videos were of a younger Tessa. Bound. Naked. Bloodied. Screaming. The images grew worse as she grew older in the horror montage. Gang rape. Whippings. Sodomy. Forced oral sex.
    Earl’s gut roiled, and the pressure from holding back his rage, from reining in the need to fight, threatened to blow the top of his head off—then the worst occurred.
    What the—?
    Earl covered Tweeter’s hand and paused the image on the screen. That couldn’t be true. He looked more closely. Hooded asshole. Hot iron. Close up of Tessa’s naked bottom. Then—
    His fury exploded. “Cocksuckingnmotherfuckingsonofabitch. The bastard branded her. Hurt her. Fucking laughed as he did so. The fucker’s dead. They’re dead. Every. Fucking. One of them.”
    He let out a roar, turned, and hit the wall with his fist. And then he did it again … and again, shouting “fuck” with each and every punch. The wall buckled and dry wall dust floated on the air as he gave his fury and horror at what he’d seen full rein.
    “Stop it, Earl.” Tweeter halted Earl’s arm in mid-punch. “Don’t break your hand—you’ll need it for when I find the piece of shit fucktard who sent these to Tessa.”
    Earl shook Tweeter’s arm off. “Yeah, find him. Find him fast.”
    He breathed through the madness and focused on containing an anger unlike any he’d ever felt before. He’d thought he’d seen the worst of man’s depravity toward man in war zones, but this … this … fuck.