Page 1 of Seeking Vengeance
PROLOGUE
“Jesus Christ,no!” Nick cried out. Tears filled the pale gray eyes of the fourteen-year-old boy, obscured by the curtains of jet-black hair that fell freely about his face.
He was thin for his age, but appearances were deceiving. He had more lean, sinewy muscle than his contemporaries, and he was faster than the star sprinter on his junior high track team. Organized sports were not something Nick Milligan was familiar with though. His muscle and speed came purely from the basic human instinct to survive in a world where the weak didn’t stand a chance.
His twin sister’s eyes were moist as well, but she refused to cry. Crying was for little girls, and she was no little girl anymore. Nick had protected her as much as he could, but there was only so much he could do, no matter how much of a man he had already become.
The look of torment on his face was heartbreaking. He’d already suffered so much, hoping that by doing so, she might be spared, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. While they shared the same lithe, athletic build, Nicki was blossoming into womanhood and had drawn the attention of the one man Nick had hoped to protect her from above all others.
“It’s all right,” she tried to console him. Even when she was about to cross the threshold into hell itself, she had such strength, such courage.
“It’snotall right!” he yelled, making her wince.
The last thing they needed was to draw attention to themselves. The back alley was located in one of the nicer sections of town, where even the garbage bins were scrubbed regularly and the pavement was kept free of debris by weekly sweepings. It had afforded them a place to hunker down when they had nowhere else to go. Unlike downtown, the people who lived in the apartments around here would call the police if they suspected something amiss.
“Keep your voice down!” she hissed, reaching for his arm.
Nick took a deep breath and nodded, though he couldn’t see where it made a difference now. There was no place they could hide, not anymore.
“We can leave, Nicki,” he said desperately, unwilling and unable to accept the ugly truth. “We can run away, just the two of us.”
“And go where? Do what?”
“We’ll figure something out.”
She smiled sadly, far too knowing for a girl her age. “Benny will make an example out of her.”
“Who cares?” Nick spat.
Her pale eyes shone with censure. “You should. She’s our mother.”
“Some mother,” Nick sneered, the words tinged with hate and disgust.
Charlene Milligan was their “mother” only on paper—on the birth certificates filed somewhere in the state capitol and as their legal guardian when the assistance checks came. Not that they ever saw any of it. The clothes on their backs came to them the same way everything else did—by stealing and scrounging and doing unspeakable things.
“At least I’ll have a warm place to sleep and a roof over my head,” she said. It was little consolation, but winter was right around the bend, and they had to be practical. “Maybe they’ll even put us up in the same house.”
“You have no idea what’s going to happen to you, Nicki,” he said, his eyes haunted. But Nick did.
“You survived.” She lifted her chin and pierced him with those pale gray eyes so like his own.
Nick turned away. He hated that she knew what he had been forced to do, the things that had been done to him, in “bartered payment” for the money Charlene owed the local drug lord. At one time, Charlene had whored herself in trade, but the years and the regular abuse hadn’t been kind to her, and she didn’t bring in as much as she used to. So, she did the next best thing. She offered up her children as payment instead.
For a long time, they hadn’t even realized it was wrong. It was the only world they knew.
“Don’t do this …” he pleaded.
“It’s not like we have a lot of options,” she said quietly. “And it’s only my body, Nick. He’ll never touch my soul.”
Nick Milligan broke down and cried. He would have done anything to spare his sister the pain and humiliation she would soon face. He cursed the woman who had birthed them, cursed her to the worst pits of hell. What kind of mother sold her children, knowing how they would be used? At least he had been “promoted.” Benny Marscone had realized Nick could make him a hell of a lot more money dealing drugs at the schools than as a toy for perverts, especially now that he had lost most of the boyish features many had paid top dollar for.
But Nicki, she was strikingly beautiful, her features bordering on angelic. Alabaster skin, smoky diamond eyes, jet-black hair—she was the picture of innocence even though she’d spent most of her life on the streets, as he had. Somehow, she managed to retain a childlike purity that was irresistible to the darker elements, and Benny would exploit her for all she was worth.
Nicki held him and let him cry into her shoulder as she stroked his back. “I’m strong, just like you. And someday, Nick, I swear to you, I’m going to kill Benny.” Her voice was soft but held a conviction as strong as steel.
Nick nodded, wishing it were true, but he knew better. Benny Marscone was untouchable. Benny didn’t just deal with the dregs of society; he had the cops, the local judges, and several “pillars of the community” in his pocket. What could a street kid do to someone like that?
“I’d better go,” she said, pulling away and wiping at her own eyes.
