Page 50 of Brutal Queen

Being there for Benny stirred up feelings in me I wasn’t expecting, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t welcome. I was happy to help him, but it was more than that. My presence calmed him, brought him relief, and made me see him in a different light. Appreciate a part of him I’d never seen before. Being his solace while he was vulnerable was… enlightening.

“Yeah, well, you’ll be loving it when you can use it in the field. I think this latest design is perfect for precise detonations,” he says, his tone laced with petulance.

I’ve never found bratting attractive, but the more time I spend up close witnessing their dynamic, the more I appreciate the give and take of it. Their interactions are effortless and playful, and it’s… intriguing.

Aurora clears her throat loudly and they snap their attention back to her. “Well, if you’re quite finished, Nico, choose a venue and take Benny with you. We’ll give you a few hours with him and join later. I need to head to Inferno for a meetingwith Dom, and then I’d like to have a little chat with this asshole myself.”

Nico nods and pulls out his phone. “I’ll liaise with Etta and see what’s available. Does Gabriella have a current location on this prick?”

“Last known location is the frat house. He’s been sleeping off whatever shit they dosed themselves with last night. From the looks of the video she sent over, aside from their wheelman, they were all out of it,” I say.

Enzo shakes his head. “I can’t believe we’ve got to the point where not only do we have a trafficking ring being sanctioned by the De Lucas but now they're employing college students to funnel them victims.”

Something about the way Enzo’s talking it through starts to make sense to me. “You know, if you wanted to make sure you had the unwavering support of a large number of powerful men, wouldn’t it make sense to have something on their sons that would keep their families in your pocket for multiple generations? Not only will he be able to blackmail the fathers, but even when the sons come into their inheritance, he’ll still have enough on them to ruin them. Either financially, politically, or criminally.”

“Holy shit, that’s it, isn’t it? Because there’s no way these idiots were recruited for their skill in sourcing women in a low-profile manner,” Aurora says.

“We know how they showed up on our radar. They were targeting our clubs… but how did they show up on Max’s radar? These pricks don’t operate out of any of the De Luca clubs. Strip joints and cigar clubs aren’t really optimal hunting grounds for college girls,” I muse out loud.

Nico shrugs. “I guess that’s going to be my primary focus when we ask young Jackie-boy later.”

“I’m coming with you. I think we should pick up thewheelman at the same time. He was the only remotely sober-looking one on the footage and we might get more out of him.” I’m already packing up my laptop and I expect Nico to complain about butting in on his and Benny’s assignment but he just dips his head in agreement.

“I’ll get changed and meet you in the car in twenty minutes. I want to pack some toys to bring with us,” Benny says, leaping out of his chair like a freshly popped cork.

“No explosives.Etta will cut your balls off if you damage one of her wet sites,” I shout after him, knowing full well he isn’t listening.

It didn’t takeus long to get across town to the frat house and I’ve been relegated to look-out and get-away driver, while Nico and Benny head into the house to retrieve our little friend. Not the most thrilling of assignments.

We parked at the rear of the property at the end of a utility track that runs behind the houses on this street. It doesn’t look like it’s used a lot since it’s largely overgrown. Gabriella recommended we bring the pick-up truck as her team couldn’t get their vehicles down here for surveillance. They opted to stake out the place from the rear to avoid raising suspicion, so they came on foot.

The only thing moving out here are the trees and a skittish-looking racoon that’s investigating the side of their pool house.

Nico and Benny slipped into the house about five minutes ago through a window above the garage. I haven’t seen the slightest movement from inside. So far, so good. They should be back any minute with Jack. Unfortunately, by the time we got here, the car from last night was gone and the driver with him. When we drove past the front of the house, I clocked thevideo doorbell. Before the guys went in, I pulled out my laptop and hacked it so we could monitor the front of the house while we were here and keep a closer eye on these idiots going forwards.

It’s risky doing this in the middle of the day because of the neighbours, but it’s also the time when most of them are at classes, or doing whatever it is that over-privileged fuckboys do in college. It’s sure as shit not working. My research tells me they’re all here on their parents’ dime, not a job between them.

I’m just wondering how they’re going to get this prick out of the house when I hear a loud thud and look up to see Nico pushing a body out of the window and onto the garage roof.

That’s one way to avoid the security cameras, I think, unable to suppress my chuckle.

Nico pauses for a moment and rests his boot on the guy's hip before rolling him over the gutter and onto the lawn below. The likelihood of him coming out of today alive is slim, but if he does, he’ll definitely have some challenging injuries to overcome if this is where we’re starting from. Fuckboy hits the ground with a force that throws up a spray of water from where the grass is still covered in a sheen of dew.

Nico drops down next to him, landing with a crouch, looking like he’s channelling his best superhero entrance pose. I’d say it was because he’s showing off, but really that’s just his default position. He may be the size of a small building, but he’s agile as fuck with it.

Benny follows after him, but he has the decency to make it look like it’s more difficult to get down, sitting down first before pushing off to land next to Nico. They don’t hang around, picking up their target and running with him across the lawn and down the side of the pool house, coming out on the track just behind the back of the truck.

We left the flatbed cover on tonight, another added bonusof this as a vehicle. A covered flatbed doesn’t limit you on the number of bodies you can store in it like the trunk of a car does. Nico’s record is eleven at once, I believe. It’s also handy for staying under the police radar, not for any other reason than they don’t expect us to be using pick-ups. I don’t know who declared panel vans the default vehicles for transporting nefarious things, but they’re missing a trick. Pick-ups are definitely the way forward.

I reach over and grab my laptop, flipping it closed, and shoving it back in my bag, which I hoist into the back seat. I have the car started and ready to go as the guys slam the tailgate closed, swiftly followed by Nico climbing in the front next to me and Benny into the seat behind him.

“In and out in six minutes. Impressive,” I say.

“Well, it’s easy when the only people home have passed out. We didn’t do this to him, we found him in that state. He’s out of his gourd. My guess is ketamine, but it’s going to be a while before he comes around.”

“For fuck’s sake. It’s a fucking embarrassment that we have to waste our time interrogating twats like this. Can’t we just kill him?” Benny whines in the back.

“No,” Nico and I snap at the same time.

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