The Sheikh's Little Wife.

CHAPTER TWO

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The large military plane buzzed with several noisy and disorderly men.

Three hours in, and Evangeline was still a little aware of being the only female in the plane.

Over a dozen troops sat in the stiff metal chairs built into both sides of the plane. Another dozen of them were on their feet lively conversing.

None of them said anything to the green eyed beauty tucked away in the corner, but it didn't mean they never tried to stare.

The phrase 'boys will be boys' was an understatement. There wasn't a second that passed by without hearing a bone-shattering belly laugh from someone, thanks to a disgusting story.

Evangeline tried to hide her amusement behind the file in her hands, occasionally biting down hard on her bottom lip to suppress a grin, and using her long hair as a shield.

She'd rarely seen the troops this carefree back at the camp. She supposed it was because they didn't have their idiot General breathing down their necks.

Evangeline knew from the beginning that Lloyd Shelly was a crafty little man. Over the eight months, she'd succeeded in rarely crossing paths with him. Except for the times when she needed something and he was the only indirect connection to Jax. Even then, the five foot muscly man tended to give her some weird stares.

If Catherine Pierce were to come across the perv, she would have bravely defended herself against him.

Evangeline's life giver wasn't afraid of anything.

That night—when Jax had raped and beaten a nine weeks pregnant Evangeline to a pulp, for no apparent reason—Evangeline called her mother and finally spilt everything; after four years of pain.

Of course Catherine had first scolded her daughter for not telling her anything. She'd gone on for a good five minutes before suddenly breaking down on the phone.

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. It's all my fault. I should have known his true intentions. I should have sensed it."

Evangeline painfully adjusted herself in the hospital bed. "Please don't blame yourself, mom. He manipulated the both of us. Just, just please don't tell anyone, he'll be so mad."

"He'll have to go through me before he dares lay a hand on you again. I'm leaving Brazil tonight, and I'm coming to see you."

Evangeline breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly started to sob. "Mom?"

"Yes, baby?" She could hear the deep concern in her mother's voice.

"I . . . I . . . I lost the baby."

Evangeline swallowed the discomfort in her throat and tried to repress the terrible memories. She'd managed to survive without emotional support for several years, it wouldn't make sense being comforted by strangers.

She quickly looked up to see if anyone had noticed her tears, but she saw nothing.

She hadn't come to know any of the troops at the camp. They all came and went—a different face every week.

Even the journalists who she'd found researching at the camp seemed out of reach. It was as though someone had told them that interacting with her would have fatal consequences.

The natives were all she had. And now they were taken away from her by her manipulative husband. Saying goodbye to them was as hard as it could have been, not knowing if she would ever see them again.