Page 55 of Seeking Vengeance
And she’d been one of the fortunate ones. Benny didn’t sell her like he had the others. He had developed a particular fondness for her and generally kept her to himself. The rage built up inside of her, but she tended it carefully, stoking it but not letting it get out of control.
Nicki stepped silently from the shadows. She had a few minutes at most before the others disabled the guards she knew had to be lurking around—Benny always had plenty of protection—and made their way up to her. But Benny was hers and hers alone.
Nicki knew she must have been quite a sight to behold. Dressed from head to toe in form-fitting black, her hair unbound and flowing over her shoulders, her pale eyes glowing luminously, she must have looked like an avenging angel.
“Benny,” crooned Nicki as she held a gun to his temple, the soft click letting him know what she was about to do. “Long time no see, huh?”
Benny’s eyes widened in recognition as his brain processed the figure before him. “Nicolette,” he said, paling. “I thought you were dead.”
Nicki smiled, showing perfect white teeth. She was no longer the helpless young girl at his mercy, afraid that if she refused him, he’d kill her brother. All those years, she’d let Nick believe she’d done those things to protect their mother. That was only partially true. If it had only been Charlene she was worried about, if she didn’t think Benny would use his considerable resources to make good on his threats, she would have taken Nick up on his offer to run away.
No, Benny had discovered her real weakness. The bastard had made sure that Nicki always knew Nick was one refusal away from an unimaginable fate.
But she held all the cards now. Benny would never hurt her, her brother, or anyone else ever again. She’d make sure of it.
“I could say the same of you, Benny. We must have guardian angels, you and I.”
Benny licked his lips, regaining some of his poise.Such arrogance. Obviously, he had no idea the monster he’d created all those years ago.
His lecherous gaze ran the length of her body. “Black suits you, Nicolette. It brings out the darkness in you.”
“You know all about darkness, don’t you, Benny? Selling drugs. Whoring out kids.Torturing and murdering people.”
Benny’s brows creased in confusion; for a moment, he didn’t seem to know what she was talking about. “Ah, you mean the boy who tried to steal you from me? Yes, I remember him now.” Benny actually chuckled, the bastard. “Such romantic notions. I had to teach him a life lesson, Nicolette.” His eyes hardened. “Fairy tales are for children. And no one steals what belongs to me.”
Nicki found herself momentarily speechless with his callousness. “I never belonged to you, you rotten piece of shit.”
He waved it off. “I bought you. From your dear, devoted mother herself.”
“You can’t buy children!”
“Of course you can. It is done all the time. Do you think there are not still places today where families barter their children for food, shelter, or other necessities? Then, there are people like your mother, who do it for drugs and sex and the freedom of not having to care for their children anymore. Don’t kid yourself, Nicolette. Naïveté doesn’t suit you.”
Naïveté?Nicki couldn’t remember a time when she was ever naive.
“You had a better life because of me,” he continued. “Fine food, your own private room, and beautiful clothes.”
“I was fourteen.”
“Old enough.” He shrugged again without a glimmer of remorse. The man was truly delusional.
“Are you still buying kids, Benny?”
Benny grinned. “Jealous, pet? You were always my favorite, Nicolette. Dark. Fragile. And so passionate.”
Not fragile. Never fragile.“Two out of three, Benny.”
Muffled thuds sounded through her earpiece, though Benny could not hear. Fisher and Brookes were taking care of Benny’s henchman even more efficiently than usual, and she knew why. They wanted to get to her before she did something … irrational.
“So, tell me, Nicolette, why are you here? Surely, you must have expended much effort to find me.”
She had. Benny had covered his tracks very well, but once she’d heard his name come up the year before in a raid, she’d known she wouldn’t rest until she tracked him down and hunted him like the rabid animal he was. It probably would have been much easier if she’d used her team’s resources, but this had to stay personal. Only Taser knew the gory details of her past; even now, she was sure her partners knew only the bare minimum.
“I did, but you know what, Benny? You’re worth it.” She reached into her cat suit and pulled out a small dart and a blowpipe. She loaded and fired the poisoned tips into his legs.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he roared, loud and clear enough to be easily heard on the first floor.
“Immobilizing you,” she said matter-of-factly.
